Author: Alec Mutch

Posted on

HWC members pictures, 28-03-2020

During this lock down period I felt we needed to take advantage of the situation to stay in touch with each other by posting some pictures of what we have been doing whether it’s working on the lathe or anything else. I have done the first post showing some of the things I have been making since the lock down. You will all be receiving an email from Geoff outlining what this is about and what we would like you to do, we would like as many of you to take part as possible but there is no obligation to do so, you can if you wish just get onto the club web site and observe what others have been doing. This first post of my work should give you an idea what any picture and text you provide would look like.

To take part you would need to photograph what you are doing or making and send that to me along with some text giving me the dimensions, the type of wood if known and any other useful piece of information by email, attaching any pictures, you can use my own email address to do this if you feel uncomfortable doing it through the web site contact.

My email address is, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com.

A spalted Beech bowl made by Alec Mutch, the bowl measured 190 mm in diameter by 90 mm high, some of the white areas were quite soft and required some fairy liquid being applied to achieve a good finish, the final finish was sanding sealer followed by a coat of Melamine.
A natural edged bowl made by Alec Mutch, the wood is spalted Beech made from a half log. The dimensions are 235 mm long by 175 mm wide and an overall height of 100 mm. The finish was sanding sealer followed by a coat of Melamine and buffed to a soft sheen.
A small shallow bowl made by Alec Mutch, made to hold your house keys. It was made from Beech with a decorated rim coloured with a felt tip pen, the engraving was done with the use of a laser.

Now it’s your turn to send me some pictures of your most recent work and I will post them here for others to see.

Do remember the club house is still closed and the meetings suspended for the time being, you will be notified when the club meetings will start again.

Posted on

Clubhouse temporary closure.


Important notice to all HWC members.
Precautions against Coronavirus.

In light of the Scottish Parliament taking the decision to close all outside gathering of more than 500 people and all inside gatherings of more than 100 people we the committee for HWC have taken the decision to suspend all our meetings in the foreseeable future.

The reasoning for this is that our building does not allow for reasonable separation of the individual, the ventilation is poor and our members are mostly of a certain age. Although our numbers are less than 100 we are in a confined space with everyone breathing the same air.

The length of time the closure will apply will be open ended, but I would anticipate there being no meetings before the end of April and could be longer, a review of the situation will take place mid to late April.

Any new information will be posted on our web site and Facebook page.

Anyone with any questions or concerns can contact me or Geoff through the web site email contact.

Regards to everyone,

Alec Mutch, Chairman, this notice issued on behalf of the committee for HWC.

Updated 14th March 2020.

If you have made an item for the competition that was due to happen on Thursday 19th March, hold onto it, we will be holding that competition as our first meeting after the crisis has passed.

In the meantime our meetings have been suspended and the clubhouse is closed.

This applies to all meetings, committee meetings and training meetings.

Posted on

Report on our meeting on 5th March 2020 making wooden goblets.

Our meeting on the 5th March 2020 was all about making wooden goblets. The meeting was organized by David Hutcheson and David had arranged for 4 more turners to man all the lathes, they would all be making goblets but not all the same design nor would their method of approach to making a goblet be the same. The turnout of members for this meeting was excellent and the 5 turners kept those observing occupied and fully involved with what they were all doing. The evening went very well and we hope those observing found it interesting and informative. The following gallery of pictures along with a little text should give you a flavour of just how the evening went, the pictures for this meeting were taken by Uisdean MacBeth.

Here we have David Hutcheson as he makes a start on his goblet.
David is using a roughing gouge to bring his blank into a cylinder.
Here we see David hollowing out the inside of his goblet.
The hollowing our complete, David would now sand the inside.
You will see David has put a tennis ball into the open end of his goblet, this gives him somewhere to put the tailstock.
With the tailstock secured, David is now forming the outside of the cup.
The cup shape now taking on the shape David is looking for.
David continued to work the stem.
The goblet almost complete, David has now started his finishing process.
A final polish and the goblet is ready to be parted off from the lathe.
Here we have Dave Line as he makes his first cuts on his goblet blank.
Dave's now hollowing out the inside cup.
With the inside complete, Dave would now sand the inside of the cup.
Here we can see Dave starting to form the head of his goblet.
Dave did try to offset his goblet, but for safety reasons had to stop.
Dave re-positioned the goblet and continued with a standard stem.
The goblet almost complete, ready for the final finishing.
Here is Dave's finished goblet.
Here we have Errol Levings as he makes his blank secure in the chuck.
With his blank now turned into a cylinder, it was now time to start the hollow.
Here we can see Errol making the first cuts on the inside of his goblet cup.
Errol used a variety of tools, here we can see he is using a ring tool.
Another tool in use, this time it's a round nose scraper.
With the inside of the cup complete, Errol went on to sand the inside of the cup.

1 2

We hope you enjoyed looking through all the pictures and taken on board some of the work practices that the turners employed.

Our next meeting is on the 19th March and it’s competition time once again, it’s being organized by David Hutcheson and it’s all about making wooden boxes, there will be 3 categories as usual, details to follow.

Posted on

This week’s meeting, 5th March 2020 making wooden Goblets.

Our meeting this week is all about making wooden goblets, this meeting has been organized by David Hutcheson, he has arranged for 4 more turners and himself to man all the lathes. The turners will be David Hutcheson, Errol Levings, Mike Day, Dave Line and Nick Simpson. I’m sure we will be seeing some variations on what type of goblet each of the turners will be working on and we hope you will find the programme interesting and informative. Do remember that you can ask any of the turners a question if you are unsure of exactly what any of them are doing.

Here is one of my own goblets made some years ago, made from Sycamore with a bark inclusion.
Here is another of my own goblets, this one is made from Sweet Chestnut and as you see has 2 captive rings on it, I wonder if we might see something along any of these lines at the meeting.

We hope to have a good turnout as usual and for you to give all the turners the support and encouragement they deserve.

Posted on

Report on our meeting 20th February 2020, bandsaw safety and use.

Our club meeting on the 20th February 2020 was all about the use of a bandsaw, it was organized and carried out by John Ruickbie. John firstly discussed the setting up of the bandsaw, this covered things like the setting of the guide bearings for the blade, the height of the blade guard and the tension in the blade, all these things were discussed with the power source being isolated, I.E. the machine was not plugged in. John stressed the importance of having the machine isolated whilst any of the setting up or maintenance was being carried out. He also went on to discuss that the correct type of blade should be used for the purpose intended, and drew attention to the blade chart posted near the bandsaw that gave the correct blade type and size for both straight and curved cuts, this chart is now also on our web site. John went on to demonstrate using the bandsaw, making use of some home made aids like push sticks, he also showed another useful aid for use with the bandsaw, a parallel clamp that he had made, this clamp is particularly useful when cutting very small pieces of wood that are used in polychromatic assemblies. John then said he would make one of these clamps but due to the restrictions of time he had done some of the work at home, leaving the remainder to be done at the club, the clamp had some specialised tools required to make the clamp and he was to demonstrate their use, this involved a threading system. John went on to make the final pieces required to make the clamp, assembling the finished clamp and showing it to the very attentive crowd.

The turnout of members for this meeting was the highest I had ever seen at any meeting in all my time attending the club meetings, so much so that we ran out of chairs, reducing quite a few members to standing room only, for this the club apologizes. The following gallery of pictures with a little text should give you a flavour of just how the meeting went, pictures by Alec Mutch.

Here we have John Ruickbie making his opening remarks on his demonstration.
John was to demonstrate how to set up a bandsaw safely, the first job was to unplug it from any power source.
After discussing the set up and the blade types, John went on to cut some example pieces.
John used a few aids whilst cutting, in the foreground you will see a push stick.
Here John is putting the push stick to use with his left hand and used an additional piece of wood in his right hand to hold the wood against the fence.
This was an example of some of John's work, made up from lots of small pieces, he went on to say he used a parallel clamp when cutting some of the really small pieces.
This is the type of clamp John referred to, it's home made and John was to show one being made.
The parallel clamp required some specialised tools, one of which is the tool he is showing, it's a threading tool.
Before going on to make the clamp, John did do a short demonstration on it's use, here cutting very small pieces that you would not want to be holding with your fingers.
Here John is showing one of the main components, a threaded part that he was now going to demonstrate how it was made.
He started with a length of squared Beech and turned it into a cylinder, the speed was about 1200 rpm initially going up to about 1500 rpm .
Here John is marking out the position of the handle.
For the threaded part John used a set of calipers to get the right diameter for making the threads.
John made a series of depth cuts in order to get an even thickness on the part to be threaded.
Once the depth cuts were completed John used a gouge to bring the remaining parts down to the same thickness.
Now John is working on the last area to be brought down to the threading thickness.
John did a final clean up along the threading area, then made some decorative cuts on the handle with a beading tool.
The last part to be done before the threading was to round over the end of the rod, this would assist the start of the thread.
The turning complete John applied some lubricant on the threading part.
Here John can be seen starting the thread with the use of a hand held threading box.
The threads now approaching half way, the box is turned by hand whilst the lathe spindle is locked off.
The threading complete.
A short piece of the thread on the end of the threaded rod needed to be removed, approx, 12 mm.
John assembled the clamp and bandsawed the ends to finished clamp.

1 2

If you would like to make one of these clamps, there is a post on our web site with a sketch of the clamp giving all it’s dimensions, the use of a threading tap and box is required, it might be possible to borrow these from John or myself if you want to make one.

The chart with all the blade sizes and their use is also on our web site should you wish to print off a copy.

Our next meeting is on the 5th March, it’s being organized by David Hutcheson and it’s all about making goblets.

We hope you all enjoyed John’s presentation and found it both interesting and informative, and we thank you all for your attendance.

Posted on

This week’s meeting Thursday 20th February, safe use of a bandsaw.

Our meeting this week, Thursday 20th February 2020 is going to be how to use a bandsaw safely, John Ruickbie will be demonstrating how to set a bandsaw up, how to put it to best use, the use of some safety aids and how to recognize when a blade needs changing. John will also be making a tool on the lathe that’s also used with the bandsaw.

This is one of my own bandsaws, it’s used with a wide blade of 30mm and 4TPI , I find this saw most useful for cutting large depths or for straight cutting. It has a cutting depth of 305mm.
This is my 2nd bandsaw, it has a cutting depth of 180mm maximum, the blade size is 10mm wide with 4TPI and used almost exclusively for cutting discs.

The club bandsaw will be used for John’s demonstration and we hope you find the information helpful and informative.

The dates and programme for the whole year to December 2020 are now on the club web site, just go to the site and click on “meetings” there is no requirement to log on first, this information is available to anyone.

Posted on

Report from our AGM on the 6th February 2020.

Our AGM (Annual General Meeting) took place on Thursday 6th February 2020, there was a good turnout for the meeting, the purpose of an AGM is to communicate what has happened over the past year and to discuss with the members anything they wish to raise. Reports were given by the Chairman, the Secretary and the Treasurer. This meeting also deals with who is on the committee, ratifying those committee members wishing to stay on the committee along with proposing any new members onto the committee, for a complete list of all the office bearers log on to our web site for all the positions and who filled them. Suffice to say 10 of the existing committee members remained on the committee for another year, we did have 2 resignations and they have been replaced with 2 new members onto the committee. The minutes of the meeting are now available in the members section of our web site, log on using the username and password.

Here are some of our members as they take their seats prior to the meeting starting.

Our next club meeting is on the 20th February 2020 and it will be managed by John Ruickbie, John is going to give a tutorial on the use of a bandsaw and also make a tool on the lathe for use with a bandsaw. We will also have a committee meeting that evening, the first of the new year and will include the new members on the committee, start time for the committee meeting, 5.30pm, start time for the main meeting 6.45pm, hope to see you all there.

Posted on

This week’s meeting on the 6th February 2020, our AGM,.

Our meeting this week on the 6th February 2020 is our AGM (Annual General Meeting) it will start at the usual start time of 6.45pm. The agenda will include a report from the Chairman, and reports from the Treasurer and Secretary. The re-election of committee members and the election onto the committee of 2 new members. We will also be taking any questions from the floor and asking for A.O.C.B. to be discussed. There will be no turning taking place at this meeting but we would like to see a very good turnout, remember this your club and if you have anything you wish to contribute, this is the time to do it. We anticipate that this meeting will not require the usual time allocated, therefor it could be quite short.

Been there, done that, got the tea shirt.

This is a final notice to those who still need to renew their subscription, this meeting will be the last opportunity for the payment to be made, see Geoff Potter to pay, anyone not paid after this meeting will be replaced with people from the waiting list on Friday 7th February.

Posted on

Report on our meeting 23rd January 2020, making wooden toys and puzzles.

Our meeting on the 23rd January 2020 was all about making wooden toys and puzzles, the meeting was organised by Douglas Stewart, Douglas had arranged for 4 turners to work the lathes, Bill Munro, John Ruickbie, Nick Simpson and himself. Each person would be doing something different, and the members attendance was very good. The following gallery of pictures along with a little text should give you a flavour of how the evening went. The pictures were all taken courtesy of Mike Day.

Here we have Douglas Stewart as he makes a start on his project
Douglas was to make a wooden Elephant.
Douglas was working with a piece of soft wood for his project.
Making headway with his project.
Here Douglas shows those watching the head part just completed.
Douglas trial fits the head to the body of his Elephant.
A final sand to the body part.
Here Douglas is making the feet for the Elephant.
Here we have Bill Munro, making a variation of spinning tops.
Here Bill is sanding his work piece.
Work progressing well on his project.
Here Bill is sealing his project.
These are some of the toys and puzzles John Ruickbie had made.
Here we have John Ruickbie as he makes a start on his project.
John was to make a variation on a solitaire game.
Here John is rounding over his work piece.
Here John is using a gouge to do some of the initial shaping.
Here John is doing the finishing cuts to his project.
Here John is checking the diameter with a set of calipers.
Here John is making ready to part off his project.
Here we have Nick Simpson as he makes a start on his project.
Nick was to make a dice shaker from African Blackwood.
Here we can see Nick hollowing his shaker cup.
The hollowing almost complete, Nick was to thread the inside.

1 2

We hope you found the toy and puzzle making projects interesting and enjoyable.

Our next meeting is the annual AGM meeting, it will be on the 6th February starting at the usual time of 6.45pm.

This next meeting will be the last opportunity for any member to pay their fees for the 2020 meetings, miss that date and your place could be taken by someone on the waiting list.

Posted on

Our next meeting, 23rd January 2020, making wooden toys and puzzles on the lathe.

Our next meeting is on the 23rd January 2020, it’s being organised by Douglas Stewart and it will be on the theme of making wooden toys and puzzles using a lathe. Douglas had arranged for 5 turners to be working the lathes but 1 of those can’t now make it so we will have 4 turners, those are Douglas Stewart, Bill Munro, John Ruickbie and Nick Simpson. Douglas is looking for a replacement and may well have someone else by the time we get to Thursday.

What each turner will be doing is still to be determined but I’m sure there will be lots of interest in everything they are to do.

If you are interested in making toys mainly on the lathe then this is a book I would recommend.
Here is a web site that also displays a lot of interesting toys, like these very decorative skipping ropes.

We hope to see you all there on Thursday evening and hope you enjoy the toy making experience.

For those who still have their subscription for 2020 to pay, Geoff Potter will be there to collect your payment.

To all the committee members, a reminder that there will be a committee meeting starting at 5.30pm on the 23rd January 2020 prior to the main meeting,