Author: Alec Mutch

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This week’s meeting, Wednesday 11th December 2019, open competition.

This week,s meeting is on Wednesday 11th December, not the 12th as originally planned, it’s also the clubs Christmas competition for all 3 categories, it’s an open competition where you can make anything you desire, you may also enter more than one item in whichever category you are in, the judging will be done by all the members present.

I would ask all previous winners in any category of any competition in 2019 to enter more than one item as we do have a tie for the overall annual competition winner at present, in the event of their still being a tie after this competition the second entry will then be judged to determine the overall winner in each category.

May I also remind any of last years winners of the annual shields to return them on Wednesday to Douglas Stewart, some of you may have already done so.

The annual Christmas raffle draw will also take place on Wednesday evening after the competition judging has taken place, the tickets for this draw will also still be on sale up to the end of the judging.

Can I also appeal to all the turners who do demonstrations at the club to help Douglas Stewart out with getting sufficient turners to man the lathes to please do so, he has at present only 2 turners for the 9th of January meeting, he requires another 3 and the main subject is all about making “wooden jewellery”, but that does not mean you could not do something else if required. The same scenario also applies to the meeting on the 23rd January, Douglas has only 2 turners he requires another 3, step up and volunteer, the subject for the 23rd January is ,”wooden toys or puzzles”.

The committee would like to take this opportunity to wish all our members and all our online followers a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We hope to see you all in the new year.

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Report on meeting 28th November 2019 making table lamp bases.

Our meeting on the 28th November 2019 was all about making table lamp bases, the meeting was organised by Cliff Sim, Cliff had arranged for 4 turners to be working the lathes, Bill Munro, Bob Chisholm, Richard Comfort and David Ross. All were making different variations of lamp bases, 2 were working on a single piece of wood for the base whilst the other 2 were making their lamps from more than one piece. The turn out of members was good. To get a flavour of how the meeting went click on the pictures in the gallery for a larger picture and some text. The pictures for this post were taken by Mike Day.

Here we have Bob Chisholm as he makes a start on his table lamp, Bob was working on a single piece of wood for his base.
Here we have Richard Comfort as he makes a start on his lamp base, Richard was to use more than one piece.
Here we have Bill Munro as he makes a start on his lamp base, Bill was to make his lamp from a single piece of wood.
Here we have David Ross as he works his lamp base, David was to make his lamp out of more than one piece of wood.
Bob shaping his base with a bowl gouge.
Richard fitting one of his pieces on the chuck.
Bob progressing well with the shape, still using a bowl gouge.
David drilling the hole for the cable using a home made jig to get the hole in the right place.
Bill Munro working on the shape of his base with a large gouge.
Richard working one of his many pieces that makes up his base.
Bob getting to the end of his shaping, now doing a little sanding.
David Ross finishing the base part of his 2 piece lamp.
Another view of Bill Munro using a roughing gouge to shape his base.
One of the club lathes with the new extraction mounts in use, these were made for all the lathes by Dave Line.
David Ross showing the bottom part of his lamp sealed and polished.
David Ross now working on the stem of his lamp.
The stem of David's lamp held between centres.
Here David can be seen cutting the spigot on the stem to fit the base.
Here Bob Chisholm is sealing and polishing his lamp base.
This box was partly made at the previous meeting and finished off at home by Nick Simpson.
Nick brought the box in to let the members see the finished article having ran out of time at the previous meeting.
David Ross sealing the stem of his lamp.
Bob Chisholm's base completed apart for fitting all the lamp fittings and cable etc.
Bob holding his finished base ready to wire it up.

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We hope you enjoyed our lamp making meeting, the next meeting is on Wednesday the 11th December not the Thursday to avoid clashing with the general election, usual start time. This will be our last meeting for 2019, it’s also the final competition for the year, an open competition where you can make what you like, no pre conditions so lets have lots of entries, remember you can put more than one item in to the competition. This meeting will also herald the grand Christmas raffle draw where there have been traditionally lots and lots of prizes, good luck to everyone in the draw.

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This week’s meeting on the 28th November 2019,making lamp bases.

Our meeting this week on the 28th November 2019 is all about making lamp bases, they can be made from a single piece of wood or from more than one piece of wood, whatever type of lamp the turners choose to make I’m sure there will be something of interest for everyone, this meeting has been organised by Cliff Sim, Cliff has arranged for 4 turners to man the lathes, those are, Bill Munro, Richard Comfort, Bob Chisholm and David Ross.

This is a lamp I made some time ago, made from a single piece of wood with some banding inserted along with some more inserts in Milliput.

We are looking for a good turnout as usual, and remember to get your Christmas raffles and hand in any donations of products to David Hobson for his craft fair in Fortrose proceeds of which will go to the club funds. Notification to the committee members, there is a committee meeting starting at 5pm on the 28th November 2019.

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Report on our meeting 14th November 2019, main theme turned clocks.

Our meeting this week on the 14th November was mainly about making turned clocks, the meeting was arranged by Cliff Sim and he had 5 turners working the lathes. For the clock making he had John Ruickbie, Dave Line and himself, two other turners were making different things, Nick Simpson was making a small lidded box and Errol Levings was demonstrating the methods used to make oval turnings, with no overall finished product in mind. The turnout was good and according to the reports I received the meeting went very well.The pictures in the gallery below were all taken by Mike Day, these should give you a flavour of how the meeting went.

Here we have Cliff Sim setting up to start his clock. Cliff was to make a skeleton clock.
Here Cliff can be seen working the back of his clock.
Cliff now making the recess to fit the clock into.
Here Cliff is working the edge of his clock, some slight decoration could be used here.
Here Cliff can be seen sanding the face and edge of his clock.
Cliff ran out of time on his project but did have an example of one he had made earlier.
Here we have Dave Line as he is setting up to start his clock. He too would be making a skeleton clock.
Dave started by working the face of the clock first.
Here the face is almost complete, Dave is now making the recess for the clock movement.
In this picture Dave can be seen working the stand for his clock.
Having finished the face Dave mounted the surround on the bowl jaws to work the back.
Here Dave can be seen polishing the back of his clock.
Here is Dave's finished clock.
Here we have John Ruickbie as he sets up to start his turned clock. John was to make a clock using a chapter ring.
Here John has made the recess for the clock movement, now drilling the hole for the clock spindle.
Here John is working the face of his clock.
Here John can be seen making the slight recess for the chapter ring.
Here John can be seen trial fitting the chapter ring, these rings are self adhesive.
Here John is sanding all the surfaces on the face of his clock.
John uses a small saddle for the base of his clock , here he can be seen explaining how it works.
Here is John's finished clock. All fully assembles after sealing and polishing.
Here we have Nick Simpson, a new member to our club. Nick was to make a small lidded box.
Here Nick can be seen working the outside of the box.
The inside of his box now well underway.

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If you wish to see a larger picture of any in the gallery, just click the picture, this will give you a more detailed picture along with a little text. Our next meeting on the 28th November is again being organised by Cliff Sim, he has arranged for 5 turners to make lamp bases.

Remember that the Christmas raffles are on sale and we are still accepting donations of prizes and also items for the Fortrose craft fair organised by David Hobson.

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This week’s meeting, 14th November 2019

This week’s meeting on the 14th November 2019 is all about making clocks, it has been organised by Cliff Sim. Cliff has arranged for 3 turners to be working the lathes, those are Bill Munro, Dave Line and himself. They will all have their own method for making a clock and should all be different in the type of clock being made. We are looking for a good turnout as usual and do remember that the Christmas raffles are on sale, we are still looking for prizes to be donated, anything at all accepted. David Hobson is going to do a craft fair on behalf of the club nearer to Christmas, he is looking for items to sell that you the members have made, take anything you wish to donate to David at the next 2 meetings, all proceeds will go towards club funds.

Here is a clock I made some time ago, it could be something along this line that one of the turners will make.
Here is another example of a clock, this one used a miniature clock insert of only 37mm in diameter.
This is a skeleton clock, one of the most popular clocks to be made by any turner, I know that Dave Line will be demonstrating how this type of clock is made.

I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend the meeting this week, there are road works on the A835 at Garve that is closing the road between the hours of 7pm and 7am and as I live on the other side of the road works I would not be able to get home without a very long detour. However I hope you all have a good meeting and enjoy the clock making.

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Report on our meeting on 31st October 2019, working with natural edges.

Our meeting on the 31st October was arranged by Cliff Sim and our theme was working with natural edged. Cliff had arranged for 4 turners to work the lathes, those were, Bob Chisholm, Mike Day, Richard Comfort and myself (Alec Mutch). We were all doing something different but with the same theme that each item was to have some element of natural edges on it. The turnout for the meeting was very good. The pictures from this meeting were taken by David Hobson, and should give you a flavour of how the meeting went.

Here we have Bob Chisholm starting work on a Laburnum natural edged bowl.
Here we have Mike Day as he starts to make wooden mushrooms.
This is Richard Comfort's elm blank mounted ready to start.
Another view of Richard's elm blank, he is making this into a clock surround.
This is myself (Alec Mutch) starting on a wet turning in cherry.
Mike Day making progress on his mushroom.
My blank now with the inside almost complete, I am making a thin wall bowl.
Here is Bob Chisholm taking the inside out of his Laburnum bowl.
The final cuts on the inside , note the thread like shavings you get with wet wood.
Here is Richard working on the chuck recess for his bowl.
The inside now complete, no need to sand as the wood needs to dry a little first.
Mike can be seen sanding the head of his mushroom.
The inside of Bob's bowl almost complete.
Richard has cut the recess for the clock movement.
Here I can be seen setting up a light that will go inside the bowl.
The effect of the light inside the bowl shows the wood going bright red as the walls get thinner.
Another view of the inside of Bob's bowl.
Mike now working on the stem of his mushroom.
Another view of Mike working the stem.
Here I'm finishing off the base of my wet turning, it will be left for a few weeks to dry before remounting to sand and polish.
I did another similar thin walled bowl using Leylandii.
Here Mike can be seen sanding the under side of the mushroom head.
Bob Chisholm's finished bowl.
One of Mike Day's finished mushrooms.

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If you want to see some larger pictures of this gallery just click on any picture, they are accompanied with a little text. The next meeting is on the 14th November, again being organised by Cliff Sim and this time it will be about making clocks. Don’t forget to get your Christmas raffle tickets and any donations of prizes would be most welcome.

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Report on our meeting on the 17th October 2019, making wooden platters.

Our recent meeting on the 17th October 2019 was all about making wooden platters, it was organized by Jim Kelman and he had 6 turners working the lathes, Bill Munro, Richard Comfort, Douglas stewart, David Hutcheson, Alan Smart and David Ross. Whilst all were making platters, there were differences in what they were doing. The turnout for the meeting was very good and the turners kept the audience interested. What follows is a record in pictures and text of how the evening went. The pictures for this post were taken by Mike Day, sorry for the delay in getting the post done this was due to technical problems with the pictures.

Here we have Bill Munro as he makes a start on his Oak platter.
The base of Bill's platter being sanded
The base complete.
Bill makes a start on the inside.
The turning on the inside nearly complete.
Bill is sanding the inside of his platter.
The inside sanded, Bill will apply a finish to his platter.
Here we have David Hutcheson working the outside of his Ash platter.
The shaping of David's platter well under way and the chuck recess already worked.
The outside of David's platter now sealed and polished.
The outside complete.
Here David has just started working the inside of his platter.
The turning complete, David has sanded the inside ready for the finish.
Here David is applying a coat of sanding sealer to the inside of his platter.
Here we have Douglas Stewart mounting his blank to the lathe.
Douglas has shaped the base and can be seen sanding for the finish.
With the outside complete Douglas has turned it around ready to work the inside.
Here Douglas can be seen working the inside.
Douglas applied some colour to the rim ready for the next stage.
Here Douglas has applied several different colours to the rim.
Here is Douglas's finished platter with a decorative rim.
Here we have Richard Comfort as he make ready to start his platter.
Here Richard is working the outside of his Elm platter.
The outside of Richard's platter almost complete.

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This gallery should have given you a flavour of how the evening went, if you want to see a larger picture and some text just click on any of the pictures.

Here is a view inside the club house as the meeting was in progress.
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This week’s meeting, 17th October 2019, Platters.

This week’s meeting on the 17th October 2019 is all about making wooden platters, the meeting has been organized by Jim Kelman and he has 5 turners working the lathes, one of which is a junior member who will be supervised by an experienced member. The turners are Douglas Stewart, Bill Munro, David Hutcheson, Richard Comfort and Richard’s son Liam Comfort who is our junior member and will be supervised.

I have given you a few pictures of Platters I have made in the past, we may see something along these lines being made, but whatever the turners produce will be of interest to the onlooking members.

At the start of the meeting there will be a short statement made by John Ruickbie on the matter of safety. We are looking for a good turnout as usual and hope you enjoy the evenings proceedings. Do remember we are now selling the Christmas raffles and we are also looking for donations for the raffle.

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Demonstration by Andy Walters 3rd October 2019.

Our meeting on the 3rd October 2019 was a demonstration by Andy Walters of Black Isle Woodturning, Andy is a professional woodturner running his business on the Black Isle. He was tasked to make a wooden Quaich, this is a drinking cup of Scottish origin used for taking whisky. The meeting was organized by Jim Kelman, The turn out was excellent.

Here we have Andy Walters, our demonstrator for the meeting. Andy did a brief summary on what he was going to do.
He was to make a Quaich, here he can be seen mounting the blank.
The first job was to true up all the working faces.
Here Andy is showing the members a template of the design of the Quaich.
Here Andy is marking out where he was going to start.
The base of the Quaich being worked first.
Here Andy is marking out where the chuck recess will go.
Cutting the chuck recess, Andy made this quite shallow and a fairly small diameter.
With the recess cut, Andy finished shaping the underside.
Here Andy can be seen sanding the underside.
He used a hand held sanding system that worked on friction, progressing through the grades of discs.
Here Andy is using a very fine sanding pad to finish off the sanding process.
Here Andy is applying a coat of sanding sealer.
After the sealer a coat of Melamine was applied, here he can be seen buffing that to a fine soft sheen.
The work piece turned around and mounted in the chuck ready to start the top and the inside.
Andy started by levelling off the face.
This cut would determine the size of the Quaich handles.
Here Andy can be seen removing material from the inside of the cup.
The inside size and shape almost complete.
Andy started to sand the inside, again using a variety of grit sizes of discs.
The top rim and the area where the handles will be being sanded by hand.
Andy sealed the work piece and applied a coat of Melamine before buffing to a soft sheen.
Here Andy can be seen marking out where the cup handles will be using a template.
Here just a hint of where the pencil marks are for the handles.

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If you want to see a larger picture and some text, just click on any picture, the featured picture at the top of the page is a view of the members as they took their seats for the demonstration. Pictures by Alec Mutch. Next meeting is on the 17th October and that will be making platters.

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This week’s meeting 3rd October, a demonstration by Andy Walters.

Our meeting this week on the 3rd October 2019 is a demonstration by Andy Walters of Black Isle Woodturning, this has been organized by Jim Kelman and he has arranged for Andy to make a Scottish Quaich, this is a very traditional cup made for drinking whisky. The meeting will start at the usual time of 6.45pm. We are looking for a good turnout.

This is a Quaich I made recently, it’s made from a piece of Elm, the cup part measured only 80mm x 30mm.

We are expecting Andy Walters will be making something similar, an interesting project for anyone who has not made a Quaich to see exactly how it’s done. Do remember the Christmas raffles are now on sale.