Author: Alec Mutch

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Competition reminder.

Just a short reminder that the competition on Spindle turning is this Thursday 22nd August 2019. The criteria for the competition along with a few ideas was posted on line at an earlier date and can still be seen here on line, just roll the page up to find it. In addition to the competition there will be 4 turners working the lathes whilst the competition judging is going on, the judges for this competition are Colin MacRae and Jim Kelman, Colin is also the organizer for this meeting. Remember there is a prize of £25 to the winners of all 3 categories, so good luck to all of you entering the competition and lets see lots of entries.

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Report on our meeting on the 8th August 2019, working with threads.

Our meeting on the 8th of August 2019 was mostly to do with threads in woodturning, James Wares was using hand held thread chasing tools and I was using a traditional tap and thread box system. Both have their own merits, the hand held thread chaser tools are first class for making fine threads on things like small trinket boxes, where as the tap and box system is very good for producing threads on things like standard lamp connections or the bases for table lamps. In addition to the threading going on a 3rd turner, Errol Levings was taken in to work another of the lathes, Errol was to make some Harry potter wands. A summary of the meeting follows in the gallery below. This meeting was organized by Colin MacRae.

Here I am setting up to start my threading demo using the thread box and tap method.
The first job was to make the blank round, here I'm using a 3/8th bowl gouge to bring the blank to a cylinder.
The next part was to bring the area where the male thread was to be down to size.
Here I'm explaining how the threads work, this is how I would make the joins in a standard lamp.
Now for the base of a lamp, here a female thread would be used, here I am skimming the base.
A hole for the tap needed to be drilled, the drill was a 20mm bit used for a 25mm thread.
The hole almost all the way through.
Here the tap is being put to use to make the female thread, to keep this in line the tailstock is used.
When making the thread, both the tap wrench and the tailstock need to be turned in harmony.
Once the thread has been started it's possible to complete the thread without the need for the tailstock.
The 2 parts assembled.
A slight skim over both parts to centralise them before starting to do the shaping.
Here we have James Wares as he starts his hand chasing .
Working from the tip towards the chuck, James starts to form the threads.
The treads now working their way back up the work.
With a new piece on the lathe James is now setting the speed, somewhere between 200 and 300rpm.
Here James can be seen starting a male thread on the outside of a small box.
The thread progressing along the threading area.
Here James got one of the members to have a go at doing some threading under his supervision.
Here is Errol Levings as he starts making a Harry Potter type wand.
Here Errol is bringing the blank into the round.
Here Errol is marking out his detail from a template.
Here we have a close up of Errol making a thistle design on his wand.
Here Errol is progressing down the wand, finishing as he goes.

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If you want to see a larger picture and some text just click on any picture. All the picture for this post were taken courtesy of Mike Day.

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Next meeting, working with threads, Thursday 8th August 2019.

Our next meeting on the 8th August 2019 is about working with threads in woodturning. There will be 2 turners demonstrating how threads are made in wood, James Wares will be using hand chasing tools and I will be using a threading box and thread tap. Also working a lathe will be Errol Levings. This meeting has been organized by Colin MacRae.

These are the type of hand chasing tools James Wares will be using.
This is the threading box and tap tool I will be using.

The hand chasing tools are very useful when making larger diameter threads on things like wooden boxes. The threading box and tap system is best used for making joints on things like standard lamps or to fix the bases on table lamps. The meeting will start at 6.45pm as usual but will be preceded by a full committee meeting.

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Report on our all day meeting on the 27th July 2019.

Our all day meeting on the 27th July was a great success, it was organized by John Cheadle who arranged for 3 turners to do different demonstrations throughout the day, he also arranged for Celtic woodturning supplies to be present to sell their wares. We had a good response from our own members, but what was also very pleasing a group of 12 woodturners from the North Highlands Woodturners based in Castletown Caithness also attended the meeting, there were also representatives from the Elgin Woodturners. The day went very well and to schedule finishing off with the customary raffle. A summary of all 3 turners work follows in 3 separate galleries.

Alec Mutch.

Here we have John Cheadle opening the meeting and introducing the first turner, Alec Mutch.
Here I am showing the crowd my intended work piece, a piece of spalted beech that will be a natural edged bowl.
My work piece mounted on a set of pin jaws ready to start the turning.
I brought up the tailstock for added support for the first few cuts.
The first cuts being taken on the outside shape.
Here I can be seen making the recess on the base to take the expanding collet jaws.
Now I have laid out the extent of the foot on the bowl, approx 55% of the outer diameter.
Cutting back the outside shape to suit the newly laid out foot.
The chuck recess requires a very small internal dovetail to match the jaws, this is the tool I use for this, it's a modified file.
Here I can be seen sanding the whole of the outside, I use the Powerlock system for most of my sanding.
After the sanding, I applied a liberal coat of sanding sealer and rubbed it well in.
After the sealer a coat of Melamine was applied, here I am rubbing it in with a paper towel.
Now with the lathe running and a fresh paper towel I burnished the outside to a soft sheen.
A change of chuck to do the inside, these are the standard dovetail jaws that will fit inside the recess I cut in the bottom.
The first cuts being made on the turning of the inside.
After the first few cuts, I moved the rest into the hollow to minimise the overhang of the tool.
Further cuts being taken on the inside.
Getting closer to the desired wall thickness and depth.
Checking the wall thickness with a double ended set of callipers.
The tool work on the inside now complete.
Sanding of the inside using the Powerlock system, both the lathe and the drill running.
The tops of the wings on the bowl being sanded with the lathe stationary.
The bowl would now be sealed, rubbed back with wire wool and a coat of Melamine applied and buffed.
My finished natural edged bowl.

Gary Lowe.

Here we have John Cheadle introducing our guest turner, Gary Lowe, from Elgin.
Here is Gary showing the crowd the piece he is going to work on, He is going to make a variation of a spinning top.
Here Gary is fixing the tailstock, having mounted the other end in the chuck.
Using a roughing gouge Garry brings the blank of Beech to a cylinder.
Now he starts to shape the top end.
Top end shape almost complete, he now marks out where he is going to start near the bottom.
Bottom end shaping in progress.
This overhead screen shot shows Gary completing the final shape.
Sanding in progress, Gary first coated the item with a light layer of wax to minimise the dust.
This screen shot show to better effect Gary's sanding method.
Here he is buffing the wax finish he applied to the item.This completed the first part, the base.
Now for the 2nd part the spinning top itself, Gary used another piece of Beech for this.(can be seen on the lathe).
The small block of Beech mounted between centres.
The blank now turned into a cylinder.
Gary starts to shape the bottom of the spinning top.
The bottom and the inside of the bottom now nearing completion.
This was where Gary was heading to reproduce.
Gary had made a tool just for the purpose of shaping the pin in the inside.
Now he is sanding all of the inside including the pin the the top will spin on.
Now Gary starts to work the outside shape.
He sands the cup part before going any further.
This screen shot shows the top end of the cup being worked.
The final cuts being taken prior to sanding and parting off.
This screen shot shows Gary sanding the delacate stem.

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Mark Sutton.

Here we have Mark Sutton making his address to the crowd on what he was about to do.
He brought in a couple of examples, here he shows a Triptych, a set of 3 artistic works.
A close up of his Triptych.
Another example, this time it's a Diptych, made in 2 parts.
Mark shows the crowd some of the paints he uses in his work.
The turning begins,forming the first of a series of shapes from the centre out.
The shaping progressing well.
Here Mark can be seen sanding some of the first stages.
Mark showed the crowd some of the materials he works with, this was copper leaf.
Mark applying some size to the centre to hold the metal leaf.
The metal leaf being applied to the centre.
Once the leaf was firm, Mark put it back on the lathe to clean it up.
Using a skew Mark trimmed the edge of the metal leaf.
Now for the next part Mark put on some masking tape, here he can be seen trimming the edges.
Here he can be seen spraying the masked area with black acrylic paint.
While the paint was drying Mark showed the other colours he might use.
The other colour were applied with a small sponge, just dabbed on, and all at the same time.
With the tape removed, the results were quite clear to see.
Mark cleaned up the painted areas overspill.
As a final clean up of the face, Mark used a gouge on a trailing cut to smooth off the face of the work.
Mark put a second piece of detail on the work, here he is off centering one piece to do this work.
Here Mark is cutting the small 2nd detail, the ghost of the rest of the work is quite clear to see.
Mark repeated the colouring on the small detail.
A little bit of heat was applied to dry the paint using a heat gun.

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The all day event was first done in 2018 to good effect, this year however with the addition of Celtic Woodturning Supplies and a very good attendance this year was even better, we will be having an all day event again next year.

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Our next competition on 22nd August 2019, spindle turning.

Our next competition on 22nd August 2019 is all about spindle turning. The criteria and guidelines for this competition are as follows. Spindle turning applies to any work that is held between centres at the same time, i.e. headstock and tailstock, we will accept entries that have an element of faceplate work in them, like the base to a table lamp for example as long as the faceplate work is less than 50% of the rest of the item being made.

Criteria and guidelines, spindle turning.

NOVICE.

Any spindle turned item that consists of only one piece of wood.

INTERMEDIATE.

Any spindle turned item that consists of two pieces of wood, it can be made into a single piece by laminating if required or used separately (like salt and peppers).

EXPERIENCED.

Any spindle turned item that consists of at least three pieces of wood, laminating is a possibility or any other construction method, or used as separates (like fruits).

Here are some examples of spindle turning, you will see that there are some elements of faceplate work on some of the items, this is perfectly acceptable. You need not follow any of these examples if you have an idea of your own in your category.

We are looking for lots of entries in all three categories, do remember there are prizes of £25.00 for the winner in each category. Colin MacRae and Jim Kelman will be the judges for this competition. Good luck to all of you.

Whilst the competition judging is going on, Colin has arranged for 4 turners to man the lathes on free turning, these are Bill Munro,David Hobson,Dave Line and David McGruer.

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HWC All day annual woodturning event, 27th July 2019.

Saturday 27th July 2019 is our annual all day woodturning event. There will be 3 turners working the lathes, the event has been organized by John Cheadle. There will be some refreshments available and he has also arranged for a woodturning supplies business to be there selling items relevant to the woodturners.

  • Date Saturday 27th July 2019.
  • Venue HWC premises in Munlochy.
  • Timetable.
  • 0950 Hours Introduction by John Cheadle.
  • 1000 Hours Demonstration by Alec Mutch.
  • 1145 Hours Short break for refreshments.
  • 1200 Hours Demonstration by Gary Lowe.
  • 1345 Hours 2nd Refreshments break.
  • 1400 Hours Demonstration by Mark Sutton.
  • 1600 Hours closing remarks by John Cheadle.
  • Entry
  • Members – Free.
  • Guests – £5.00.
  • Catering
  • Free tea and coffee.
  • Bring your own pack lunch.
  • Raffle as usual.
  • Sale of wood and equipment .

The demonstrations will be a natural edge bowl made by Alec Mutch, a textured dish made by Gary Lowe and a Diptych or Triptych made by Mark Sutton, for those unfamiliar with what a Diptych or Triptych is, they are a set of 2 or 3 associated artistic works.

This is a view taken at last years all day event, here we have Fred Houghton demonstrating the art of making an offset goblet, Fred is a member of the North Highlands Woodturning Club base in Castltown Caithness.

We are looking forward to seeing you all here , a good turnout is expected.

Graeme Taylor of Celtic Woodturning Supplies will be in attendance all day and available for sales from 0900 Hours and throughout the day with a final opportunity to buy from 1600 to 1630 Hours.
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Report on our club meeting 11th July 2019, a talk by George Burgess on sourcing wood.

Our club meeting on the 11th July 2019 was organized by John Cheadle, he arranged for the club to have George Burgess come and do a talk on how and where to source wood for turning. George had been a chairman of this club in it’s early days but said he had not been to the club for the past 5 years, although a lot of those present then were no longer members, the present members were more than happy to see him return to the club if only to do the talk. George started his talk by saying that the easiest way to get blanks was to buy them from a specialist wood supplier catering for the woodturner, the down side of this was that the blanks can be quite pricey. He then offered alternatives on how and where to get suitable wood. He suggested going to your local joiners shop and offering to buy offcuts, whilst these would be dry and useful the choice might be quite limited, another approach could be your local sawmill, here the problem might be how dry they were, your own firewood pile might reveal something, get in touch with any local tree surgeons, again there could be a problem with how dry the wood is. Old fallen trees, go and ask if you can remove some of it. Finally, green timber, easier to work and usually free but time would be required to dry it or working it wet.

George Burgess as he started his talk on sourcing wood for woodturners.

The next part of George’s talk was all about cutting and drying the timber. he discussed the various methods of cutting like through and through and quarter sawn plus natural edged. He showed some pictures of an Alaska Mill that he had used for milling boards, this is a chain saw mill and went on to discuss the use of the mill including all the safety aspects. He then showed a log of wood that had a few shakes on either end and went on to discuss what was happening with this log.

A short log showing all the usual drying shakes (cracks) that appear in the drying process.

His next subject was drying the timber, how to store it, where to position it when drying, how long it would take and to allow a good air flow round the wood. He also discussed the possibility of spalting your own wood and how that comes about. He mentioned the importance of looking for the pith (the centre of the growing rings, and not the centre of the log) that this should be cut through in all occasions. His final talk was all about the difference encountered in different woods like fruit woods being difficult to dry without any degrade and how to choose the best bits from a plank or log, he had several diagrams that he used to show exactly where a bowl would have come from a tree. George ended by asking for any questions from the members, several questions were asked and answered.

George produced a variety of blanks cut from various aspects of the tree and some he had part turned, these were by way of being examples of what can be done.

The talk ended with the Vice Chairman John Cheadle thanking George for his excellent talk. It was appreciated by all of our members with some individual discussions taking place with George for some considerable time after the talk was over.

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This weeks meeting, 11th July 2019, a talk by George Burgess on sourcing wood.

This weeks meeting on the 11th July 2019 has been organized by John Cheadle, John has invited George Burgess to give us a talk on sourcing wood for woodturning. As most woodturners will know that getting wood for woodturning (and woodcarving) are quite specific requirements. Woodturning in particular requires the wood to be very dry and in most cases somewhat thicker than the run of the mill timber available at most wood DIY or wood suppliers unless they are catering to the woodturner or woodcarver.

This is some of my own collection of wood for turning, as you will see most have been cut into discs or battens and have also been waxed, all have been air dried down to 14% first while still in the board or longer batten.

We look forward to seeing you all there on Thursday evening, and do ask George questions if your not sure of what he is saying.

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Report on our club meeting 27th June 2019, working with green (wet) wood.

Our club meeting on the 27th June was all about working with wet or green wood. It was organized by John Cheadle, he did have 3 other turners booked to assist, however due to circumstances out with his control 2 of those had to call off. He did have assistance from Bill Munro and the evening went very well. John started by giving the members a talk on what wet wood was all about, ranging from how it grows, how to cut and dry it, how to store it during the drying process and how to use it . Once his talk was over John started to turn a wet log and encouraged others to have a go, Bill Munro did the same, both were more than happy to see several members having a go under their supervision. The following set of pictures along with some text will show how the evening went. The turn out was moderate but the meeting went well and was well received.

Here we have John Cheadle doing his talk on wet wood working at the start of his presentation.
Bill Munro setting up to start assisting John with wet wood working.
John answering some questions from the floor.
Here John is showing the end of a log with several drying shakes (cracks) in it, and explaining why they are there,
Here John is using a sketch on the board to describe some of the growing features that occurs.
John went on to explain using a rough turned scenario, where a bowl is turned but left very thick then dried using a polythene bag and some shavings.
This is the alternative to rough turning, making the item very thin and drying on the lathe almost as it's done.
Here we have one of those attending having a go on a wet log.
This is Bill Munro working a very wet log that he split in half to make a natural edged bowl.
This is one of the members working on the outside of Bill Munro's bowl.
After some work on a log between centres, John mounted a split log and started to shape the outside.
Progress being made on John's half log bowl, again this blank was very wet.
Here we have Bill Munro explaining to one of the members how a chuck recess is formed.
The chuck recess being worked on by one of the members, under Bill's guidance.
Here the outside shape of John's bowl taking shape.
Bill Munro's natural edged bowl now mounted on the chuck ready to start the inside.
After setting the tool rest in position the lathe was turned on, the effect of the ghost can quite clearly be seen
Now Bill demonstrates how to take the first cuts.
One of the members taking a cut, Bill's hand was also on the tool at this stage.

Due to the constraints of time neither bowl was finished at the meeting, this was not all that important, what was important was getting to know how to use wet wood. The feed back after the meeting was excellent, quite a few of the members were very interested in wet wood working in the future. The pictures for this presentation were taken by Alec Mutch.

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This week’s meeting 27th June 2019.

This week’s meeting on the Thursday 27th June 2019 is about wet turning. This has been organized by John Cheadle who is also going to do a short talk on the subject of wet turning before getting into some practical work on wet turning. John is very keen to get some of our members to have a go themselves during his presentation, if you are someone who would be interested in having a go under John’s supervision come prepared to take part. Wet turning can be very interesting in it’s final outcome, do remember that although turned wet whatever is made will still have to dry and it’s that drying process that makes things interesting, to overcome some of the drying problems the item needs to be worked to a very thin thickness. Some other methods can be used, such as using natural edged material, with these the thickness is less critical and if they move in the drying it can hardly be detected due to the fact the natural edges disguise the fact that the item has moved.

Here I have selected 3 items that are all natural edged, if they had been turned wet I would expect to see some movement in the drying, in all three cases it would be hardly visible and would not detract from the finished look they have right now.

Meeting starts 6.45pm as usual and come prepared to do something.