Author: Alec Mutch

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Next meeting, 21st March 2019, working with natural edges.

Our next club meeting on the 21st March will be all about making things with natural edges, there should be 5 turners working the lathes, Bill Munro, David Hutcheson, John Ruickbie , Bob Chisholm and myself. Using wood where the natural edges are left intact lends itself well to bowl making and I’m sure there may be more than one turner doing exactly that, but natural edges can be left on a variety of turnings in both bowl work and spindle work. Below are a few of the different items that can be made with natural edges.

Here are 3 very different types of things made using the natural edges, left, is an Ash bowl made from a log where more than 1 branch intersected the main stem, centre, an Elm burr that has been turned into a shallow bowl leaving all the irregular shape round the outside, right, a Laburnum bowl that has been made making use of the end grain, this gives the appearance of 3 different woods, when in fact what you are seeing is the heart wood at the bottom, a middle layer of sap wood and the bark layer on top.
These 3 are all made from Laburnum, left, is a bowl made from the intersection of 2 branches that grew away from the main branch, centre, this one is also from an intersection but this time I cut it further away from the meeting point to create the gap at the front of the bowl, right, this one comes from a straight log of about 150 mm in diameter and cut in length to about 200 mm, giving you the boat shape when turned.
These are examples of natural edges being left on some spindle work. Far left, a Banksia nut turned into a Mushroom with the natural edges left on both the base and the head of the Mushroom, Left, a Christmas tree decoration made from a piece of Laburnum with the natural edge being left on the base, you will note the tree has been turned off centre, Far right, another Mushroom, this time made from a branch of Yew with the natural edges left on both the base and the head. Right, a piece of Elm burr made into a Candlestick, the only turning on this item was to level out the base and a small amount of turning to the top where the brass candle cup was fitted.
These 8 pictures show the piece of Laburnum I started with and the sequence of events in turning the bowl and the finished article.

I hope these pictures give you some idea of what can be done with some very unpromising pieces of wood, it is my conclusion that there are no unpromising pieces of wood, there is something that can be made from anything, it’s thinking what can be done that’s difficult.

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Club Demonstration 7th March 2019, working with Pebeo paints.

Our club meeting on Thursday 7th March 2019 was a demonstration by Alec Mutch on the use of Pebeo paints in woodturning. These paints can be used to enhance the appearance of an otherwise plain or bland piece of wood, making their use very valuable. The following set of pictures will take you through the making of a shallow plate and also the paints being put to use. Most of the pictures were taken by Richard Comfort with a few of my own taken at my workshop. The turnout for the meeting was excellent.

A blank of Beech on the lathe, ready to start my shallow plate.
The first cuts being taken, this levelled up the bottom.
Now I'm forming the recess in the base for mounting on a chuck when I come to do the inside.
The chuck recess formed and I have also started to form the shape of the underside, you will also see I have marked out where the foot will be.
Now I'm finishing off the shape on the outside.
With the shape complete, some sanding was required, I use the Powerlock system for most of my sanding, here the inside of the chuck recess is being sanded.
I changed the size of the sanding disc to sand the remainder of the outside.
With the sanding complete on the outside, I applied a coat of sanding sealer and flattened with steel wool.
A coat of Melamine was used for the final finish, here I'm buffing the Melamine to a soft glow.
Now for the inside, the blank now mounted on a chuck that fits inside the recess.
The first job is to flatten the face then to form the area where the Pebeo paint has to go, it should be about 3mm deep, the width is up to you.
Now I am removing the waste from the inside of my shallow plate.
As the depth increases do check for thickness over the recess area, you do not want to go through the bottom.
With the shape and depth finished on the inside, the whole of the inside can be sanded.
A coat of sealer has been applied and the inside flattened with wire wool.
A final coat of Melamine finishes the plate, here I'm just buffing the finish to a soft glow.
If you use a spigot for the base, it will need to be removed, this is done with a set of bowl jaws. Here I'm sanding the base after removing the spigot.
The sanded base, seal and polish using the same method as for the rest of the plate.
For this Maple plate I did the painting at the club,I used Pebeo Vitrail dark green for the base with Pebeo Moon apricot on top.
For this Lime plate I used 2 colours of Pebeo Prisme, red and purple, this type of paint gives the honeycomb effect after a few hours.
These were the Pebeo paints I used at the club along with some white spirit for cleaning the tools.
The Beech plate I made at the club, the base coat of Pebeo Vitrail dark green was applied using a pipette to a depth of 2 mm.
The Pebeo Moon apricot now about to be applied, I use a marked out piece of paper to help with the positioning of the spots of Moon paint.
This is how it looked after applying the Pebeo Moon apricot, there is no waiting time before applying the Moon paint.

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For a larger picture and some more information, click any picture.

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This weeks meeting, working with Pebeo paints.

This weeks meeting on the 7th March is a demonstration by Alec Mutch on the use of Pebeo paints in woodturning, mainly used on small to medium sized plates or platters. These paints can be used to enhance the look of a fairly bland piece of wood making it a very useful product to use.

Here are some examples of small shallow plates where I have used the Pebeo paints, the plate on the left is Ash and I have used Pebeo Prisme in 3 different colours to create the decoration. The middle plate is Sycamore and here I have used PebeoVitrail black for a base coat with spots of Pebeo Moon in blue on top, the plate on the right is Sweet Chestnut and here I have used Pebeo Ceramic black for the base with Pebeo Moon in blue on top. All these paints are reactive paints and need to be left to develop for a period of time after use, they will not look anything like they are on application but will develop into something quite different with some time, the drying period can be as long as 3 days and they need to stay flat during that time.
Here are samples of the 4 different Pebeo paints I use, these are all solvent based paints that require white spirit as a cleaning agent. Some of these are available in the Hobby shop in Inverness but with a very limited range of colours and only available in handy packs of ready made up colours in 15ml jars. For a wide range of colours in all 4 types and in bigger jars of 45ml go to, www.pullingers.com, they are also a lot cheaper in the bigger size and the choice is better. You will require pipettes and spatulas for applying these paints as some of them need some depth to react fully.
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Competition report from 21-02-2019

Our competition on the 21st February 2019 was all about making a turned box. The number of entries for the novice group were very good, as was the number of entries for the experienced group, however the intermediate group had far fewer entries, this has a lot to do with the way the groupings are arrived at and that is something the club is going to address for future competitions. The standard of work in all 3 groups was excellent which made the judging very difficult, it was hard to pick a winner, the judging was done by Alec Mutch and Gordon Leitch. The pictures for the competition were taken by Alec Mutch. In addition to the competition all of our 5 lathes were in operation during the whole event with the turners doing their own things, 2 of those turners were on the lathes for the first time at the club. The pictures for these turners were taken by Alec Mutch and Phil Moore.

For a larger picture and some more information click on any picture.

These were the entries for the Novice group.
These were the entries for the Intermediate group.
These were the entries for the Experienced group
The winner of the Novice group, a lime box made by Mark Dale.
The winner of the Intermediate group, Ash & Mahogany box made by Dave Line.
The winner of the Experienced group. Purpleheart, Beech & Cherry Made by Errol Levings.
Free turner Vicky Pocock as she makes a start on a small Sycamore bowl.
Free turner Colin MacKenzie as he makes a start on making wooden pens.

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This week’s competition.

You only have a few days left to make a box for this week’s competition on Thursday 21st February 2019. We want to see lots of entries from all 3 categories, if you need any inspiration, there are quite a lot of box designs and ideas on this web site , good luck with your entry and do remember there is a £25 prize for each of the winners in all 3 categories. There will also be all 5 lathes in operation during the evening whilst the competition judging is going on, there should be something for everyone to see and enjoy.

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2019 AGM report.

Our AGM on Thursday 7th February 2019 went very well. We had a very good turnout of members and all the existing committee members were present. The chairman made an opening statement, followed by the secretary presenting the minutes of the previous AGM. The chairman did a report on the years events, that was followed by the treasurer giving a report on the financial status. Topics discussed were , the constitution, skype and the internet, membership fees and training fees. As the committee had shrunk to just 7, we voted a few more members onto the committee taking it back up to 12. There were a few items raised under A.O.B. that the chair announced would be discussed at the first committee meeting.

Pictured here at the start of the meeting, Left, Cliff Sim, Treasurer. centre, Alec Mutch, Chairman. right, Peter Lawrence, secretary.
Here I am opening the meeting, welcoming everyone to the meeting.
Here are some of the members reading Peter's minutes report.
In this picture Cliff Sim (treasurer) is reading his financial report to the meeting, copies of his report were handed out to the meeting.
One of the votes in progress for the new members of the committee.
Another of the votes taking place.

The committee would like to thank all of you who attended the AGM. For a larger picture and some more information, click any of the pictures.

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AGM this Thursday 7th February 2019.

Our AGM is to be held this Thursday 7th February 2019, start time of 18.45pm. We are looking for a good turnout as there are positions to be filled on the committee.

This is likely to be a shorter meeting than normal as there won’t be anything happening out with the AGM business.

Yes, we have all been there at some time in our turning experiences.
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Club meeting on Thursday 24th January 2019.

Our club meeting on Thursday evening 24th January 2019 was a one to one meeting, where an experienced member would take a less experienced member through the process of doing something that they find challenging, this could be some element of turning or it could be sharpening the tools. We had 3 lathes in operation and the sharpening station. Bill Munro was showing Dave Line some of the finer points of spindle turning. Errol Levings was doing long hole boring with Graham Charge, (Graham is a new member to our club). David Hay was at the sharpening station demonstrating the art of sharpening, we had asked the members to bring in a tool to get reground or sharpened, suffice to say David was kept very busy. Lastly I Alec Mutch was demonstrating the use of a bowl gouge with Bill Henderson, Bill has been using tipped tools thus far but now felt it was time to try and use the gouge. The turn out of members was very good and the evening went very well, Peter Lawrence was the manager for this session.

Here we have Bill Henderson making his first cuts on a bowl blank using a bowl gouge, being supervised by myself.
Here we have Dave Line working on spindle turning, Dave was being supervised by Bill Munro.
Here we have David Hay at the sharpening station, being observed by some of the members.
David was kept very busy sharpening and regrinding members tools after the members were encouraged to bring in a tool to sharpen.
Here we have Errol Levings about to show Graham Charge the method used for long hole boring.
Here Errol is about to start the lathe after positioning the long hole boring tool to start the hole.
I have picked up some of the shavings after Bill made a few cuts, these shavings were exactly what is required to achieve a good finish.
Here Bill Munro is guiding Dave Line as he make his cuts.
A close up of Dave Line's cuts, note the ribbon like shavings, exactly what's required to achieve a good finish.
Bill now taking some cuts across the face of the blank, he was growing in confidence with every cut.
David sharpening a tool on the belt sharpener, being observed by some of the members.
A closer view of how David holds the tool as it's being sharpened, note the position of the tool guide above the belt.
Here Graham Charge is using the long hole boring tool, being observed by some of the members.
Graham making headway with the tool.
Dave Line working on the shaft of a goblet, here he is getting close to completion.
Dave line sanding the stem of the goblet.
Here Dave line is being supervised on the use of a parting tool to cut the goblet free, Bill Munro is ready to assist if needed.
A view inside the club premises with the members watching all the different turners at work.
This was as far as we got with the bowl turning, time ran out on us, however Bill Henderson said he would try one at home now.
Dave Line with his finished goblet.

Click any picture for a full sized picture and some text.

All the pictures were taken by Mike Day

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Club Meeting 24th January 2019

Our club meeting is on Thursday evening 24th January 2019, this will be a one to one meeting where an experienced turner takes a less experienced turner through the process of doing a part of turning they are finding they need a little help with. There will be 2 turners working the lathes David Hutcheson will be going through the process of spindle turning with Dave Line, I will be going through the use of a bowl gouge with Bill Henderson, David Hay is going to deal with sharpening, and we invite you to bring in a tool you think might benefit from some expert advice. John Ruickbie is going to take a novice turner through the process of getting started, this will include a talk on safety, some sharpening and some lathe work. This session is being managed by Peter Lawrence.

Oh how things used to be! no electric motor here nor any high speed tools.

Late update for Thursday’s meeting, David Hutcheson can’t be there due to other commitments, however his place has been filled by Bill Munro so the spindle turning with Bill and Dave line will go ahead as planned.

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First meeting in 2019.

Please be advised the first meeting in 2019 is on January 10th at the usual start time.

The meeting will be all about spindle turning, there should be 4 turners working the lathes, Bill Munro, David Hutcheson, Charles Richards and David McGruer, they will all be doing different things with spindle turning, there should be something for everyone to see and hold your interest.

The club committee would like to wish all the members and anyone who views this site a Happy New Year.