Category: General News

Our latest training evening took place on Thursday 7th April 2022 organized by Nick Simpson our Training Manager.

There were 5 tutors with 5 trainees all making a shallow bowl as part of their training, we also had our Safety officer John Ruickbie present along with 2 other observers, Geoff Potter who is also one of the tutors, and Barry Cumming a club member who wanted to observe. The situation with observers is only available through prior arrangement with Nick Simpson our training manager.

Our meeting this week on Thursday 31st March 2022 was a demonstration by Errol Levings, Errol was demonstrating the use of some of the additional items you might need for your woodturning, these were things like Templates, Jigs and Copy devices. He showed and explained the use of various templates, also some items he had made to assist with his woodturning, there was some discussion on whether some of the items were templates or jigs, whatever you wish to call any of them was of little consequence they were all useful in their own field of use.

Start time of 6.45pm

Our meeting this week on Thursday 31st March 2022 is a demonstration by Errol Levings on making and using Templates. Errol is a long standing member of the club and is going to be working with Templates. Templates are extremely useful when making more than one of anything, from a very simple shape of an egg to the much more complicated detail on say a table leg or a pair of candlesticks. Usually made from pieces of card for short runs of anything like four chair legs, however if you were to be making a lot of any one item then a piece of acrylic cut to the shapes required would be the better option, the detail would not be degraded from constant use, and be aware the template is the most important item to be made as everything that you make using the template will be the same as the template so make it accurate in the first instance.

Our meeting this week 17th March 2022 was a demonstration by Alec Mutch, Alec was to make one of Mick O’Donnell’s wooden birds, he had made one of these some time ago at a previous demonstration for the club, but now with lots of new members it was worth repeating.

Start time 6.45pm.

Our meeting this week on Thursday 17th March 2022 is going to be a demonstration by Alec Mutch, Alec will be making one of Mick O’Donnell’s bird interpretations, Alec first saw Mick making one of these at a demonstration Mick did for the North Highland Woodturners based in Castletown near Thurso, and gave Alec permission to replicate his design when demonstrating at other venues.

Our meeting this week on Thursday 3rd March 2022 was a demonstration by Nick Simpson. Nick was to make a Tricylinder, this is an example of a joint where multiple pipes intersect, normally made out of metal for the plumbing industry but for our purposes it’s made out of wood. This is an exercise on working out how to make such an item. The time we had available did not allow Nick to make a complete Tricylinder at his demonstration so he had prepared several at various stages, these he then explained how he got there. He did go on to do some of the more challenging parts of his Tricylinder including explaining the process that was needed to achieve his goal.

Start time 6.45pm.

Our meeting this week on Thursday 3rd March 2022 is going to be a demonstration by Nick Simpson, Nick is going to show you how to make a tricylinder from a piece of wood. For those who are unfamiliar with the the term Tricylinder, I have put a couple of pictures up for you to see. These Tricylinders are in effect where a series of pipes would have intersected were they made of metal, Nick’s Tricylinder is made from wood and offers an excellent opportunity to further your woodturning skills, it’s also very good at making you think about how you are going to actually be able to make this item, bear in mind it’s being made from one piece of wood.

Our meeting this week on Thursday 17th February 2022 was a demonstration by John Ruickbie, John was to make a bowl from a piece of Elm but not the usual bowl, he was going to leave the top of his bowl square, in addition to being square, John was to make some decorative penetrations on the lip of his bowl at each of the 4 corners of the bowl. This would mean he required more than just the lathe to make this bowl, a Scroll saw would also be used. John was to demonstrate how the penetrations were made, making use of firstly a template to mark out the penetrations, then drilling a small hole to accommodate the saw blade, then actually using the Scroll saw to cut the penetrations.

Start time 6.45pm

Our meeting this week, Thursday 17th February 2022 is a demonstration by John Ruickbie. John is going to be making a square bowl on the lathe, he will also do some decorative work on the bowl with the use of a fret saw. John had demonstrated something similar a few years ago but as the membership keeps changing John felt it was time to do it again for the benefit of the many new members we have in the club.