Category: General News

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This week’s meeting 16th May 2019.

This week’s meeting on the 16th May 2019 is all about making wooden fruit. It’s being organized by David Hobson, He has arranged for 4 more turners to man the lathes these are Alec MacLeod, John Ruickbie, Bob Chisholm, Richard Comfort and David himself. All will be making some sort of wooden fruits and hopefully a variety of fruits.

Here are a few examples of some wooden fruits from my own portfolio. Left is an Apple made from African Padauk, centre are a couple of Pears made from Sycamore and Ash and right are a pair of Plums made from Purplheart.
These are also from my own portfolio, the Banana although not turned is made from Pau Amarillo and the Grapes that were turned are made from Native Walnut.
Here the fruits can be seen as one display in a bowl made from Native Walnut, the Orange on the right is made from Agba a very light wood that took the detail of an Orange easily, it was stained with an orange water based dye.

These are just some ideas for fruits that we might see at the meeting being made, but there may be some other fruits being made that I have not pictured. Come and observe anyway, we hope for a good turnout and that the meeting will be enjoyable and informative.

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Our club meeting on 2nd May 2019 was a showtime meeting.

Our club meeting on the 2nd May 2019 was a showtime meeting, this is where the members are encouraged to bring and show any item they had made over the past few weeks, each one would get the opportunity to tell the members how they made any item and answer any questions from the members. The attendance for this meeting was a little smaller than usual and the number of members exhibiting was also a little smaller than usual, however the amount of items displayed was very good. The evening went well and the members got fully involved with all the item shown.

Here I am doing my introductions for the meeting, I was also the compere for the showtime meeting.
First up was Douglas Stewart, Douglas had made a selection of wooden mice as a novelty.
A closer view of some of Douglas's mice, all made in a variety of woods.
Here we have Dave Line, Dave made a couple of items, here he is showing his segmented vase with lid.
A closer view of David's vase with lid.
Dave also made this novelty mock up of an old style of telephone in Oak.
A closer view of Dave's 2 items.
Here we have Bob Chisholm, Bob had several item to show, here is his first a wooden platter made in Sycamore.
Another of Bob's items, a Mortar and pestle made from a segmented form.
Another of Bob's items a very shallow plate made from Sycamore.
Bob also made this Gavel and Block.
A closer view of Bob's Gavel and Block.
Here we have David Hutcheson showing the first of his 2 items.
David's first item was a shallow bowl with a natural edge, David explained he did not like to throw any piece of wood out, and this was the result of one such piece.
The underside of David's shallow bowl, he had made an insert to fill the chuck recess and added a little decoration.
The second of David's items was this piece of Elm, again this was salvaged from the throw away pile, it had some cracks that David stitched using some metal staples.
The top side of David's Elm plate, he had scorched the underside and carried the scorching on to the top side for forming the lip.
Here we have Geoff Potter showing a natural edged bowl, Geoff explained that this piece of wood was salvaged from the shore of a highland loch.
A closer view of Geoff's Elm bowl.
The second of Geoff's items was this highly spalted bowl, it had been made from a piece of Beech that had been cut using a bowl saver.
A closer view of Geoff's Spalted Beech bowl.
This picture shows the piece that came out of the bowl using the bowl saver with the bowl to the left and the natural edged bowl to the right.
Here we have Bill Munro, Bill showed a couple of items that were all made by using the inside out turning method.
This was Bill's compote inside out turning, made from native Walnut.

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If you want to see a larger picture along with some text, click any picture. Most of the pictures for this post were taken by Dave Line.

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Hollow form competition on the 30th May.

The next competition will be held on the 30th May 2019, the subject will be making a hollow form, this can be made from a single piece of wood or from as many pieces as you wish. A sheet with each categories criteria is included in this post along with a few other sheets with some designs for your consideration or to just give you some ideas, you do not need to follow exactly any of these ideas, they are there just to give you inspiration but do use your own initiative and make something completely different.

Competition-criteria, select the category you are in.
Hollow-forms-design-1, shows how a 2 part hollow form is made.
Hollow-forms-design-2, a selection of designs for your imagination.
Hollow-forms-with-text-1

Use the criteria page as your guide for the category you are in, and we hope to see lots of entries from all 3 categories, do remember there is a prize of £25 for the winner in each class.

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Next meeting 2nd May 2019, it’s showtime once again.

Our next meeting on the 2nd May 2019 is a showtime meeting, it’s your opportunity to to show the members what you have made over the past few weeks. It will be the same format as on previous occasions, each person will get the opportunity to present their work and give a short presentation on what they have made. A good turnout will be expected and we would like to see as many entries as possible especially from some of the newer members. You will all get a seat and the cameras and screens will be in use.

Here are some pictures of some of the entries on a showtime meeting held on February 2018.
More pictures of some of the item shown on the February 2018 meeting, the skeleton clock in the middle picture was shown by one of our most recent members at the time.
These pictures were taken at the June 2018 showtime meeting, as you can see a wide range of turned items were shown.
More pictures taken at the June 2018 showtime meeting, 3 very interesting items, John Ruickbie’s Mons meg cannon on the left, David Ross’s laminated and pierced bowl in the centre and Gordon Leitch’s Monkey puzzle bowl on the right, all expertly done.
These are pictures from our last showtime meeting held in August 2018, again a wide range of turned ware.
More pictures from our last showtime meeting held in August 2018.

It never ceases to amaze me at the diversity and quality of the work presented at one of our showtime meetings, so do keep on showing your work, your friends and fellow members all like to see what everyone is making and we can all learn from each other by sharing our experiences.

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Report on our meeting on 18th April 2019, making repairs in woodturning.

Our club meeting on the 18th April 2019 was organized by David Hay, his main theme for the meeting was how to make repairs in woodturning. David would be the main contributor to this type of work, however he had also arranged for 3 other members to be demonstrating their own things, these were David Hutcheson on a lathe, he would make a container for holding and storing sanding sealer, Mark Sutton also on a lathe, he would make a small Japanese style tea bowl, and Mark Dale was tasked with doing some hand carving and would make a large spoon or serving ladle. The turnout of members was very good and the evening went well, each demonstrator seemed to get a fair share of the attendees.

Here we have David Hay making his first of many holes in his Cherry blank to take the plugs he would use to disguise the shakes (cracks) in the blank.
Once the holes have been drilled corresponding plugs need to be fitted, these are held in with super glue, the plugs a re gently tapped into each hole.
Here we have one of the members having a go at drilling the holes, David likes to encourage onlookers to have a go under his supervision.
David continues to drill some more of the many holes required.
These are the plug cutters David uses, some of these sets come with corresponding drill bits.
Once all the plugs have been inserted, the blank is spun and any excess plug material skimmed off before sanding to a finish.
The outside now complete, all the plugs have been fitted and the outside sanded sealed and polished. David would do the inside at home.
Here we have David Hutcheson's blank about to be mounted in the chuck, the wood is Sycamore, he is going to make a lid with an integral brush to hold and apply sealer.
David starts to shape the blank to take a plastic seal that fits the top of a jam jar.
Here David is trial fitting the plastic seal, it needed to be a very good fit.
With the seal fitting, David turn his attention to the shaping of the handle.
David continues to shape the handle, but you will see a drill bit in the tailstock, this would be used to drill a hole to take the handle of a sealer brush.
The shaping of the main handle nears completion, the hole for the brush handle has been drilled.
All that remains is a little bit of decoration to the main handle, this is achieved by scoring the wood and using a wire to burn a few lines in the handle.
Here is David with his finished sealer pot complete with the handle he has just made, the brush would be inserted into the drilled hole and fixed with epoxy resin.
This is Mark Sutton's blank being mounted on the lathe, the wood is Sycamore, and Mark would demonstrate the making of a Japanese style tea bowl,
Here Mark has shaped the outside and made a short spigot on the bottom, this would be used to hold the item when turned around.
Now Mark has turned the piece around and has started to shape the inside, you will notice before he turned it around, Mark did some texturing and colouring of a band near the top by way of decoration.
Here Mark is using a ring tool on the inside to give him the shape and quality of cut on the inside.
Here Mark is doing the final cuts prior to sanding and finishing.
To clean up the bottom and get rid of any chuck marks, Mark has used a piece of router mat fixed to a disc and held the cup between centres using the tailstock, some very minor sanding would be required after cleaning up the base.
Here is Mark's finished Japanese style tea bowl.
Here we have Mark Dale making his first cuts on a piece of Birch using a hatchet and a home made chopping block. Mark would go on to make a large spoon or ladle.
Here is a sample of Mark's excellent work, one he did earlier by way of example.

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For a larger picture and some text, click any picture.

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Next meeting 18th April 2019, making repairs in woodturning.

Our next meeting on the 18th April 2019 has been organized by David Hay, his topic for the meeting is going to be working with wood that has defects and how in most cases this can be overcome and indeed even enhance the appearance of an item. In addition to what David is doing himself, he has arranged for 3 other members to be doing their own things, 2 are going to be turning, David Hutcheson and Mark Sutton, and for a special treat Mark Dale is going to do some carving. Mark Sutton’s attendance is still to be confirmed, after contacting him today his attendance will depend on his workload, but if he is there he will be making a Japanese inspired tea bowl.

This is the type of thing David Hay is going to demonstrate, the one on the left had 2 long shakes running lengthwise and David has used a series of plugs to hide the defects.The 2 other pictures show a whole series of cracks had to be hidden resulting in dozens of plugs being inset to hide the cracks.
This is a bowl of my own that was treated in exactly the same way,the picture on the left shows the crack being repaired with the plugs, the middle picture shows the extent of the plugs used, and the picture on the right shows the finished bowl, I had no problem accepting there would be a hole (or as we turners like to call it,”a natural element”) in the finished bowl, you will see that the plugs have been exposed on the inside as well, that’s something you need to take into consideration if applying this method to a bowl, you need to make the plugs long enough to be able to reveal them on the inside too.
After doing the original post I got an email from David Hutcheson with what he is going to do at the club this Thursday, he is going to make a sealer pot from a jam jar, this is a very useful item to have as it gives you the ability to judge the amount of thinning you put into your sealer much better than just guessing how much to put in the tin. An excellent project to do and you should all make one.

If I get any more changes to the programme before the meeting I will update the post, but if not we look forward to a good turnout and we hope you find the meeting interesting and informative.

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Report on our meeting on Thursday 4th April 2019, using a bowl saver tool.

Our meeting on the 4th April 2019 was mainly about the use of a bowl saver tool, this tool gives the user the ability to take more than 1 bowl out of a single blank making it a very useful tool especially if the blank is quite unusual or expensive. David Hay was the demonstrator and he did an excellent job of demonstrating exactly how it worked. In addition to the bowl saver demonstration, David had also arranged for 3 more turners to work the lathes, all of these turners were doing different things on the lathes, Colin MacKenzie was making a shallow platter in native Elm, Douglas Stewart was making wooden fruit, he did an apple in Yew wood and a pear in Cherry wood, David Hobson was making finials out of a piece of Mahogany. The turnout was very good, the evening started with the committee having one of their regular meetings prior to the start of the main meeting.

This is David Hay using the bowl saver tool on the first of 2 cuts he would do with the tool. the wood David used was a highly spalted piece of Beech.
The first of David's cuts almost complete, to remove the centre required a small tap just to release it from the parent wood.
Another view of the tool in use, it's held by the tool post and the tail stock and the whole thing works on the pivot, to make the cut, the handle on the top is pulled towards yourself.
Here we have David showing the onlookers the piece he removed from the centre.
David went on to complete the inside to the first bowl.
The inside of the bowl completed.
This was the final front piece David removed with the bowl saver tool, he gave this piece to one of our turners to complete at home.
Here is David's completed bowl, a highly spalted piece of Beech.
This is Colin MacKenzie making a start on his Elm platter, Colin works a lot with tipped tools.
Another view of Colin as he works the outside rim with one of his tipped tools.
Here Colin can be seen starting the cuts on the inside of his platter, again using tipped tools.
Colin MacKenzie's finished platter, a very nice piece of Elm, the green streaks in the wood give the type of Elm away, this is Wych Elm and native to Scotland.
This is Douglas Stewart making a start on one of his 2 fruits, this is an Apple being made from a piece of Yew wood.
Here Douglas is making a Pear from a piece of Cherry wood using a spindle gouge.
Douglas's Pear being sanded prior to being removed from the lathe and the stalk inserted.
These are Douglas Stewart's completed fruits, the Cherry wood Pear and the Yew wood Apple.
Here we have David Hobson mounting a piece of Mahogany in the chuck to make some finials.
Here David has started to make the first of his cuts.
One of David's finials almost complete, it's been sealed and polished ready to cut off.
One of David's finished finials, he did go on to make another.

If you want to see a larger picture and some text click on any picture.

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Next meeting 4th April 2019, using a bowl saver tool.

Our next meeting on the 4th April 2019 is going to be about using a bowl saver tool, this tool allows the user to make more than 1 bowl out of a piece of wood, David Hay is going to demonstrate it’s use and will be the main interest for the meeting, however David has organized 3 more turners to work the lathes, they are David Hobson, Douglas Stewart and Colin MacKenzie, they will all be doing their own thing but I’m sure they will be creating lots of interest themselves.

The picture on the left shows 2 bowls having been made with the use of the bowl saver tool from 1 piece of wood. The picture in the middle shows the actual tool mounted on the lathe, this is the Woodcut tool, it’s not a cheap option but if you are making quite a lot of bowls from expensive blanks it’s well worth the investment, another advantage of this tools use is you can create a nest of bowls 2,3 or even 4 out of 1 piece of wood and they will all be almost the same except for the size. The picture to the right is a closer view of the bowl saver tool. These pictures were provided by David Hay for this post.
These 3 pictures I took off the internet, all are bowl saver tools in the Woodcut range, these are not the only type of bowl saver tools available, there are quite a wide range of these tools on the market.

We look forward to seeing you all at the meeting and hope you find the subject matter interesting and informative, if you have any questions on the use of the bowl saver tool please feel free to ask David about anything you want to know.

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Report from our latest meeting 21st March 2019.

Our latest meeting on the 21st March 2019 was all about working with natural edges. There were 5 turners working the lathes, Bill Munro, John Ruickbie, Bob Chisholm, David Hutcheson and myself. The turnout for the meeting was very good and John Cheadle did all the introductions . The pictures were taken by Mike Day and Phil Moore.

Bill Munro setting up to start his project, Bill was using a piece of Bird Cherry.
Johm Ruickbie's blank mounted on the lathe ready to start, John was using a piece of Elm.
David Hutcheson's blank on the lathe ready to start, David was using a piece of Cherry.
This was my blank mounted on the lathe ready to start, it was a piece of Lime from the crux of a branch.
John Ruickbie as he get going with his first cuts.
The view from looking at the base of John's bowl.
Here we have Bob Chisholm as he makes a start on his bowl, Bob was using a piece of Yew, this picture gives you a perfect view of what the turner sees as he makes his cuts, the ghosting is quite obvious.
Bill Munro working the outside of his Bird Cherry bowl.
David Hutcheson started by doing the inside of his project first, he was making goblets with the top edge left natural.
Here am I making the first cuts on the outside of my Lime bowl.
Bob Chisholm now making a little more progress on his project.
Bill Munro repositioning the tool rest as he comes up the side of his bowl.
Bob Chisholm now making the chuck recess on the base of his bowl.
The goblet that David Hutcheson is making nears completion, here he is applying some sealer to his goblet.
My bowl nears completion on the outside, here I'm sanding the chuck recess.
Sanding the chuck by hand where the jaws will sit.
David Hutcheson on a second goblet, here he is sanding the inside of the cup.
I sanded the outside using the Powerlock system of sanding, a very efficient method of sanding.
A close up of the sanding process.
Here David Hutcheson is shaping the outside of a second goblet.
Here I have turned my bowl around to work the inside.
The inside being formed, here I'm about 2/3 of the way to being finished.
John Ruickbie working the inside of his bowl, here he's almost finished with the cuts.
Bob Chisholm working the inside of his bowl, again the ghosting is very clear.

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If you want to see a larger picture and some more detail, click any picture.

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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.