Category: Photos from meetings

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Report on our meeting on 09-01-2020, making wooden jewellery.

Our first meeting of the year took place on Thursday evening on the 09th January 2020, it was organised by Douglas Stewart and the theme was making wooden jewellery, Douglas had originally arranged for 5 turners to be working the lathes, however there were only 3 turners as the other 2 had to call off for various reasons, suffice to say there was insufficient time to organise replacements. The 3 turners were Douglas Stewart, Geoff Potter and myself, Douglas was to make a scarf clip, Geoff was to make a jewellery stand and I was making wooden ear rings.

There was an excellent turnout for the first meeting of the new year and Geoff was also collecting subscriptions for the year along with making his jewellery stand.

The following gallery of pictures accompanied with a little text should give you a flavour for how the meeting went, the pictures were courtesy of Mike Day.

Here we have Douglas Stewart as he makes a start on his scarf clip project.
Douglas had prepared his blank prior to coming to the meeting.
Douglas is now skimming the face of his project, a thin disc used as the base of his scarf clip.
The 2nd part of Douglas's scarf clip required a pin to be made from wood.
Here Douglas is finishing off the pin.
The finished disc of wood now sanded sealed and polished.
The finished product being put to it's intended use.
Douglas went on to start another clip, here he can be seen working the back.
Now Douglas is working the face of his 2nd thin disc.
Here we have Geoff Potter as he works his jewellery stand column.
Geoff used a fairly rough piece of wood that he would also turn off centre in some areas.
The shaping of the main stem in progress.
Geoff continued to refine the shape using the off centre turning methods.
Here Geoff can be seen sanding the stem.
A final sand before sealing and polishing.
In the foreground Geoff's finished stem showing some of the off centre work.
Here I am (Alec Mutch) setting up to start making ear rings.
The blank I used was made up from 6 different woods.
Here I'm making a start on the first cuts, only one tool was required for all the turning, a small spindle gouge.
Once shaped the worked piece is now sanded.
The ear ring was then sealed and polished and now needs to be cut off.
Here I'm using the spindle gouge to shear cut the base, it should not require sanding.
Here I'm parting off the ear ring with the spindle gouge, supporting it with my left hand.
A second one was made, this takes a little longer to do as it needs to match the first, here I'm applying a wax finish.

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This was only a very small journey into jewellery making, there are a number of books dedicated to making wooden jewellery that you might find fascinating , we hope this little experience has widened your view on woodturning, all of the metal parts required for jewellery making can be purchased from various sources on the internet.

Our next meeting is on the 23rd January and it’s also being organised by Douglas Stewart, the theme being making wooden toys and puzzles. There will also be a committee meeting that evening.

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Report on our meeting on 11th December 2019, Christmas competition & Christmas raffle draw.

Our last meeting for the year was on the 11th December 2019, it was also the Christmas competition where our members were asked to make something without having a theme,in other words it was an open competition. This applied to all 3 categories of turners in our club and the entry level was very good from all 3 categories. The standard of workmanship in all 3 categories was also very good, making the judging very difficult. The judging was carried out by all the members in the club and a winner did emerge in all 3 categories. This meeting was also our meeting where the Christmas raffle draw was done, this was handled by Colin MacRae and Jim Kelman, there was a huge amount of prizes , some bought by the club and some donated from the members. The turnout for this meeting was as expected very high. To get a flavour of how the meeting went, see the gallery of pictures below, click on the pictures for a larger view and a little text. Pictures by Alec Mutch.

A view of some of the members prior to the start of the meeting.
Picture 1 of 3 showing all the raffle prizes.
Picture 2 of 3 showing some more of the raffle prizes.
Picture 3 of 3 showing even more of the raffle prizes.
These were the entries in the Novice class, a good number exhibited and very good quality.
Another view of some of the entries in the Novice class.
These were the entries in the Intermediate class, fewer in number but very good for quality.
These were the entries for the Experienced class, good number of exhibits and excellent quality.
This was the winning entry in the Novice class, it was entered by Alec McLeod. 2nd place in this class was Richard Comfort.
This was the winning entry in the Intermediate class, it was entered by David Line. 2nd place in this class was also held by David Line.
This was the winning entry in the Experienced class, it was entered by David Hay. 2nd place in the Experienced class was David Ross.
Richard Comfort won the shield in the Novice class for the total points over the year 2019 competitions.
David Line won the shield in the Intermediate class for the total points over the year 2019.
John Ruickbie won the shield in the Experienced class for the total points won over the year 2019.
David Hay won the MacGregor shield for the best entry over all 3 categories in the year 2019.

This post ends the entries for 2019, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the committee members for the way the club has been handled this year, there are lots of tasks that have gone on unseen by the vast majority of the members that I as chairman appreciate has happened and will continue to happen, the club has been going now for some 15 years and appears to be going from strength to strength, the membership base is solid and we have had a waiting list for most of the club’s existence , this bodes well for the club’s continuance . Finally I would like to thank all the members for their attendance and we hope to see you all in the new year, our first meeting is on the 9th January 2020.

I would like take this opportunity on behalf of the committee to wish all our members online or present a very merry Christmas and a happy 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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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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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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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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Report from this weeks meeting 19th September 2019, pen making.

Our meeting this week on the 19th September 2019 was all about making wooden pens on the lathe. It was organized by Jim Kelman, Jim had 3 turners on the lathes, David Hobson, Bob Chisholm and Dave Line, there was also a little help given to David Hobson from David Hay and Mark Dale who used another lathe to do some assembly work on the pens. The turn out was good and the 3 turners held the attention of the members very well. The following picture gallery along with a little text should give you a flavour of how the evening went.

Here we have Bob Chisholm as he starts his pen making, Bob was using recycled oak.
One of his first pen barrels being hand sanded.
Bob is now working on a second pen barrel, this time he is using an acrylic blank.
Another of Bob's barrels, again an acrylic, this time it's golden yellow.
Here Bob can be seen using a jig for the assembly of his pens.
Here we have David Hobson sanding the barrels of his pen.
Here we can see David uses a mandrel that allows for both barrels to be mounted at the same time.
Here David is sanding a pair of Purple heart pen barrels.
Here is where David got some help, David Hay and Mark Dale assist with the assembly using only the lathe.
One of David Hobson's finished pens, this one is made from Iroko.
Here we have Dave line, as he starts his pen making, drilling the 7mm hole for the brass tube.
Dave mounted both parts on the mandrel and starts the turning process.
Here Dave Line is coating the barrels with sanding sealer.
Dave can be seen flattening the sealer with a wad of wire wool.
The 2nd barrel being sanded and sealed.
A coat of Melamine was applied and buffed to a soft sheen.
Here are 2 of Dave line's finished pens.

If you want to see a larger picture with a little text just click on any of the pictures. Pictures courtesy of Mike Day. Our next meeting on the 3rd October 2019 is a demonstration by Andy Walters of Black Isle Woodturning, he will be making a Scottish Quaich, we hope to see you all there.

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Report on our Showtime meeting 5th September 2019

Our Showtime meeting on the 5th September 2019 went very well, there were 10 members doing presentations and we had a good number of entries from our members, most of them had more than one item to show. The turnout was good for the members who were not doing presentations and everyone appeared to enjoy the presentations. A summary of the meeting follows in the form of a picture gallery with a little bit of text included.

First up we had John Ruickbie, he showed a small barrel made from some whiskey barrel staves.
John went on to describe exactly how he made the barrel.
Here John is showing the members part of one of the staves as he got them and described what he had to do.
This was part of the waste material that John was left with but it showed just how the barrel was constructed.
Here we have Bob Chisholm (in the pink jumper) showing one of his entries, a vase shaped candle holder.
Here we have Bob showing a small spalted bowl.
Another of Bob's entries, a splated beech bowl, I'm answering a question from the floor on this one.
Last of Bob's entries was a very nice natural edged bowl, again in spalted beech.
Here we have Douglas Stewart, Douglas made a whole wide range of wooden jewellery.
Douglas had some bangles, ear rings, pendants, rings and a ring tree.
Douglas was also into making wooden toys, here he is showing a small spinning top he had made.
Just some of Douglas's many item of turned jewellery.
Here we have Dave Line, Dave made a hollow form from a turning that he then cut and reassembled giving him the boat shape.
Dave had taken a few picture of his hollow form to show the members just how he did it.
Another of Dave's entries was a small laminated hinged box.
Here Dave and myself are showing the members the finished item and the pictures of how he did it.
Here we have Geoff Potter, Geoff made this very nice spalted beech bowl.
Another of Geoff's entries was another spalted beech bowl, here he is showing the underside and how it looked before he started.
The smaller of the 2 spalted beech bowls that Geoff made, Geoff told the members he needed a lot of sealer on the soft areas.
Another entry from Geoff was this small hollow vessel made from Cherry and Mahogany.
Geoff's finished Cherry hollow vessel.
Here we have David Hutcheson showing on of his entries, a shallow natural edged bowl in Elm.
Another Dave's entries a very nice Burr Elm bowl.
David was in the process of making a Quaich for a special occasion, here he is showing the part finished item.

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If you would like to see a larger example of any of the pictures and see a little text, just click on any of the pictures. We would like to thank all of you who put forward your entries and did the presentations, we look forward to seeing even more in the future, Pictures were courtesy of Mike Day.

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Showtime this week.

A reminder that this week’s meeting on the 5th September is a Showtime meeting. You are all encouraged to bring along anything you have made recently and to show and tell the members how and what you have made. The usual format will be applied where you will be asked to do a short presentation on anything you have made.

Here are some of the items that have appeared on previous showtime meetings.

We hope to have lots of items brought in to show, no matter what stage you are at with your turning we would all like to see some of your work so do participate.