Our next meeting is on Thursday 3rd October 2024 and it’s our last of our shield Competitions for this year. This competition is all about Rocking Bowls in all 3 categories, the Novice and the Intermediate categories have to make a single Rocking Bowl, the Open category have to make a matching pair of Rocking Bowls, they can be any size as long as they have a rounded base.
For those unfamiliar with the term Rocking Bowl, this is just a bowl that has a rounded base other than the normal base where the base is usually flat or very slightly concave. The main difficulty in making these bowls is working out how to hold them on the lathe so that both sides can be worked to a finish.
This is the first time we have asked the members to make Rocking Bowls in a competition so much so that I don’t have any pictures of a Rocking Bowl to show you.
In addition to the competition Dave Line has organized that there will be turners working the lathes whilst the judging is going on, the judges will be Nick and one other yet to be confirmed.
Here are a couple of pictures of items that might interest you.
These are 3 very good books on woodturning, the Foundation Course by Keith Rowley is very good especially for beginners, the other 2 are also good in their own way.
More good books, beware of Richard Raffan’s book, he does things with a skew that takes quite a lot of practice to master. The book on finishing is very good, and it covers this subject beautifully, the book on Wood for woodturners is a useful addition to your library although you will find some of the woods mentioned are no longer available.
Here is a couple of little projects for you to do.
These Hollow forms are the closest I could find that have a very small base, not completely rounded but close to.
Do try and make a Rocking Bowl and enter it or them into the competition, we would like to see your efforts and remember it’s only a bowl without a flat base.
The usual raffles will be on sale as will there be tea and coffee available for a small donation of 50p. We look forward to seeing you all there and bring your Rocking Bowls with you.