Posted on by Alec Mutch

Report on our all day meeting on the 27th July 2019.

Our all day meeting on the 27th July was a great success, it was organized by John Cheadle who arranged for 3 turners to do different demonstrations throughout the day, he also arranged for Celtic woodturning supplies to be present to sell their wares. We had a good response from our own members, but what was also very pleasing a group of 12 woodturners from the North Highlands Woodturners based in Castletown Caithness also attended the meeting, there were also representatives from the Elgin Woodturners. The day went very well and to schedule finishing off with the customary raffle. A summary of all 3 turners work follows in 3 separate galleries.

Alec Mutch.

Here we have John Cheadle opening the meeting and introducing the first turner, Alec Mutch.
Here I am showing the crowd my intended work piece, a piece of spalted beech that will be a natural edged bowl.
My work piece mounted on a set of pin jaws ready to start the turning.
I brought up the tailstock for added support for the first few cuts.
The first cuts being taken on the outside shape.
Here I can be seen making the recess on the base to take the expanding collet jaws.
Now I have laid out the extent of the foot on the bowl, approx 55% of the outer diameter.
Cutting back the outside shape to suit the newly laid out foot.
The chuck recess requires a very small internal dovetail to match the jaws, this is the tool I use for this, it's a modified file.
Here I can be seen sanding the whole of the outside, I use the Powerlock system for most of my sanding.
After the sanding, I applied a liberal coat of sanding sealer and rubbed it well in.
After the sealer a coat of Melamine was applied, here I am rubbing it in with a paper towel.
Now with the lathe running and a fresh paper towel I burnished the outside to a soft sheen.
A change of chuck to do the inside, these are the standard dovetail jaws that will fit inside the recess I cut in the bottom.
The first cuts being made on the turning of the inside.
After the first few cuts, I moved the rest into the hollow to minimise the overhang of the tool.
Further cuts being taken on the inside.
Getting closer to the desired wall thickness and depth.
Checking the wall thickness with a double ended set of callipers.
The tool work on the inside now complete.
Sanding of the inside using the Powerlock system, both the lathe and the drill running.
The tops of the wings on the bowl being sanded with the lathe stationary.
The bowl would now be sealed, rubbed back with wire wool and a coat of Melamine applied and buffed.
My finished natural edged bowl.

Gary Lowe.

Here we have John Cheadle introducing our guest turner, Gary Lowe, from Elgin.
Here is Gary showing the crowd the piece he is going to work on, He is going to make a variation of a spinning top.
Here Gary is fixing the tailstock, having mounted the other end in the chuck.
Using a roughing gouge Garry brings the blank of Beech to a cylinder.
Now he starts to shape the top end.
Top end shape almost complete, he now marks out where he is going to start near the bottom.
Bottom end shaping in progress.
This overhead screen shot shows Gary completing the final shape.
Sanding in progress, Gary first coated the item with a light layer of wax to minimise the dust.
This screen shot show to better effect Gary's sanding method.
Here he is buffing the wax finish he applied to the item.This completed the first part, the base.
Now for the 2nd part the spinning top itself, Gary used another piece of Beech for this.(can be seen on the lathe).
The small block of Beech mounted between centres.
The blank now turned into a cylinder.
Gary starts to shape the bottom of the spinning top.
The bottom and the inside of the bottom now nearing completion.
This was where Gary was heading to reproduce.
Gary had made a tool just for the purpose of shaping the pin in the inside.
Now he is sanding all of the inside including the pin the the top will spin on.
Now Gary starts to work the outside shape.
He sands the cup part before going any further.
This screen shot shows the top end of the cup being worked.
The final cuts being taken prior to sanding and parting off.
This screen shot shows Gary sanding the delacate stem.

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Mark Sutton.

Here we have Mark Sutton making his address to the crowd on what he was about to do.
He brought in a couple of examples, here he shows a Triptych, a set of 3 artistic works.
A close up of his Triptych.
Another example, this time it's a Diptych, made in 2 parts.
Mark shows the crowd some of the paints he uses in his work.
The turning begins,forming the first of a series of shapes from the centre out.
The shaping progressing well.
Here Mark can be seen sanding some of the first stages.
Mark showed the crowd some of the materials he works with, this was copper leaf.
Mark applying some size to the centre to hold the metal leaf.
The metal leaf being applied to the centre.
Once the leaf was firm, Mark put it back on the lathe to clean it up.
Using a skew Mark trimmed the edge of the metal leaf.
Now for the next part Mark put on some masking tape, here he can be seen trimming the edges.
Here he can be seen spraying the masked area with black acrylic paint.
While the paint was drying Mark showed the other colours he might use.
The other colour were applied with a small sponge, just dabbed on, and all at the same time.
With the tape removed, the results were quite clear to see.
Mark cleaned up the painted areas overspill.
As a final clean up of the face, Mark used a gouge on a trailing cut to smooth off the face of the work.
Mark put a second piece of detail on the work, here he is off centering one piece to do this work.
Here Mark is cutting the small 2nd detail, the ghost of the rest of the work is quite clear to see.
Mark repeated the colouring on the small detail.
A little bit of heat was applied to dry the paint using a heat gun.

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The all day event was first done in 2018 to good effect, this year however with the addition of Celtic Woodturning Supplies and a very good attendance this year was even better, we will be having an all day event again next year.

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