Posted on by Alec Mutch

Report on our meeting 09-12-2021, Demonstration by Andy Walters.

Our meeting on Thursday 9th December 2021 was a demonstration by Andy Walters, Andy is the proprietor of Black Isle Woodturning and is self employed in this business. He agreed to do a demonstration for our club by making a Candle Lantern, this involved making a top and a bottom out of wood that were turned and a paper centre piece perforated to allow the light to shine through, he used an electronic candle for lighting the lantern.

Here are some pictures of how Andy went about his project,

1, Here is Andy showing and explaining to our members what he was going to make, a candle lantern. 2, The electronic candle he would be using. 3, Andy had done a drawing with all the sizes for the Lantern. 4, Here he is showing our members the 2 pieces of turned work required for the Lantern.
5, Andy is showing the piece of wood he was to use, it was a piece of Native Walnut. 6, Andy held the piece by cutting a recess on the bottom to fit the dovetail chuck jaws. 7, Now on the lathe, Andy brings the blank down to the required thickness and squared off the face. 8, Here Andy is taking some measurements to transfer to the blank.
9, Andy is marking out the sizes required, this will be the base piece. 10, Here Andy is using a set of dividers to lay out his first shaping cut. 11 & 12 the cuts taking place.
13 & 14, the shaping of the base piece almost complete. 15, Sanding the base piece with various grades of sanding medium. 16, finishing off the sanding process using a web based sanding cloth.
17, 18, and 19, are all showing the finishing process, Andy would apply 2 coats of sanding sealer by brush, he would flatten the first coat then apply a 2nd coat finally buffing up the sanding sealer with a fine lint free cloth. The base piece was then parted off. 20, Now Andy makes a start on the top section, by laying out some sizes.
21 & 22 show the wood for the top being brought down to the correct size and squared off on the face. 23 & 24 show some of the detail being applied to the top.
25 & 26 show the sanding and finishing process for the face of the top. 27 & 28 Andy is preparing to cut the top piece free prior to turning it around to complete the underside of the top.
29, the top piece being parted off. 30, the top now turned around and the internal detail being worked.
33, Here we can see Andy polishing the underside of the top. 34, now back with the base piece, Andy had to remove most of the underside creating a hollow base. 35 & 36 The hollowing of the base in progress, he would go to almost 2/3 the depth of the base.
37, Hollowing of the base complete, now Andy is sanding and polishing the underside of the base. 38, The completed top. 39, The underside of the completed top. 40, The base piece held in the jaws for the cut outs to be done, ideally a vice would be used to make the cut outs.
41, Andy put 3 rounded cut outs in the base, here he can be seen using a set of dividers to find the centre of each cut out. 42, A wood rasp being used to make the cut outs, these would then have been sanded, sealed and polished. 43, the perforated paper fitted, only glue the paper to the bottom, the top stays in place unglued. 44 & 45, the finished candle lantern now with the electronic candle fitted and lit.

We hope you have enjoyed seeing Andy at work and that woodturning need not only be wooden, that other material may be used.

Our next meeting is the Christmas raffle meeting, that will be held on the 23rd December 2021 with a start time of 6.45pm. There will not be any turning at this meeting, tickets for the Christmas raffle will be on sale until the draw starts.

Your committee would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.