Our meeting on Thursday 11th April 2024 was organized by Alan Geddes, he initially arranged for 4 more turners plus himself to be working all the club lathes, there was to be no theme to this meeting, hence it was called an open session where the turner could decide for him or her self what they were going to make.
However Alan had to call off from the meeting due to a medical problem that cropped up as late as the day before the meeting.
The turners he did arrange to be there were, Dave Line, Susan Drew, Geoff Potter and Nick Simpson. All the turners knew in advance what they were going to make and just got on with it even although Alan was not there. I took a few pictures of the turners at work with their projects, here are those pictures with a little bit of text.
On Lathe nr 1, we had Dave Line, he was going to make a Natural Edged Bowl from a piece of hardwood, Elm possibly. Picture 1, shows Dave making the first cuts on his blank. Picture 2, with the work progressing nicely, the shape of the base of his bowl can quite clearly be seen.
Picture 3, with the outside complete, Dave turned the piece around to work the inside, here he can be seen working the inside and getting close to the final cuts. A closer look at this image shows the ghost effect created when working this type of turning, great care needs to be adopted to do this type of turning. Picture 4, Dave sanded, sealed and polished his bowl to great effect, here he can be seen with the finished item.
On Lathe nr 2, we had Susan Drew, Susan was to make decorative wooden Mushrooms from pieces of various hardwood branches. Picture 1, shows Susan marking out where she wanted to start the turning. Picture 2, the shape of the base and stem of her Mushroom making good progress.
Picture 3, here we see Susan using a fine parting tool to create a spigot to allow her to turn the Mushroom around for the final cuts, a 3rd hand can be seen giving Susan some direction on how and where to make these cuts, the 3rd hand belonged to David Hobson who was assisting Susan more as a confidence booster than anything else as Susan is a very competent turner. Picture 4, here is Susan with her finished Mushroom.
On Lathe nr 4 we had Geoff Potter, Geoff was to make another Natural Edged Bowl from half a log of Ash. Picture 1, here he can be seen just setting everything up to start. Picture 2, here Geoff can be seen working the outside of his Natural Edged Bowl, he has opted to make use of the Tailstock at this stage, not an absolute necessity but good safety practice to do so, the club would endorse the use of the Tailstock wherever possible.
Picture 3, Geoff can be seen working the inside of this Natural Edged Bowl, he was nearly doing his final cuts at this stage, trying to match up the rim of bark to a constant width all round the bowl. A final sand, seal and polish and his bowl was finished. Picture 4, Her we see Geoff with his finished bowl, the bark rim looks very constant all round and the inside shape was very pleasing.
On Lathe nr 5 we had Nick Simpson, Nick was to make wooden spoons, things like salt spoons. Picture 1, shows Nick making his first cuts on a piece of Cherry he was to make his spoons from. Picture 2, The bulbus end of the spoon formed, he would now do the shape for the stem.
Picture 3, here we see Nick has put the spoon in a set of wooden jaws made to suit the size and shape of the spoon, this is necessary in order to cut the inside shape of the cup, bear in mind that the handle needs to be out of the way when cutting the inside of the cup but that it’s always going to be there protruding slightly both on the face of the jig and at the edge of the jig, so don’t forget it’s there, keep your hands and tools away from it, just concentrate on making the inside cuts in the cup. Picture 4, Here we see Nick with his finished spoon.
We had nobody working Lathe nr 3, as Alan had been called off and there wasn’t time for us to get a replacement turner.
The show table at our meetings always produces a few items, here are those that were on show at this meeting, we like to see what ‘s being made by our members so please do bring in something you have made or that you need advice about.
That concludes our meeting, the turners were given a hearty vote of thanks from the members and we hope to see Alan back as soon as possible.
Our next meeting is on the 25th April 2024, it’s a Showtime meeting being handled by Dave Line, do bring your items in to be shown, the more the merrier.