With the holiday season coming to a close we had another Hands on and Turning Clinic for our September meeting. As usual we had plenty of different activities taking place on the night which hopefully interested everyone from the novice turner to our more experienced members.
On the first club lathe, our new and novice turners were given the chance to turn a honey dipper under the guidance of our AWGB tutor Ginie. Starting with a simple piece gets them to learn the basics of turning (including Health and Safety advice) guided by a qualified tutor or an experienced turner.
Steve, who only joined the club last month, got his first experience of actual turning. By the end of the night he had turned his honey dipper, and was quite rightly proud of what he had achieved. All we’ve got to do now is get a lathe sorted for him.
On the second club lathe, John Wardle showed members how to chase a thread onto a piece using thread chasing tools. Keeping it simple and easy to understand he first used a wax candle and then moved to the inside of a wooden box lid. It was good to see people getting involved and having a go themselves and hopefully this will give them the confidence to buy a set of chasing tools and try it in their own workshops.
On the third lathe we had our very own Tool Doctor – Tony Jones. As a qualified AWGB tutor and demonstrator Tony was the best person to pick up the challenge to show members how to use their various tools, or to explain where they could improve their technique.
There were a few interesting questions that Tony answered, from avoiding tear outs when turning a bowl to the use of a ring tool.
Hopefully members can go away and practice the ideas that Tony imparted, hopefully improving their turning at the same time.
We also had our regular sharpening guru, Tom Phoenix on hand to show the best techniques for sharpening your tools and what grinds worked best. It is always good to have Tom explain to and show members the best way to keep their tools sharp and ready to use.
Segmented turning is a complex way of producing outstanding pieces, and it can be daunting even for the most experienced turner.
Keith Drew is one of our members who has vast experience at segmented turning and kindly offered, with the help of Mike Floody, to show members how to get started. Keith brought his own home made jig along and explained how to go through all of the steps before you start turning.
Accompanied by an on screen presentation, Keith shared his tips for success to a crowd of interested members.
Here are a few more photographs from the evening:
This was also the evening when the entries for the Chairman’s Challenge that I set a back in July were to be judged. I am pleased that we yet again had a good selection of items that had been spindle turned, and our judges selected 6 items to go forward to represent the club at next years Woodworks at Daventry show. A big thank you to everyone who entered, there were some excellent pieces but here are the ones chosen.
You can find out about the next Chairman’s Challenge by checking out the page under the Events Tab of the website.
The evenings events we once again finished off with our club raffle and our bring and buy table. The money that we raise from the raffle goes to support everything we do from paying for demonstrators or outdoor events. Thank you to everyone who buys a ticket for helping the club.