October’s monthly meeting was our last Hands On event of 2025, and it turned out to be a great evening.
As usual, we had our 3 club lathes up and running for members to get involved.
Trevor ran an acorn turning school on lathe one for our new and inexperienced members to get to grips with a simple project.
It proved to be extremely popular, and it gave everyone the chance to turn a simple form, and build their confidence up using the lathe and tools.
On lathe 2, Virginie demonstrated the jig she had made to turn identical chess pieces. She originally brought the jig a few months ago to put on the members table, and such was the interest we asked her to bring it along to show how she used it.
I think it is fair to say that a number of our more experienced turners were impressed with the jig and the way she used it.
On the third lathe, Jeff showed members how to finish their work and the various finishes that they could use.
We always comment if a piece comes in with a beautiful finish, but we never go in to how it was achieved. Jeff showed just how you could achieve the best finish for your piece.
It was great to see two members step up and share their skills and knowledge with the club for the first time. A big thank you to both Virginie and Jeff for offering to take the lead. Also a big thank you to Trevor for looking after our new and inexperienced turners. He did a fantastic job tutoring them, and they all left smiling over what they had achieved.
Unfortunately, Tom Pheonix could not make it to the evening due to a heavy cold. Do not despair we will be asking Tom to run his sharpening school at the next hands on evening in 2026, but in the meantime we hope he makes a swift recovery.
Of course we also had our bring and buy table so that members could pick up a bargain, and as usual our members work table had plenty of inspiring and beautiful pieces on display.
And finally, I just wanted to say thank you to Tom Delves who has run our raffle for us, and to everyone who donates a prize. Our raffle is an important part of raising funds for the club, helps us to be able to offer the evenings that we do.