It was fantastic to have Nathanael to give us a demo tonight. His project was to show us how to make a bowl from a board, This involved mounting his square piece of Elm wood (12 x 12 x 2.5cm) onto a block with hot melt glue and cutting rings from this that could then be glued together and turned to create a bowl.
This sounds easy but there are several steps that needed to be taken to ensure a good result from turning the mounting block to make sure the mounting surface was suitable for gluing, mounting the piece of Elm centrally with hot glue, rounding the square piece so it is round, shaping it before cutting the rings for the bowl. These rings needed to by cut at an angle to ensure that the layers fitted correctly using a narrow parting tool, Nathanael explained why different parting tools would not be suitable for this operation.
He showed us how to keep the first ring out of the way by gluing it onto the mounting block, cutting the next ring and then using acetone to soften the glue to take the pieces apart. All the glue needed to be removed to avoid clogging up chisels and sandpaper. The mounting block was then cleaned up and the bottom section of the bowl hot glued to it, the next two rings to make the bowl are glued onto the base with wood glue and this is held in place with a block of wood and the tail stock.
Once dried the piece can have the tail stock removed and gently turned, sanded and finished in whatever manner you want, Nathanael used cellulose sanding sealer (de-nibbed after) and a wax finish.
Throughout his demonstration Nathanael spoke about tools, tool presentation, not forcing the tools, listening for changes in sounds whilst turning to indicate that cuts are progressing. He also told us about his journey into woodturning from learning at school, expanding workshops at home, video interviews for when he entered the Handmade Britains Best Woodworker on Channel 4 – which he won!
He now works for Chestnut Products and is heavily involved with their products of which he brought along a selection for members to purchase if they wanted.
