Author: srdm1207gmailcom

Tonight was a ‘Hands On’ have a go evening where newer and some more experienced members were invited to make a snowman to Chairman Alan’s design. Our 4 lathe leaders guided a variety of turners through the process – offering advice and tuition where required. An enjoyable evening all round.

All day Demo by Jason Breach

On Sunday the club welcomed Jason Breach for an all-day session where he demonstrated a number of his signature pieces.

First of all he showed how to make some relatively simple pieces – a mushroom an apple and a pear.

Another of Jason’s signature projects is the solitaire game which requires identically sized spheres of different woods. Turning between centres he used a modified hole saw to achieve this.

He then made a larger sphere & incorporated a clock mechanism.

He then made a Sphericon Box using more specialist jamb chucks.

Having made a spherical box Jason made another special jamb chuck to complete the Sphericon shape. Its feature is that the 2 halves can rotate 90 degrees and still have matching surfaces. (Needs accurate turning)

Jasons final item the “Pagoda” Box

Jason’s demo lasted from 10.00am to 4.00 pm with plenty of discussion about the use of jamb chucks. tools used and their presentation to the work pieces, finishing his pieces and finishes he prefers.

In all a very interesting and informative demonstration, well received by our members and some invited from other clubs, Jason was thanked in the usual way.

The evening began by Geoff introducing the project for the night – Making a Xmas Decoration – and then delegating the MC duties to his new assistant Russell! Chairman Alan showed an impressive range of ornaments and explained the techniques involved in making them.

Geoff then continued the theme in his usual amusing fashion.

The baton was taken enthusiastically by Russell and Alan Jones with Roy finishing up a very interesting section of the evening by describing how he made his pagoda tealight holder.

After the break a few members shared their experiences of turning a variety of objects. Novice turner Brian showed us 2 items made from spalted beech and the problems he’d encountered. Steve showed a trio of off – centre bowls in sycamore. More accomplished segmented bowls shown by Geoff and Roy rounded off an interesting selection of work.

Economy Bowl from light and dark blank

Phil began his demo by attaching the disc that he had previously made of alternate dark and light 1 inch square strips to a backing disc with heavy duty double-sided carpet tape. The sanded strips had been glued with PVA and clamped together.

With a home-made jig he then made 3 cuts at 55 degrees to produce 4 rings

The rings were then sanded and checked for flatness before gluing them together. The resultant ‘bowl’ was then glued to a sacrificial block ready for turning. A further support was added at the tailstock.

Phil then began to turn the bowl with a bowl gouge – inside first – using only push cuts. The centre was finished off with a BCT hollowing tool before switching back to the bowl gouge to complete the outside.

The finished item.

A big thanks to Phil for an interesting and informative evening!

Pro External Demo by Bryan Milham

Tonight’s meeting was a demonstration of various texturing and colouring techniques by Bryan Milham. Bryan is a production turner of 20 years experience and this showed in a fast – paced, funny and very informative romp through this vast field.

He began by making a basic (unhollowed) vase from poplar into which he indented a panel. He then masked off the rest of the vase and randomly applied glue with a glue gun to the area. The panel was then sprayed with ebonising lacquer and finished with metallic paste.

While the glue dried he showed us his method of applying metal flakes to a bowl he had previously coloured with Jo Sonja’s iridescent paints.

The quickfire exchanges continued after the break when Bryan showed us some of his influences and various experiments that he had tried to replicate these.

His final project was a small sycamore vase with flowers to go in it made from green hazel but with an intriguing twist to the tale!

And the twist?

Our thanks to Bryan for his whirlwind presentation and for the challenge he threw out to produce work inspired by his talk. Over to you members!