Author: srdm1207gmailcom

A really well attended meeting with lots of new faces. Welcome to you all! And, as usual, there was a wide variety of projects on show, introduced immaculately by Russell.

The evening kicked off with contributions from two new faces, Sue and Richard, and the interesting stories attached to their projects. Eugene was then called forward to explain his involvement with ‘Men in Sheds’ and how that led to the production of his items.

Geoff next with an eclectic mix of top quality work ranging from a walking stick to a very complicated segmented piece. And, to take us to the break, Brian shared his latest projects with the group.

After refreshments the whirlwind continued with Steve’s fungi, Dexter’s tricky little pot, Angela’s apples and pears and a variety of items by Alan Edwards.

A masterclass in segmented work by Keith Drew followed when he took us step by step through a number of hugely detailed projects.

Two newer members, Ian and Alan Hicks followed by a more familiar one in Chairman Alan Pattison were then introduced to explain their work. A massively successful evening was rounded off by Russell himself and a description of pen – making by Rob Posselt. A huge thank you to all that took part.

Sharpening Masterclass

The first meeting of the year began with our traditional curtain – raiser – a demonstration of various types of sharpening systems – essential for every woodturner. Members were treated to not on, not two, not even three but four different systems to compare and contrast. No excuse now for blunt tools!

Inside Demo by Robin Kalinowski

Segmented Bird Box

After some initial problems mounting his pre – prepared bird box body onto the lathe Robin set about turning the segmented tube to round – initially with a skew and later using the spindle roughing gouge.

Once round Robin set about turning the base for the box.

And finally the top which, when finished, would be screwed into the body so it could be removed for cleaning. Unfortunately, due to a number of technical difficulties (which every turner has from time to time) throughout the demo, Robin didn’t manage to finish the project. A valliant attempt nevertheless!

Bring and Buy

Tonight’s well attended evening was a Bring and Buy where several people brought in woodturning items that were surplus to requirements – a great opportunity for our newer members to add to their range of tools and wood. Also Alan Edwards kindly brought in his tool sharpening rig and was consequently very busy all evening!

As usual this evening’s Show and Tell illustrated the variety of work our members undertake in their sheds from intricately crafted items like those shown by Dexter and Roger to the more experimental work of Russell, Mark and Steve.

Others were happy to share their experiences (with some prompting from Russell) on a wide range of projects and the problems they’d had to overcome in realising them.

Geoff, as usual, provided the highlight of the evening with a very entertaining trip through his recent projects – each with a tale attached. Well done Geoff and thanks to everyone who contributed to a great evening!