Journal

Wolfgang Schulze – Zachau

The club welcomed back local ‘almost professional’ turner Wolfgang Schulze – Zachau who choose to demonstrate a number of small projects which would be of particular interest to our growing ranks of novice turners.

He began by rounding a lime spindle with the roughing gauge before parting off to begin his Xmas tree and demonstrate the techniques involved.

Using another piece of the lime spindle he carried on the Xmas theme and showed us how to make his version of a snowman.

And finally he concluded the session by executing a couple of finials that might be used to finish and enhance a lidded box.

Congratulations to our 4 members who all passed the AWGB Tutor Assessment! This means that we have now doubled the number of lathe leaders we have available for our Hands On evenings.

Our first ‘Hands On’ evening of the year was very well attended with lots of new faces. Welcome to you all! The project theme for the night was to make a bradawl under the watchful eyes of of 4 lathe leaders Phil, Alan Edwards, Steve Martin and Alan Jones and quite a few of our newer visitors were able to ‘have a go’.

First of all can we extend a very warm welcome to all of our new visitors. We hope this evening was interesting to you. Tool sharpening is one of the cornerstones of our craft and mastery of this will vastly improve your turning so it is appropriate that we kick off the new year with it.

Thanks to Alan, Phil and Roy for demonstrating the different methods that can be used to sharpen our tools.

Pen – making Demo by Roy Hadland

Roy began his demo by drilling his blank to accept the tube which he then glued into place and mounted on the lathe between centres. Using a spindle gouge he then shaped the barrel of the pen before sanding.

After the break Roy re – mounted the piece between home – made plastic lugs in order to protect the lathe from the Superglue. He then proceeded to show us his method of applying 7 thin coats of Superglue, based on his long experience of making pens, and his finishing routines.

Finally he assembled the pen using his trusted Beaufort Ink kit although, due to the stress of finishing on time, he did put the clip on the wrong end of the barrel! We’ve all been there Roy!

Many thanks to Roy for one of the most interesting demos of the year!

And finally a Merry Xmas to all. See everyone in the New Year.