Hands on Night 10 Dec 19, Chestnut Thinning/Solvent Chart and Jumble Collection

Last night, we held our last Hands on Night of the year which we have previously not had in December due to the Christmas function being on the same night.  Despite the weather being very wet and windy, we still had a good turnout which was great to see.  There were a couple of new faces and the usual band of members supporting the Club.  We were pleased to welcome a Father and Son who came along following contacting the Club to see if we can help and were happy for the Club to feature them in this news post.  The Son, Kieron, who is currently doing his Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award wanted to take up Woodturning as part of the award, which is brilliant.  He needs to do an hour a week, so we were eager to get him started on a lathe with the supervision and instruction being given by Zak.  He quickly got the hang of it and did extremely well for his first attempt.  We need more younger people taking up the hobby, as lets face it, they are the turners of the future and it’s our responsibility to pass on the craft to them to keep it going for future generations.  Here is a challenge for you, over the Festive period, see if you can get your children/grand children to make something on your lathe with your help and guidance and don’t forget, the safety aspects, ensure you both wear eye protection!

Peter Hallam and Stuart Lowe kindly brought along an impressive display of some of the many jigs and gadgets that they have made over the years, instead of buying the same thing for a lot of money.  It just shows there is a variety of ways to hold or support your work to do that special project.  Chris also commented that he really enjoyed starting with a blank of wood and getting the group around the lathe to come up with design ideas to get the creative juices flowing and involving everyone, plus having a laugh at the same time.  Mick had a very busy night in the Club shop and we would like to thank all our members for their custom this year making it the best we have ever had.

Thank you to all our resident turners, John Liles, Chris Fisher, Peter Hallam and this month, Ian ‘Zak’ Flack for offering to provide some excellent instruction to those wishing to have a go.  We really do need other volunteers to go on the lathes to provide instruction to others and so that we are not constantly having to depend on the resident turners all the time, so please have a think over Christmas and then offer your services in the New Year.  A BIG THANK YOU to all those members who arrive early to help set up and or stay behind to help pack away and clear up the mess.  We can’t do it without you, plus it’s not fair to leave it all to someone else to do.

During the evening, we were pleased to see Sally from the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance who braved the weather to come and collect the large pile of jumble that you have kindly donated over the last couple of months.  Typically, after collecting it all, more arrived just after she had gone, which is great, so please keep it coming and after getting loads of pressies over Christmas, it could be time for another turn out to make space.

If you are a subscriber to the Chestnut weekly news letter, you would be aware of this, but those of you who are not, please check out the Chestnut Products Thinning/Solvent Chart which is available on our download page.  They have released it to help you match the correct type of product that can be used with each of their range of products.

We would like to wish you and your families all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  See you in 2020!