10 Nov 2020 – Workshop Activity Night

On Tuesday 10 November 2020, we held another of our Workshop Activity Nights via Zoom. Thirty seven members and three guests joined us for what turned out to be a very successful and entertaining evening. It was not without some technical difficulties relating to both wood and Zoom, but as always they were overcome.

Following on from last month, we once again welcomed our resident three tenors, sorry three turners (we should be grateful they didn’t sing) who were responding to the Chairman’s challenge to each produce an item from wood he had provided. Unfortunately, whilst the wood appeared to be good, it proved to be unusable due to cracking. However Alan, Chris and Zak rose to the occasion, provided their own wood and set off.

Alan chose a piece of Sycamore for a small platter, Chris opted to make a bowl from Spalted Beech and Zak used a piece of Ash to attempt a square bowl.

Leaving the turners to make a start, we then turned our attention to the “Meet the Woodturner” feature which again gave a fascinating insight as to how members took up woodturning; one member took it up, brought the kit, joined a club which then closed because of the Pandemic so has joined us and is hopefully gaining some knowledge. Another came to woodturning via an interest in historical re-enactment leading to an interest in turning bowls, whilst a third started only two years ago, joined the club and produces some extremely high standard pieces.

And so back to the troublesome three. We were able to see each piece take shape with each turner commenting on what they were doing and why. Chris had a particularly soft piece of wood that required some major surgery to eliminate the softness, form a complex shape to the outside of the bowl and give him the type of finish he is noted for. Alan shaped the back of his platter then turned his attention to the front which he decided to texture with a handheld finger sander. He tried different approaches following comments from the members. Similarly Zak achieved his objective of forming the outside of his square bowl which he then hollowed out before deciding on exactly how to finish it. We look forward to next month when hopefully we will see the finished items and the challenge can start again.

Throughout the process questions were asked by members about chucking methods, tool angles and finishing techniques to mention but a few. Interaction between members is growing so keep up the good work.

There were some issues with Zoom during the evening but all in all it did not stop the action and everyone, once again, enjoyed an evening of entertainment and even some education.

The fact that we are able to put on these meetings is a tribute to all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes and we thank all concerned.

Meeting report kindly produced by Alan Selden.

During our ‘Show and Tell’ feature, we had a few members prepared to show us what they have been making recently.  Another great display of work as shown below.  Photos kindly provided by: Martin Pigott, Dai Crawford, Paul Tunmore, Peter Hallam and a new guest, Maggie Irving with the coloured and textured bowls. As a guest, it was great to get this feedback from Maggie: ‘I enjoyed it very much! It struck me that it was a group of people just enjoying themselves. No showing off, no egos, and very kind to each other’. Please keep turning and lets see what you have been making, even if it has gone wrong as we can learn by it.

Please grab you phone/video camera etc and get filming either what you are making, as you do it or just, lets see your workshops.  There is nothing like a bit of workshop envy or give others some new ideas of how to set up their workshop.

So you all can benefit from a new function in Zoom, that can spot light on multiple people in one go, i.e. all three turners, can you please have a look at the following Zoom website which explains how to go about updating your version of Zoom client/app/program installed on your device.  There are too many different devices out there for me to try and explain them all on here, so lets get the Zoom people to explain it for us HERE.

As mentioned on Tuesday night, the Lincolnshire Wolds Woodturning Association is now a Registered Charity, No. 1192167.  This opens up various benefits to the Club.  One of which is Gift Aid, so watch this space for more details once we are set up.

Also, do you shop online with the likes of Amazon?  Did you know by ordering through smile.amazon.co.uk, where its the same products, same prices, same service, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to your chosen charity.  Hopefully, once we get the Club registered on their scheme, you might like to choose us as that charity.  We will let you know when its all up and running as we have to enrol first.

Due to Covid lockdown Part 2, the Club shop won’t be open every two weeks until further notice.  However, if you need something specific, contact Mick Close, who might be able to help you out.  If and thats a big IF, the lockdown is relaxed on the 2nd Dec, Mick is planning to open the shop up for you on the 5th and 19th Dec.  These will be the last shopping days before Christmas, so if possible, please support them.

Chestnut Finishing School Leaflets – Terry at Chestnut has now kindly provided us with all 40 of their leaflets that are now available for you to download the ones you want.  You can find them on our Downloads page under the Chestnut logo HERE.

You should have been sent your membership renewal form giving you the payment options for next year.  Please get this completed and returned to Alan Selden, Membership Secretary at the earliest opportunity.  This will help us know what the membership numbers are going to be next year so we can continue to plan the programme.

That’s it you’ll be pleased to know, so look forward to seeing you all on the 24 Nov 2020 for our last demo of the year, Emma ‘The Tiny Turner’, not one to be missed.