16 Nov 2021 – Workshop Night

A couple of dozen brave souls made the long journey to their respective screens to join in this month, as we have three ‘meetings’ each month, we see different members at different gatherings. This month Chris and Alan B manned the lathes from their chilly workshops while we enjoyed our home comforts, a big Thank You lads. The meeting also promised to be an evening of threes, Alan’s three captured rings on a goblet and Chris with a vase and three things to turn. Show and tell feature in the middle with a 5-minute cuppa break and a short video from Dai on making a pot lid knob from a scrap of acrylic.

The usual notices and lots of news about forthcoming events prior to Christmas, letters and emails will be sent out shortly with some details below.  Then onto the turning. Alan was going to be opting for a completely new challenge for him, a goblet with captured rings which he had not attempted before, although admitting he had the tools given to him several years ago. Chris was going to make a hollow form vase with a very thin neck as his project.  We then opened up the breakout rooms for the members to choose what they wanted to go and watch.  At any time whilst in a breakout room, the members have the ability to move to a different room to see what the other turners are up to, which is just like it is in the Village Hall.

The members were evenly split between the two rooms, so firstly, Alan’s room.  True to his word, he asked for directions how to proceed and was ably directed by those who joined him. The blank, possibly Beech or Sycamore, already turned to round and mounted on a tenon, he started shaping the top on the outside to gain a rough shape and proceeded to match that inside using a variety of tools. The timber was not very forgiving, but perseverance paid off, shape and form created down to the neck, using a home-made steady to stop the judder. The stem thinned down allowing enough material to create the rings which were formed using an appropriately size beading tool and captive ring tool, still guided by a captive member group. Rings taped up to allow some sanding and finishing then onto the base. Parted off and objective reached, well done Alan, easy next time and no audience participation.

Over in the other room, we find Chris describing the method to turn a thin necked vase with small aperture, hollowing from the bottom and parting off a small amount of material to use as a plug which then disguises the way it is turned. Unusually for Chris, he followed some of the member’s ideas for shape and design, I guess they all conformed to his idea anyway. In true Blue Peter style, he had an identical vase pre-turned and ready to refine the outer shape when the plug had been inserted and glued into place the blank had some very nice markings and we debated as to what finish would look best. Having got to a finishing stage, Chris removed the piece ready to complete later. A choice now of three other pieces of timber, Yew was chosen to make a Japanese style Saki bowl, with a tenon already formed outer shaping started only to be confronted by a large inclusion and bark attached within the timber, this didn’t put Chris off and we ended up with an interesting small bowl. Some of the bark had turned away as the inside was hollowed out but we are all sure that Chris will manage to work his magic to produce another worthy piece. And finally, as they say he put another piece on the lathe and raced against the clock to finish a small goblet/bowl. Another good night from Chris with his usual banter and charm.

Show and tell from several members showing their recent work, plus one or two items missed from previous meetings. The pictures all tell the stories in the video link.

Dai Crawford submitted a short video of him making a knob for a lid of a pot from a scrap of acrylic, mounting only about an inch of acrylic to a turned wooden tenon with hot glue gun, he proceeded to shape, sand and then polish a simple shape to enhance his lid. Thank you, Dai, another great contribution to the Club.  You can watch the video on our YouTube channel HERE.

Thanks Zak for another great write up of the nights activities.

To see us out of 2021, we are going to be putting on a Christmas Social Evening at the Village Hall instead of a Hands on Night.  This is a free night so will be open to just members (sorry, not open to Wives, partners this year).  Open from 7pm until 9:30 pm.

Free buffet, refreshments,

Christmas Draw will be made, some great prizes to be had.

Bring your Show and Tell items that you have been showing us throughout the year or anything you have made this year to enter them into a competition.  Christmassy items will also be great to see to get us into the festive spirit.  No limit on the number of items you can enter.  Just a bit of fun and to have something to admire the quality of the the members work, which has been very impressive. Dave from Turners Retreat has agreed to come along to judge the competition and has kindly agreed to provide a raffle prize

The Club Shop will be open for some of the evening.

If you are interested in coming along, so that we know the numbers to cater for, please let us know by no later than the 10th Dec if you are coming along.  Either send an email to the Club Secretary or phone Mick, see contact us page for details.

We all still need to look after each other by wearing a mask, using the hand gel etc.  Just because you may be double jabbed and had a booster, it does not stop you passing it on to other people, so please respect this.

We hope that you will support this evening and look forward to seeing you.

The Club has been invited to attend two Christmas Craft Fayres.  These are both good PR events for the Club to promote it and also fulfil our charity objective to educate people with the craft of woodturning.

Firstly, on the 11 Dec 2021, 2pm – 4:30pm at the Methodist Church, Queen’s Street, Horncastle.  We will have a stand on which it is our intention to sell /display members work.

The next event is much bigger and is likely to be quite busy.  It is being held at the Wold’s Wildlife Park, just down the road from West Ashby on the way to Horncastle.  This will be over 6 evenings, 5pm to 7:30pm, 18 Dec to the 23 Dec 2021.  We will be having a lathe set up to demonstrate what we do, along with a table to sell/display members work. For more details about the event, please go to their website.

Both events, we need, people to man the stands, possibly on a roster on different nights or as available and able to help, turners happy to demonstrate on the lathe and people to help set up, clear up etc.  We need items to sell to the public, so please have a look at any items you have made and would be happy to try and sell.  Christmassy themed items might sell well along with other typical craft fayre items.  Please ensure any items you want to sell are clearly marked with your name and your price.  Any sales made, 10% of which will go to the Club and the rest will go back to the member.

We will be sending out further information on this directly to all members by email/post.  So keep an eye out for it.

So if you are able to help in any way and or have any items you would like to sell, please get in touch asap so we can make some plans.

The Club Shop will be open this Saturday, 20 Nov 2021, 10am to Midday.  Please come across to the Hall and stock up on all your woodturning supplies.  If your Wife, Partner or family are stuck for ideas for you for Christmas, you could suggest Club Shop Vouchers.  Ask Mick or John for more details.

Look forward to seeing you all on the 23 Nov (next Tuesday) 7pm for the last online demo of the year being brought to you by Chris Parker.  Chris was our first demonstrator we had when all this zoom meetings started, so it will be great to see him back on our screens.

The Club Shop will be open again on the 4 Dec 2021, 10am to Midday but at the same time, we will be trimming the hedges around the carpark to make more space.  If you can spare the time and are capable of helping out we would be pleased to see you.  If you have any suitable trimming/cutting tools etc to carry out this job, please bring them along and don’t forget any applicable PPE to ensure this job is done safely.