21 Feb 2023 – Workshop Night

This month twenty six members gathered round their computers to see what Chris and Mick would get up to in their workshops. As far as turning was concerned Zak was temporarily out of action but his evening was not solely devoted to observing as he gathered video clips that will be inserted into a promotional video to be shown on the club’s stand at the upcoming Newark show in March.

Chris and Mick were ready to go when the technologies gremlins who control Chris’s cameras decided that it was time to withdraw their labour. Whether this was to strike for better pay and conditions or simply to say they had had enough in the cold we shall never know and despite Chris’s best endeavours they refused to come back online, reducing Chris to a mere observer of the evening’s activities. Last man standing was Mick who rose to the occasion by producing two separate items.

First up was a boater hat shaped case for a clock insert. The piece of wood had already been prepared and was mounted on the lathe by means of a glue chuck. This allowed Mick to true up and form the back of the case and create a spigot. When finished this side of the case would have a brass hanging plate attached to it. The glue chuck was removed and the piece was mounted in the chuck using the spigot just created. Having decided which clock insert to use Mick marked out the diameter of the insert and started to hollow out the recess to accommodate it. Once the hollowing had been completed it was time to remove wood from around the clock insert and form the brim of the hat. That achieved to his satisfaction, Mick used a wire to burn two decorative lines into the timber. The piece was sanded through the grits, denibbed with wire wool and sanding sealer applied. Microcrystalline wax was applied and that part of the project was complete. All that remained was to reverse the piece, hold it in expansion on the chuck and remove the spigot. The same finishing techniques were used on this side of the wood. The final adornment would be a ribbon tied around the crown in order to create the boater effect.

Project two was the production of a Greek figure in the style of that produced by Cretan woodturner Nikos Siragas. For this Mick chose a piece of Yew which he mounted on the lathe. Having turned it into a cylinder Mick then used a paper template to mark out the location of the starting point of the various shaping points. These were cut into the wood with a parting tool and delineated the starting points of the base, bottom of the skirt, neck and hat. The serious shaping of the figure then took place starting with the hat, then the head and neck followed by the waist, bottom of skirt, “legs” and finally the base; all achieved using a spindle gouge. After sanding, as with the clock case, lines were burned into the wood at key areas using a wire. Application of sanding sealer followed by Microcrystalline wax completed the job. From beginning to end this project had taken twenty five minutes, a tribute to Mick’s woodturning skills and we thank him for keeping us entertained for the evening.

As usual the Show and Tell feature showcased some excellent examples of items produced by seven of our members. As always the diversity of items produced and the quality was first class.

Hopefully by next month the technology gremlins will have resolved their dispute with Chris and Zak will be back in his workshop, but if any other members would like to have a go in order to give our three regulars a break, then please get in touch. You will be well supported and your efforts will not be in vain.

Thanks Alan Selden for the write up and you can see all the screen shots taken during the evening in the Gallery HERE