28 Mar 2023 – AGM and Chris Parker Demo

Tonight we started the evening earlier than normal to enable the Club’s AGM to be held prior to the demonstration.  The previous year’s AGM minutes and this year’s Agenda, Officer reports all had been provided to the members by the Club Secretary prior to the meeting to enable it to be conducted in an efficient manner.  Thank you all for joining the meeting and supporting the Club in this way.

This month our quest for demonstrators took us northwards to Lancashire, the home of woodturner Chris Parker who opted to produce a wide rimmed bowl but with texturing that would represent granite tiles.

Chris mounted his blank onto a screw chuck, supported it with the tailstock, turned the blank so that it was perfectly round and then started to shape the bottom which also involved creating a tenon and in order to perfect the tenon Chris used a homemade tool that ensured the tenon sat at ninety degrees to the bowl. That done he continued to shape the bowl until he had created the curved flowing lines he wanted. Power sanding then some hand sanding following the line of the grain ensured a smooth finish. He then cut a decorative groove into the base and using a Sorby texturing tool enhanced and accentuated the groove. Apart from ultimately removing the tenon the base was complete and would eventually be finished with Lemon Oil.

The bowl was reversed and mounted in the chuck so that work on the rim and hollowing out could commence. Using the rule of thirds Chris marked out the bowl so that one third would be the centre hollowed out portion the next third the rim rising up from the hollow and the outer third, also part of the rim but gently curving downwards away from the centre. The curves of the rim were formed but only a small portion of the hollowing out completed. Chris then explained that he was going to use the rule of thirds again to mark out the rim and then showed a homemade jig he had perfected which, in conjunction with the lathe’s indexing system, allowed him to quickly and accurately draw the lines he needed to divide the rim into fourteen segments. Then, in true Blue Peter style, he used another bowl he had prepared earlier, to demonstrate how he used pyrography to etch out the lines he had just created, each line being 2-3mm deep. In order to do this the bowl, still in the chuck, was held horizontally in a carving mount. The next process was to use a Dremel engraving tool to apply texture to the rim.

All texturing complete a spray coat of sanding sealer was applied and once completely dry a coat of ebonising lacquer was sprayed on. A second coat of ebonising lacquer followed and by this time the texturing was clearly visible. In order to complete the granite effect Chris then used a finger to sparingly apply a coat of silver cream over the lacquer, sparingly being the appropriate word as very little was needed bring the whole effect to life.

With the end in sight Chris removed the centre from the bowl and ensured he had a crisp edge between the bottom and the sides. Sanding and finishing completed the inside. He then mounted the bowl in a set of Cole jaws and removed the tenon from the base at which point the gentle curve of the bowl could be appreciated.

Now with some time to spare Chris mounted a piece of wood on the lathe and proceeded to demonstrate the effects that can be created by using different texturing tools. First up was the 2mm tool which, when held just left of centre and upright, created a spiral effect around the centre point of the wood. However when moved outwards from the centre and tilted at an angle, a snowflake effect was produced. Next was the 4mm tool which was presented to the wood at a 45 degree angle resulting in a quite dramatic spiral. This same tool used on the edge of the wood created a series of triangles.

This was a very interesting and entertaining demonstration and throughout Chris explained exactly what he was doing, why he chose a particular tool and what he expected to achieve. We saw excellent woodturning combined with artistic skill, what more could we ask?

Thank you Alan Selden for the excellent write up and for the screen shots.  To see all the photos taken, please check them out in the Gallery HERE.

What is coming up?

11 Apr 2023 – Hands on Night.  Reminder to everyone attending if you have been making items we would love to see them on the exhibition table.

15 Apr 2023 – Training Day.  This is now fully booked and we hope to have another great day.  If you missed getting onto this one, we will be opening up the booking system soon for the one on the 17 Jun 2023.  If you are interested in booking on that, please contact me (Martin) to register your interest and in exchange prior to it going live on the website you will get advanced notification of when it does.

18 Apr 2023 – Online Workshop Night.  If you have any photos of what you have been making or fancy doing a video of you making something or just a workshop tour please send it in via Dropbox or use the Contact form.  If you need the Dropbox link, get in touch.

25 Apr 2023 – Online demo by Craig Timmerman from Austin in Texas.  Check out his website HERE.