Highland Woodturning Club

Our meeting on the 21st January 2021 was all about making wooden toys and puzzles, It was being organised by Douglas Stewart but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting had to be turned into a virtual meeting. You were all invited to take part in this meeting by making something from the programme. The uptake was as ever very poor with only Nick Simpson and myself contributing to the meeting. Nick’s article wasn’t a toy or a puzzle but a novelty none the less and I felt it was appropriate to be included in this report.

Here is Nick’s submission, including what he had to say about the item.

Hi Alec

Here’s a simple toy compared with the product of the Club’s recognised toy makers.

It is a cracker from Zebrano. Simply made with careful use of forstner bit, parting tool and spindle gouge Nick Simpson.

I did a few very simple turnings, some spinning tops, a yo-yo and a puzzle project. I also made a small toy canon. All the following items were made by Alec Mutch.

Our next meeting on the 4th February 2021 would have been our AGM (annual general meeting), this can not take place under the present circumstances, however that does not mean we won’t be having a virtual meeting, we will. I want you all to make something, anything of your own choosing and send the pictures and text to me, I’m hoping for a better response than has happened in the last few weeks.

Here too is a final reminder that the 2021 subscriptions are due and anyone not signed up before the AGM meeting on the 4th February will loose their place with the membership. If you don’t want to loose your place contact Geoff or Cliff before the time runs out.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next meeting should be on Thursday 21st January 2021, it was to be organized by Douglas Stewart and his project was to be toys and puzzles. However due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting has been made into a virtual meeting, we would invite you all to still pay attention to the project matter and make something along those lines. Having made your toys or puzzles, send pictures of them on to me for uploading onto our web site and facebook pages along with some information about the things you have made.

I have given you some pictures of wooden toys, these are for ideas only, you can make something similar or have something completely different, any type of toy or puzzle will be acceptable as long as there are some parts of the item you make that have been made on a lathe, you will see by the pictures I have provided that there are elements of other types of woodwork.

Do have a go at some of these or ideas of your own, the members would love to see what you can produce, we have a constant number of internet viewers who follow the facebook and web site pages, what we don’t have is as many club members willing to make items and send them to me.

You will have until Friday 22nd January to make and send your pictures, send them to me at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Don’t forget to include some information on whatever you make.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our first meeting of the year was to be held on Thursday 7th January 2021, but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting had to be made into a virtual meeting. It was to be organised by Douglas Stewart and the subject matter was making wooden jewellery. You were all invited to take part in the virtual meeting by making something and sending the pictures of the items you made to me for publication on our web site. However the uptake was even less than usual with only 2 members taking part, those were Nick Simpson and myself.

This is what Nick had to say about his entry.

Morning Alec, Happy new Year.

Here are 3 pictures of brooches / shawl pins .They are all made from Cherry and measure approx 65 mm diameter, the pins are ebony. The decorations vary from coloured hot melt glue to pyrography and Bubinga inlay.

Please forgive the clash of tartans!

Kind regards

Nick Simpson.

I made some ear rings from laminated woods and also from a acrylic blank that would normally be used to make a pen.

Our next meeting should be on the 21st January 2021, this is also being organised by Douglas Stewart and his subject matter is wooden toys and puzzles, the meeting will be a virtual meeting again, but you are all invited to make something for that meeting. Let us have a much better response to this next meeting than what happened for the last meeting.

Our Secretary Geoff Potter and our Treasurer Cliff Sim are still looking to get the membership renewals for 2021 in as soon as possible, do remember that if you have not renewed your membership by the 4th February 2021 you could find yourself having to go onto the waiting list as we will be taking all those on the waiting list that we have at present and that there is space for, so the sooner you renew your membership the better.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next meeting should be on Thursday 7th January 2021, however due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting will not be taking place at our clubhouse instead we are making this meeting a virtual meeting online only. It was to be organised by Douglas Stewart and the subject matter was making wooden Jewellery, we are inviting you all to make something along this line, it can be a neckless, a pair of ear rings, a bangle or anything related to jewellery.

Whatever you make take some pictures and send them to me along with some information on what you have made and from what wood etc, I will post them on our web site and facebook page, we are looking to get a good response to this subject from as many of you as possible.

Here are a few ideas for items of jewellery made from wood.

Here are just a few ideas, you do not need to follow any of these exactly but use them for examples of what can be made, but put your own take on them.

Send your pictures and text to me at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com.

You have until Friday 8th February 2021 to get your pictures to me.

On a different note, I have just received the information on those who have paid their subscription for 2021, it would appear that only 1/3 of our 2020 membership have paid for the 2021 membership. We know the club has all but ceased to function due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is still very important that you all take up your membership as you would normally have done in order for the club to survive. So please renew your membership before the AGM meeting that would have been held on the 4th February 2021.

We do have several people on our waiting list wanting to join the club who will be offered a place should there be spaces after the 4th February 2021, anyone who has not renewed their membership by that date will loose their place or have to go back onto the waiting list.

We hope 2021 will be a better year for the club, but in the meantime keep safe and we hope to see you all later in the year.

Our meeting scheduled for Thursday 10th December 2020 should have been our Christmas Competition, this could not take place due to the ongoing situation with Covid-19 regulations still in place, instead we made it a virtual meeting and you were all invited to make something with a Christmas theme, it could have been anything at all as long as it was relevant to Christmas. The response was as usual very poor with the same few members putting in all the entries, those were Dave Line, David Ross, Nick Simpson, myself and I included a picture from Bill Henderson from a previous Christmas competition.

Here is just a taste of what’s in the gallery in this post,

I would have normally done this post in the picture gallery, however there are some gremlins in that system at present, so a standard post has been done instead, hopefully we can have the gremlins sorted out before the next post.

Our next meeting should be on the 7th January, it will be a virtual meeting on the subject of jewellery and would have been organised by Douglas Stewart.

I along with the HWC committee would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

We can only hope next year will be better than this year and that we can get back to some near normal meetings.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next meeting would have been on Thursday 10th December 2020, however with the Covid-19 restrictions still in force this has had to be changed to a virtual meeting. We are also abandoning the competition part of this meeting. We would like you all to make something with a Christmas theme the choice is up to you then to send me the pictures of what you have made, remembering to give me some information with your pictures, do also remember you can put forward more than one picture.

Here are a few examples of the type of thing you could make, or if you prefer to make something with your own initiative that will be perfectly fine, as long as you do make something.

These are just a small selection of things that can be made for Christmas, you may well, have something of your own in mind, it does not matter what you make there will be no judgement, just finish the year with a flurry of entries.

You will have until Friday 11thDecember 2020 to make and send your entry or entries. Send them to me at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our virtual meeting on Thursday 26th November 2020 was about making lamp bases, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim but due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had to be changed to a virtual meeting. You were all invited to take part in this virtual meeting but as is often the case very few of you took part, nevertheless we are very grateful to those who did take the time to take part. We ended up with 5 people willing and able to show their work, those were Bill Munro, David Ross, Dave Line, Nick Simpson and myself.

I will give you just a taste of what’s in the gallery from some of the entries, including a timeline from myself on how a table lamp was made from 2 bowling balls.

The following gallery will give you some more detail on all of the items shown here, it will also include the timeline of the lamp made from 2 bowling balls made by myself.

For a larger picture of any in the gallery, just click the picture, this will also allow you to read the text with each picture.

Our next meeting is scheduled for the 10th December 2020, it should have been our Christmas competition and raffle draw meeting, as this cannot happen we will do another virtual meeting on that date, the theme will be Christmas ofcourse, so anything to do with Christmas will be acceptable. Lets make this meeting one to remember and have lots and lots of entries.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.