Celtic Woodturning

Graeme Taylor of Celtic Woodturning Supplies will be at our all day event on July 27th. His Facebook page has slightly more idea of what he supplies. If you see anything you’d like to pre order to pickup on the day, please give Alec Mutch the details of what you want.

In the meantime, we’ll see if he can provide a better idea of his product range beforehand, and post it here.

This week’s meeting 27th June 2019.

This week’s meeting on the Thursday 27th June 2019 is about wet turning. This has been organized by John Cheadle who is also going to do a short talk on the subject of wet turning before getting into some practical work on wet turning. John is very keen to get some of our members to have a go themselves during his presentation, if you are someone who would be interested in having a go under John’s supervision come prepared to take part. Wet turning can be very interesting in it’s final outcome, do remember that although turned wet whatever is made will still have to dry and it’s that drying process that makes things interesting, to overcome some of the drying problems the item needs to be worked to a very thin thickness. Some other methods can be used, such as using natural edged material, with these the thickness is less critical and if they move in the drying it can hardly be detected due to the fact the natural edges disguise the fact that the item has moved.

Here I have selected 3 items that are all natural edged, if they had been turned wet I would expect to see some movement in the drying, in all three cases it would be hardly visible and would not detract from the finished look they have right now.

Meeting starts 6.45pm as usual and come prepared to do something.

Report on the meeting on 13th June 2019, sharpening.

Our club meeting on the 13th June 2019 was all about sharpening hand tools. There were 4 club members using a variety of sharpening devices , those were David Hay, David Hutcheson, Errol Levings and Alec Mutch. Each were demonstrating how to use their particular sharpening tool with tools brought in by many of the club members. Some had brought a whole selection of tools to sharpen or re-grind, this was exactly what we wanted to happen, they would be shown how to sharpen a particular tool then be asked to repeat the sharpening process themselves. There was a lathe set up with a block of wood for anyone to try after sharpening a tool, it was very well used. The turn out of club members was very good and they had for the most part taken part in the demonstrations.

If you want to see a larger picture and some text just click on the image. The pictures for this post were all taken by Mike Day.

This week’s meeting 13th June 2019, Sharpening.

This week’s meeting on the 13th June 2019 is all about sharpening tools, it’s being organized by David Hobson, we will be using the sharpening station at the club along with additional sharpening tools brought in by some of the members who will also demonstrate the use of these tools. There should be at least 3 and possibly 4 members using the sharpening tools and advising on their use, these are David Hay, David Hutcheson, Alec Mutch and possibly Errol Levings. If any of you have a tool or tools that require some attention, then bring it with you, we will try to show you how to sharpen or regrind any tool, we will also be asking you to have a go yourself. Next to using the tools correctly has to be sharpening, without a sharp tool the correct use of the tool becomes nearly impossible.

This is one of the club’s own sharpening tools, it’s based on using a belt rather than a stone or stones, it can produce a very fine edge on any tool in the right hands, it can also accommodate a jig for assisting the user.
This is the other sharpening tool our club has, this time it’s a grinder with 2 different grade grinding stones, this too has the jig facility. The grinder is more useful when regrinding a tool as the stones work much faster in removing material than any belt. I will be bringing my own grinder with me, I don’t use any jigs when sharpening or regrinding it’s all done by eye and touch, and I hope to pass this on to whoever wants to learn.

We are looking for a good turnout as usual and do bring your tools with you.

For all the committee members, remember there is a committee meeting starting at 5.45pm on Thursday, please try to be there sharp.

Report on the Hollow Form competition 30th May 2019.

The competition on the 30th May 2019 was all about making Hollow Forms. The entries for each category was a little disappointing, especially in the “Intermediate” category, the judges for the competition were David Hobson and Mark Sutton. Here is a summary of the competition entries and winners. In addition to the competition David had organized 5 turners to man the lathes whilst the judging was going on, these were, Colin MacKenzie making miniature bird houses, Mark Dale making a natural edged bowl, Dave Line working on a large laminated vessel, Bob Chisholm making pens and Geoff Potter working on a spalted beech bowl. For pictures and text on all of this see below.

If you want to see a larger picture and some text of any of the above click on the picture. The range of items that can be made as “Hollow Forms” is far reaching, here are just a few but we hope they will give you inspiration to make one of your own.