Category: General News

Our Showtime virtual meeting was on Thursday 1st October 2020, it was to be organised by myself but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions had to be done as a virtual meeting. The response was less than good, with only 4 members taking part, those were Dave Line Nick Simpson, David Ross and myself.

The Showtime meeting have generally attracted a very good response when held in the clubhouse with 15 to 20 members taking part, why it should be so different when it’s a virtual meeting leaves me somewhat puzzled. However we are where we are and I am pleased to see we did get some response, all be it from the usual few members.

I will give you a taste of what’s in the gallery for this meeting, firstly from Dave Line,

Now an entry from Nick Simpson, Nick supplied 6 pictures that can be viewed in the gallery section along with an explanation on all, see below what Nick Had to say about his entry.

Next is an entry from David Ross, David supplied 3 pictures, all can be viewed in the gallery section.

Now for one of my own turnings, I have put forward several for you all to see, these can all be viewed in the gallery section, I have added a bit of information about all of them.

The picture Gallery now follows,

For a bigger picture of any of the items shown in the Gallery just click the picture, you will also see some text about the subject.

Our next Virtual meeting was to be on the 15th October 2020 on the subject of making pens, this meeting was to be organised by Jim Kelman.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next meeting should have been this Thursday 1st October 2020, it was to be organised by Mike Day, but with the Covid-19 restrictions still in force this will now be a virtual meeting. The meeting is a Showtime meeting, that’s where you would have been invited to bring along things you have made to show the rest of the members and give a short talk on what you had made. This type of meeting in the past had proved very successful with lots of the members bringing in items to show, we do not want to see a drop off in this just because it’s now a virtual meeting, do try to send in pictures of any items you have made and give me some information about them.

Here are a few pictures of some of the past Showtime meetings, I hope they will encourage you to take part.

Do try to take part and remember you are not limited to just one item to show, you can have as many as you like. Send your pictures to me before the end of the day on Friday 2nd October 2020 for inclusion in the next post.

Send your pictures to me at, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our virtual meeting on Thursday 17th September was to be a Bowls night, it was to be organised by John Ruickbie but due to Covid-19 restrictions had to be made into a virtual meeting. John also sends his apologies for not putting forward a bowl, family commitments did not allow him sufficient time to send anything in. However we did get a few of our members to send in some pictures, I am going to deal with them in 2 lots, firstly some individual bowl pictures from Nick Simpson and Dave Line, and secondly a few pictures from David Ross and myself where we are both showing a few bowls from different aspects.

We will start with Nick Simpson’s entry,

Hi Alec

Here is an entry for the virtual bowl show.

 The picture shows a simple bowl in cherry wood measuring 8”  (200mm) diameter. The wavy line though the bowl is the graft of ornamental cherry on to wild cherry stock.I had to keep the lathe speed down because the different densities of the two woods kept the piece well out of balance until the walls were only a little thicker than the final item. It illustrates that even simple turnings can be special if the pattern and figure of the stock is exploited.

 Best wishes

Nick Simpson.

Now for Dave Line’s entries, Dave put in 3 bowls.

For the last 2 lots of entries I have used the picture gallery to show these entries, each picture contains more than one image along with some text. The first 4 are from David Ross, the last 3 are from myself, Alec Mutch.

If you would like to see a larger picture of any of those in the picture gallery, just click the picture, you will also see some text with every picture.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next meeting should be on Thursday 17th September 2020 but due to the present restrictions will now be a virtual meeting. This meeting was to be organised by John Ruickbie and I know he was planning something special. Now we will have to wait until we get back meeting again to see what John had planned, however we do not need to wait to see what the rest of you can do as far as bowl turning is concerned, make a bowl, any type of bowl, and photograph it or them, you can present more than one, and I will post it on our web site, do remember to give me some information with any entry.

Bowl work is probably the easiest form of turning to master, so there is no excuse for you not to make the effort to make a bowl or two and send the pictures to me.

Here are a few that may give you some encouragement to take part, you can copy if you wish, or better still come up with your own design.

These are just 4 different designs of bowls you can make, lets see how many more you can come up with.

You will have up to Friday 18th September to get your entries to me for publication, so do take part I know the members like to see what everyone has done although the entries have been scarce lately, lets change that this week.

Send your pictures to me at, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

This week’s virtual meeting on Thursday 3rd September 2020 was to be about making any type of household goods. This meeting was to be organised by John Cheadle but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions it had to be turned into a virtual meeting. The usual request for our members to take part has gone unheeded again, with only one member sending me any pictures or information, that being Nick Simpson, I have put a few pictures together for you all to see along with a very short timeline in the gallery on the making of a Natural Edged Bowl but from a source that you may find interesting.

I urge you all to take notice of our requests for you all to take part in what we are trying to do, and that’s to keep the club alive, your continued lack of interest is wearing us down and that’s not good for the club, we are actively looking at methods to get the club up and running again but we are still under lockdown as far as the government is concerned.

I will start with Nick’s entry, a mortar and pestle.

Now for a couple of items from my own picture gallery,

Now for the timeline on a Natural Edged Bowl. This is no ordinary Natural Edged Bowl or at least the part I’m using was not that usual as it comes from the crux of a tree.

I have deliberately kept this gallery short as I know you are all familiar with how to make a Natural Edged Bowl, the part I wanted to show was the fact of using the crux adds a whole new dimension to this type of bowl, it does not have to be a straight log or even half a log, look at what you have and come up with a new way of working it.

If you want to see a larger picture and to read the text, just click on the pictures in the gallery.

I received a late entry for this post from David Ross, there was some confusion with the original email David sent, however here are David’s pictures and text now, better late than never, and thanks David for re-sending the pictures.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our meeting this Thursday 3rd September 2020 was to be about making household goods, it was to be organised by John Cheadle, but as lockdown persists we are having this meeting virtually. Household good give you all a very wide range of items that can be made, things like fruit bowls, candle holders, table lamps, weed pots to name but a few. I have concentrated my thoughts on items mainly to do with the kitchen and to that end I have a few suggestions on thing that could be made. You can of course make something of your own, be it decorative or functional I’ll leave that up to you, but please take part, we want as many of you as possible to make something and then send the pictures to me to upload onto our web site, don’t forget to give me some information on whatever you make.

Here are a few suggestions,

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to household goods, I’m sure you can think of many more, do take part in our on line meetings, the site gets a good number of viewers and I’m sure they would like to see what you have made.

Once you have made your items, take some pictures and send them to me for uploading, remember the text, and any other information you care to pass on.

Send your pictures to me at, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com you will have until Friday 4th September 2020 to get your pictures to me.

Remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our virtual meeting on Thursday 20th August was to be about workshop safety, this could not take place due to Covid-19 restrictions being in place. John Cheadle was to do a presentation on various aspects of workshop safety, this subject will still be approached once some of the restrictions have been lifted.

As a result of the cancellation you the members were invited to put forward anything on any subject, this could have been on safety issues or just what was on your mind at the time, we were looking to get some pictures of things you had made along with some text telling us about what you had made and why. The response was extremely low and most disappointing despite our best efforts to get some more of you involved. I only received one actual entry from Nick Simpson, I did receive another picture from Gordon Leitch along with a question, which I’m going to include in this post, it’s things like this that I would hope you would put forward, if you don’t put forward anything how can we respond to you.

I told you in the last post that I would do a timeline on a bowl I made from an Ash Gall, it will feature in a separate gallery here in this post.

Firstly here is Nick Simpsons submission for this post.

Hello Alec,

This is my submission for this week.

The forms are hollow and mathematically known as tricylinders. Basically they are 6 sided tubes which intersect at right angles.

These have been turned and carved from 4 inch cubes and when finished they were decorated in different ways.

I’m sure some of you will want to see Nick’s timeline on the making of one of these tricylinders, do let me know.

Now for Gordon Leitch’s question, this came as a result of some information I put out on fitting a tile into a wooden surround.

Hi Alec I enjoyed your article fitting tile into wood surround I still have the original I got from you way back when you did demos at Ullapool. However could you  advise how I can overcome the problem I have fitting clock chapter rings .I have tried exact fitting and also fitting with clearance but get the same result within 3 weeks of fitting( photo enclosed ) the blanks used were well dried and seasoned 

Your comments PLEASE Regards Gordon 

This was my answer to

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for you comment on fitting a tile into wood, interesting that you still have one of my original information sheets.

The first thing to say is for these items a quarter sawn blank would be preferred, this is where the grain of the wood is vertical to the face of the blank, it should also be from one quadrant of any log, I.E. not using the centre pith, the shrinkage if there is any will only be in one direction, towards the centre with no buckling, and that movement can be catered for in making the fit not too tight.

This problem of movement when using a chapter ring is quite different to that of fitting a tile, the option to remove some of the centre part under the tile is not available when using a chapter ring. Instead of taking material away from under the tile, the opposite needs to happen, remove the material from the back of the surround. You should use a medium length shaft clock movement, that would leave about 4 to 5 mm thickness where the movement gets fitted, but don’t just remove the wood from the centre where the movement goes, the wood needs to be removed on the back right back to the outer diameter of the chapter ring, so you have a fairly large opening in the back that is all 4 to 5 mm thick, the area outside of the chapter ring can be left at full thickness but flat to just a little concave, this needs to be wide enough to carry the brass or plastic hanging plate. On the front (you will need a jam chuck to hold the work peice)  mount it on the jam chuck, drill the hole for the movement screw and flatten off the face right across including the area for the chapter ring. You can recess the chapter ring by removing just 2 mm of the thickness where the ring is to go, allow for a little shrinkage, so not too tight a fit, the gluing proceedure is the same as for a tile, 4 x 25 mm x 6 mm strips of silicone placed at 3,6,9 and 12 o’clock. Now the profile on the border outwith the ring can be made, that’s down to personal preference. Sand seal and polish, let me know how you get on, I’m going to do a full set of instructions on this for the web site shortly, so thanks for asking the question.

Regards,

Alec.

Now for my own submission, a timeline on the use of an Ash Gall being made into a bowl.

For a larger picture of any in this gallery just click on the picture, it will be accompanied by some text, there are 14 pictures in all, just start at picture one and follow them through to picture 14. This shows the possibilities of using some weird and wonderful pieces of wood.

Our next virtual meeting will be on the 3rd September 2020, it should have been all about household goods and was to be organised by John Cheadle. Let us see if you can come up with some household items, you are being invited to give me pictures of the things you have made, so lots of them please.

We are still working on a method to get us re-opened as and when the government allows us back meeting again, we are looking at things like better ventilation and trying to increase the floor space for social distancing, the hall committee have been contacted to see if they will agree with some of the proposals we have put forward. More on this as and when we get it.

Remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next virtual meeting is this Thursday 20th August 2020, it was going to be about workshop safety and was being organised by John Cheadle. John was going to do a presentation on various aspects of workshop safety, and in light of what’s happening at present with the Covid-19 his presentation would have been very appropriate. It is something we will be addressing as soon as we get back to anything like near normal, but there are going to have to be some changes for us to return to the club meetings, a few selected committee members have been working on the way forward but we still need to hear what the government have to say before we can put any changes to firstly the full committee members and then to all the club members.

You will have received an email from Geoff asking for your status and thoughts on how you would wish to approach opening the club again. I can tell you that 40 out of the 65 members have replied and only a handful have said they would need to wait for a vaccine, all the rest have welcomed the possibility of a return all be it with some qualifications. For those who have not replied to Geoff’s email I’m urging you all to do so A.S.A.P. it’s the only way we are going to be able to make a considered judgement on how we make the return.

If any of you have anything in particular concerning safety matters or PPE then send that information to us and we will include it in the next post.

I’m still looking for you all to take part in the virtual meeting by making anything you want or have made in the past and sending the pictures on to me, remember to add a bit of text. I’m going to do a timeline on how something was made, how about some of you doing the same, start with your blank or lump of wood and take photo’s of it frequently as you progress through whatever you are making, then send them all to me and I’ll post them on the web site, try to do it with about 12 to 20 pictures and don’t forget to tell us the species and the size and why you have made it.

You will have until Friday 21st August to get your pictures to me, so plenty of time to do a timeline.

Send your pictures to me at, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our virtual meeting on the 6th August 2020 was to be a One on One meeting, this is where a less experienced turner is taken through the process by a more experienced turner. This was being organised by David Hobson but due to the lockdown situation had to be turned into a virtual meeting. As there was no actual theme for this meeting you the members were asked to produce something on your own and send me the pictures and story on what you had made.

The response from our members was I’m afraid to say as bad as ever, I have only received pictures from 2 members, I did however receive a phone call from Dave Line with an apology for not being able to send me anything this time, Dave has participated in every virtual meeting since the beginning of lockdown. The 2 members who have sent some pictures and text are Gordon Leitch and Nick Simpson and I thank them both for taking the time and effort to do so, their work will be featured here today.

I have as a precaution done a timeline entry to augment the small amount of pictures I received, it would be just great if I didn’t have to anticipate the disastrous apathy that persists with you the members.

First will be the pictures from Gordon and Nick, then to follow that my timeline will be in the format of a gallery on the making of a shallow bowl with a Laser rim.

Now for Nick Simpson’s entries, this is what Nick had to say about them.

Here is a project I did  a while back.

My family were corn merchants and these are Victorian heirlooms. I have 2 original sets which were made from fruit wood and bear the assay marks from 1 Gill to 1 Quart  to confirm their internal volume.

I decided to try to make copies from Ash and Sycamore. And show here the final items 1 pint, ½ pint and 1 gill.

They were made, like the originals, from a single piece of wood. I had some discussions with Stuart King, who is the acknowledged expert on historical woodturning in the UK and we decided that these were definitely turned and probably by an early rotating lathe rather than a reciprocating lathe (pole lathe) although there are no historical records.

Now for my timeline gallery.

Click on the pictures to get a larger view and also some information on the making of the bowl.

Our next virtual meeting will be on the 20th August 2020, it was to be all about workshop safety, something that has taken on a more acute interest during these troubled times.

I will be looking for you all to contribute something to this meeting even if it’s only a bit of text and something you have to offer as relevant and interesting to the members. We the committee are constantly looking into ways of the club reopening but staying within the government guidelines and restrictions, there will be more on this as and when we get it.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.