Category: Meetings

Our meeting on the 12th November 2020 had to be made into a virtual meeting due to the Covid-19 restrictions still being in operation. The meeting was to be arranged by Cliff Sim his theme was to be making wooden boxes on the lathe. We kept to the theme when we asked you all to make a box or two for the virtual meeting. The response was very poor with only 4 people taking part, those were David Ross, Dave Line , Nick Simpson and myself.

I will give you a feel for what sent in and a following gallery of all the entries along with some comments from each turner.

Here is the picture gallery of all the entries, just click any picture for a larger view and also for the text attached to each picture.

We do hope this gallery of some of the members work will encourage you to also take part in future posts. It’s not difficult, don’t get too hung up on being perfect with everything, we would just like to see you taking part, I’ll doctor the pictures if needed and also deal with the text that you give me, so please do take part.

The next meeting will also be a virtual meeting again being organised by Cliff Sim and for this meeting Cliff would like to see you making lamp bases, any type, any size. This meeting is scheduled for the 26th November 2020.

Once you have made your lamp base send the pictures to me along with some information on what you have made, don’t worry if you do not have all the electrical parts needed, we all know what they look like, what we want to see is the lamp base you produce.

Our next meeting should be on the 12th November 2020, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting will now be a virtual meeting. Cliff had wanted the meeting to feature making boxes, we can still make some boxes for Cliff, all you have to do is make a box or 2, any shape any size, once made photograph them and send the pictures to me for publication, give me some info on your box or boxes, things like the size and the wood it’s made from.

I will give you some pictures of the type of thing you could make, the first picture has quite a few boxes you could use for ideas, the second lot of pictures will be in a picture gallery of individual boxes with some instructions on how they were made. Pick a box or 2 from any of the pictures and see if you can make one or 2 similar.

The picture Gallery follows, here you will see 10 different boxes with some instruction on how they were made. Just click any of the pictures to get a bigger picture and to be able to read the text.

Come on everyone make a box or 2 and make Cliff happy, you have no excuse if it’s ideas you need you have them here.

Once you make your box or boxes, send your pictures to me at;

a.j.mutch4321@btintenet.com

You have until Friday the 13th November 2020 to get your entries to me for publication on our club web site. I look forward to seeing them.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our meeting on the 29th October was to be a demonstration by Andy Walter of Black Isle Woodturning, it was being organised by Jim Kelman but this had to be changed into a virtual meeting due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

As there was no theme to work from we asked you all to make something of your own choosing and send the pictures to me for publication on our web site. There were only 2 people responded to this request other than myself, they are Dave Line and Nick Simpson, so thank you Dave and Nick for taking the time to make and send your work to me.

I will give you just a little taste of what’s in the gallery this week,

The rest of the entries are in the gallery that follows along with some information on all of them.

To see a larger picture of any of the gallery images just click the picture.

Our next meeting on the 12th November 2020 will also be a virtual meeting, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim on the subject of boxes. Lets see if we can all do better for the next meeting, we need you to make a box or boxes and send the pictures of them to me, you have 11 days to do this, don’t disappoint me.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

This weeks meeting on Thursday 29th October 2020 was to be a demonstration by Andy Walters of Black Isle Woodturning, this was being organised by Jim Kelman however with the Covid-19 restrictions still in place this has been changed to a virtual meeting now. Andy will not be demonstrating but we invite you all to send in some pictures of your latest turnings along with a bit of information about each article.

We are not going to put any particular criteria on what to make as long as you make something and then send them to me for publication.

We have a few very dedicated people in the club that send in articles on a very regular basis and we very much appreciate these people, however I would like to see the number of these increase, do remember that you do not have to be an expert on anything you are making, we would like to see them anyway, come on some of you novices to the club and woodturning show us what you have been doing.

We are not asking you to make anything like the Quaich, but we are asking you to make something, anything at all and do send me the pictures.

You will have up to Friday 30th October to send me your pictures, send them to me at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Good luck with your turning and do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our meeting on the 15th October 2020 was going to be mainly about making pens, it was to have been organised by Jim Kelman however with the Covid-19 restrictions still in place this meeting had to be moved to a virtual meeting.

I invited all of you to enter a pen or something else if you did not have the kit to make a pen, anything that used a brass tube like a key ring or some other item that made use of some elements of a kit, and failing all of that just to enter something you had made.

The response was as usual very poor, but I must thank all of those who did take part and some who did not take part because I have included some work from them.

You will see in the Gallery I have included some pictures of items made by our members that are clearly not a pen or have anything to do with any kit, I make no apologies for including these items, indeed to the contrary I have included a couple of items I made recently that I felt could be shown.

To see a larger picture on any of the gallery images just click the picture, you will also be able to see the text that goes with each picture.

Our next meeting is due on the 29th October, again being organised by Jim Kelman, he had arranged for Andy Walters of Black Isle Woodturning to give us a demonstration, this will not be taking place, instead we will have a virtual meeting on any subject you prefer, lets see if we can improve on the numbers taking part for this next meeting.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next virtual meeting will be on the 15th October 2020, the subject matter is pens, it was to be organised by Jim Kelman but with the Covid-19 restrictions still being in place this meeting will now be held virtually. You are all invited to make a pen or pens, they can be made from any material you wish, be it wood, acrylic or even metal just as long as you make something. You could also use this meeting to make anything that contains a brass tube, like a key ring holder or an atomizer.

There may be some of you who do not have any of the brass tubing or the pen mechanisms, in which case we would be very pleased to see any entry you wish to put forward.

Here are a couple of pictures of pens made in previous meetings.

Do try to take part in this meeting, we would all love to see your examples.

You will have until the end of the day on Friday 16th October to send me you pictures.

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

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

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.