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HWC members pictures, 28-03-2020

During this lock down period I felt we needed to take advantage of the situation to stay in touch with each other by posting some pictures of what we have been doing whether it’s working on the lathe or anything else. I have done the first post showing some of the things I have been making since the lock down. You will all be receiving an email from Geoff outlining what this is about and what we would like you to do, we would like as many of you to take part as possible but there is no obligation to do so, you can if you wish just get onto the club web site and observe what others have been doing. This first post of my work should give you an idea what any picture and text you provide would look like.

To take part you would need to photograph what you are doing or making and send that to me along with some text giving me the dimensions, the type of wood if known and any other useful piece of information by email, attaching any pictures, you can use my own email address to do this if you feel uncomfortable doing it through the web site contact.

My email address is, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com.

A spalted Beech bowl made by Alec Mutch, the bowl measured 190 mm in diameter by 90 mm high, some of the white areas were quite soft and required some fairy liquid being applied to achieve a good finish, the final finish was sanding sealer followed by a coat of Melamine.
A natural edged bowl made by Alec Mutch, the wood is spalted Beech made from a half log. The dimensions are 235 mm long by 175 mm wide and an overall height of 100 mm. The finish was sanding sealer followed by a coat of Melamine and buffed to a soft sheen.
A small shallow bowl made by Alec Mutch, made to hold your house keys. It was made from Beech with a decorated rim coloured with a felt tip pen, the engraving was done with the use of a laser.

Now it’s your turn to send me some pictures of your most recent work and I will post them here for others to see.

Do remember the club house is still closed and the meetings suspended for the time being, you will be notified when the club meetings will start again.

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Clubhouse temporary closure.


Important notice to all HWC members.
Precautions against Coronavirus.

In light of the Scottish Parliament taking the decision to close all outside gathering of more than 500 people and all inside gatherings of more than 100 people we the committee for HWC have taken the decision to suspend all our meetings in the foreseeable future.

The reasoning for this is that our building does not allow for reasonable separation of the individual, the ventilation is poor and our members are mostly of a certain age. Although our numbers are less than 100 we are in a confined space with everyone breathing the same air.

The length of time the closure will apply will be open ended, but I would anticipate there being no meetings before the end of April and could be longer, a review of the situation will take place mid to late April.

Any new information will be posted on our web site and Facebook page.

Anyone with any questions or concerns can contact me or Geoff through the web site email contact.

Regards to everyone,

Alec Mutch, Chairman, this notice issued on behalf of the committee for HWC.

Updated 14th March 2020.

If you have made an item for the competition that was due to happen on Thursday 19th March, hold onto it, we will be holding that competition as our first meeting after the crisis has passed.

In the meantime our meetings have been suspended and the clubhouse is closed.

This applies to all meetings, committee meetings and training meetings.

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AGM Minutes available

The minutes from this years AGM on February 6th are now available in the members area after logging in.

Just a reminder – the members login details will be changed shortly, a notice will go up in the club with details and the date of the change.

If you experience problems logging in, remember to check your username & password is still correct. Due to ongoing attempted hacking issues on the site, the lockout for incorrect attempts will still remain at 24 hours before your connection will be allowed to try again.

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New Committee Minutes and Health and Safety Documents now available

The minutes from the last committee meeting are now available.

The new Health and Safety Documents are also available on the same page. You will need to login to view all the documents.

Remember the safety of yourself and all other users depend on each member being a personal health and safety person. Think before doing anything. Think while doing anything. Think after doing anything. And most importantly think of others.

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Report on our all day meeting on the 27th July 2019.

Our all day meeting on the 27th July was a great success, it was organized by John Cheadle who arranged for 3 turners to do different demonstrations throughout the day, he also arranged for Celtic woodturning supplies to be present to sell their wares. We had a good response from our own members, but what was also very pleasing a group of 12 woodturners from the North Highlands Woodturners based in Castletown Caithness also attended the meeting, there were also representatives from the Elgin Woodturners. The day went very well and to schedule finishing off with the customary raffle. A summary of all 3 turners work follows in 3 separate galleries.

Alec Mutch.

Here we have John Cheadle opening the meeting and introducing the first turner, Alec Mutch.
Here I am showing the crowd my intended work piece, a piece of spalted beech that will be a natural edged bowl.
My work piece mounted on a set of pin jaws ready to start the turning.
I brought up the tailstock for added support for the first few cuts.
The first cuts being taken on the outside shape.
Here I can be seen making the recess on the base to take the expanding collet jaws.
Now I have laid out the extent of the foot on the bowl, approx 55% of the outer diameter.
Cutting back the outside shape to suit the newly laid out foot.
The chuck recess requires a very small internal dovetail to match the jaws, this is the tool I use for this, it's a modified file.
Here I can be seen sanding the whole of the outside, I use the Powerlock system for most of my sanding.
After the sanding, I applied a liberal coat of sanding sealer and rubbed it well in.
After the sealer a coat of Melamine was applied, here I am rubbing it in with a paper towel.
Now with the lathe running and a fresh paper towel I burnished the outside to a soft sheen.
A change of chuck to do the inside, these are the standard dovetail jaws that will fit inside the recess I cut in the bottom.
The first cuts being made on the turning of the inside.
After the first few cuts, I moved the rest into the hollow to minimise the overhang of the tool.
Further cuts being taken on the inside.
Getting closer to the desired wall thickness and depth.
Checking the wall thickness with a double ended set of callipers.
The tool work on the inside now complete.
Sanding of the inside using the Powerlock system, both the lathe and the drill running.
The tops of the wings on the bowl being sanded with the lathe stationary.
The bowl would now be sealed, rubbed back with wire wool and a coat of Melamine applied and buffed.
My finished natural edged bowl.

Gary Lowe.

Here we have John Cheadle introducing our guest turner, Gary Lowe, from Elgin.
Here is Gary showing the crowd the piece he is going to work on, He is going to make a variation of a spinning top.
Here Gary is fixing the tailstock, having mounted the other end in the chuck.
Using a roughing gouge Garry brings the blank of Beech to a cylinder.
Now he starts to shape the top end.
Top end shape almost complete, he now marks out where he is going to start near the bottom.
Bottom end shaping in progress.
This overhead screen shot shows Gary completing the final shape.
Sanding in progress, Gary first coated the item with a light layer of wax to minimise the dust.
This screen shot show to better effect Gary's sanding method.
Here he is buffing the wax finish he applied to the item.This completed the first part, the base.
Now for the 2nd part the spinning top itself, Gary used another piece of Beech for this.(can be seen on the lathe).
The small block of Beech mounted between centres.
The blank now turned into a cylinder.
Gary starts to shape the bottom of the spinning top.
The bottom and the inside of the bottom now nearing completion.
This was where Gary was heading to reproduce.
Gary had made a tool just for the purpose of shaping the pin in the inside.
Now he is sanding all of the inside including the pin the the top will spin on.
Now Gary starts to work the outside shape.
He sands the cup part before going any further.
This screen shot shows the top end of the cup being worked.
The final cuts being taken prior to sanding and parting off.
This screen shot shows Gary sanding the delacate stem.

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Mark Sutton.

Here we have Mark Sutton making his address to the crowd on what he was about to do.
He brought in a couple of examples, here he shows a Triptych, a set of 3 artistic works.
A close up of his Triptych.
Another example, this time it's a Diptych, made in 2 parts.
Mark shows the crowd some of the paints he uses in his work.
The turning begins,forming the first of a series of shapes from the centre out.
The shaping progressing well.
Here Mark can be seen sanding some of the first stages.
Mark showed the crowd some of the materials he works with, this was copper leaf.
Mark applying some size to the centre to hold the metal leaf.
The metal leaf being applied to the centre.
Once the leaf was firm, Mark put it back on the lathe to clean it up.
Using a skew Mark trimmed the edge of the metal leaf.
Now for the next part Mark put on some masking tape, here he can be seen trimming the edges.
Here he can be seen spraying the masked area with black acrylic paint.
While the paint was drying Mark showed the other colours he might use.
The other colour were applied with a small sponge, just dabbed on, and all at the same time.
With the tape removed, the results were quite clear to see.
Mark cleaned up the painted areas overspill.
As a final clean up of the face, Mark used a gouge on a trailing cut to smooth off the face of the work.
Mark put a second piece of detail on the work, here he is off centering one piece to do this work.
Here Mark is cutting the small 2nd detail, the ghost of the rest of the work is quite clear to see.
Mark repeated the colouring on the small detail.
A little bit of heat was applied to dry the paint using a heat gun.

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The all day event was first done in 2018 to good effect, this year however with the addition of Celtic Woodturning Supplies and a very good attendance this year was even better, we will be having an all day event again next year.

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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.