Posted on by Alec Mutch

Report on our meeting 02-09-2021 light assisted goblet.

This was our first meeting after the pandemic restrictions were lifted that turning was involved, and it was good to be back in operation again. We have made some changes within the club to make it much safer for everyone to return, this included installing some ventilation fans and a CO2 monitor, and to combat any dust issues, we are currently installing a full dust extraction system to all the lathes and the bandsaw.

I (Alec Mutch) was tasked with doing the first of a series of single person demonstrations that will take us up to Christmas, this allows us to get the confidence of our members back by limiting what happens in the club and hopefully by that time there may be further reductions in the covid-19 restrictions that will allow us to open up even further. It is our intention to resume our normal practice of having all 5 lathes in operation from January 2022.

In the meantime here are some pictures of what happened at our meeting on the 2nd September 2021, I’m making a couple of cups/goblets from pieces of branch wood, the first is out of a Cherry branch that is turned wet, the second is from a Leylandii branch that had been dried down to about 20% moisture content.

Picture 1, a view of some of our members as I was about to start. 2, The Cherry log I used for the wet turning. 3, A view of my light stick that I use for turning the very thin walls. 4, The Leylandii Log I used for the second turning.
5, Making a start on the Cherry log, first to form a spigot at one end. 6, Now held by the spigot, some of the inside and the outside can be worked. 7, to complete the inside remove the tailstock and form the final shape. 8, The inside complete, some light sanding can be done with a wet & dry sanding cloth.
9, The inside ready to take the light stick, place the light stick inside the cup without touching the walls or the bottom, switch on the light. 10, The light will start to shine through as you work the outside shape, it will start to show red as you reduce the wall thickness, you can get this down to just 1-2mm if you are brave enough, just watch for the colour change and follow it. 11, The outside being pared down, you can see in the reflection how red the cup has become. 12, The outside shape complete, the red glow clearly visible, if the colour remains the same throughout then the thickness will be the same throughout.
13, The Cherry cup/goblet now ready to be microwaved, 3 x by 1 minute in the microwave at the defrost setting, allow 5 minutes between each. 14, The Laylandii cup/goblet I made as my second turning, this was done exactly the same way but as the moisture content was considerably less I could sand seal and polish this one. The light coming through the drier wood is also less, it’s the moisture in the wood that gives you the intense colouring.

I hope you have found this first demonstration interesting and informative, I do know that after the demonstration was over several of those present wanted to see how the light stick I used was made, with a view that they too were going to make one.

Our next meeting will be on the 16th September 2021, It’s going to be another single person demonstration by John Ruickbie, John will be making a clock from whisky barrel staves. All will be seated, masks optional when seated, and we may be in a position to have the extraction system working by then.

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