Posted on by Alec Mutch

Report on our meeting 06-01-2022. Demonstration by Douglas Stewart.

Our meeting on Thursday 6th January 2022 was a demonstration by Douglas Stewart, Douglas was to make some pieces of wooden jewellery, the range of items that can be made from wood using a lathe is practically endless. Douglas started the meeting by showing a variety of different wooden jewellery pieces to the watching crowd before then deciding upon the items he was going to make, in this instance he chose a scarf clasp and pin and a bangle.

1, a turned neckless made from a variety of wood and some acrylic pieces. 2,showing the acrylic pieces in a bag next to the neckless.3, a wooden bangle that Douglas made using some mineral inserts in the grooves held in by epoxy glue. 4, a selection of wooden jewellery and curios that Douglas had made.
5, this was what Douglas was going to reproduce, another scarf clasp and pin. 6, In order to hold the piece to make the clasp a spacer needed to be made for his pin chuck. 7, Here Douglas is trimming the spacer down so that only 3 mm of the jaws will be in use. 8, The piece of wood for the clasp now held in the jaws, a hole was cut to suit the size of the clasp and to fit in the jaws.
9, Here Douglas can be seen starting the cuts on the outboard face. 10, The face cuts almost complete, Douglas is now trimming the edge profile. 11, Here the final very fine cut is taking place. 12, Sanding the outboard profile.
13, Because of the oblong shape Douglas used a piece of polystyrene to support the sanding cloth also to avoid the irregular shape from his fingers. 14, a variety of grades of sanding medium was used. 15, With the outboard face being finished it was time to turn the piece around, here we see Douglas mounting the piece on the lathe again. 16, The inboard profile was worked in the same way as the outboard, here you can see the finished profile.
17, The sanding of the inboard profile in progress, the same procedure as the outboard was applied. 18, A coat of sanding sealer being applied, a wax finish after sealing is all that’s required. 19, The finished clasp. 20, This shows the finished profile.
21, Douglas moved onto making a bangle, here the work piece is being held by means of a tapered mandrel. 22, Doulas starts to shape the profile on the bangle. 23, The profile now complete, ready to be sanded. 24, Douglas used a tipped tool to start the under cut, this would be done from both sides, creating a curved undercut.
25, Sanding the bangle, this needs to be done as far as possible, into the undercuts as well. 26, Here Douglas is making the final cut to release the bangle. 27, With a piece of sanding cloth wrapped around the mandrel the sanding of the inside cut can be done with the lathe running and the piece held by hand, that completed the bangle. 28, Douglas moved onto his last piece to work, the pin for the scarf clasp, here he can be seen setting everything up ready to make a start.
29, The blank for the pin mounted ready to start. 30, Using a roughing gouge to bring the blank into the round. 31, Douglas makes a start at paring down the shaft to a fine taper, he did this in stages starting at the bottom end to avoid any rattle in the wood. 32, The paring continuing.
33, The paring continuing, do this in short sections, working back towards the headstock. 34, About half way there now, lots of fine cuts needed, you may also need to support the wood with your fingers as it gets thinner. 35, the final cuts are at the headstock end, here the top of the pin is being created. 36, Sanding the pin, take care here its very fragile.
37, the pin now sanded, a coat of sealer is all that’s required. 38, the pin turned around to trim off the end of the pin. 39, the top of the pin being sanded. 40, a finished clasp and pin.

That completes Douglas’s demonstration, it was very well received by our members, we hope you also enjoy looking through Douglas’s efforts and that you may attempt to make something in the jewellery line.

Our next meeting is on the 20th January, it will be myself (Alec Mutch) doing a demonstration, I will be looking at making something in the toy or puzzle line, we look forward to seeing you all there.