Our meeting on Thursday 6th July 2023 was organized by Alan Smith, Alan had arranged for 3 turners plus himself to do a demonstration on making Shallow Bowls or Plates.
However we had a couple of last minute cancellations from the turners scheduled to do the demonstrations, this left us very short of demonstrators with Alan and only one other turner Susan Drew, who arrived prepared to do their demonstrations.
At the very last minute 2 of those who arrived to observe volunteered to man a lathe each, they were Richard and Liam Comfort, neither of them were prepared or took anything with them to do a demonstration, fortunately the club had everything that they required to do a demonstration, tools, safety equipment and wood blanks to do the demonstrations.
The rush to get Richard and Liam kitted out and ready to start delayed the opening of the meeting by only a few minutes.
During the opening remarks, Nick Simpson (our Training organizer) informed those present that we currently had no training requests from anyone, he also reminded everyone that advanced training was available for anyone wishing to further their turning skills and to contact him if they wanted tuition on a specific subject.
Here are a few pictures with some comments,
Picture 1, here is Alan Smith as he make a start on his project, he was to make a plate from a piece of Lime Wood. Picture 2, shows Alan having turned the base of his plate and was at the finishing stage on the outside.
Picture 3, Alan has turned his work piece around and is now working on hollowing out the inside. Picture 4, sanding the inside of his plate.
Picture 5, Alan giving his plate a final polish.
Picture 6, Susan Drew as she makes a start on her project, Susan was to make a Shallow Bowl using a piece of Sweet Chestnut, she was being observed and guided by several of the club members as she was fairly new to woodturning. Picture 7, here Susan can be seen working the outside of her bowl, a hand can be seen from one of the members guiding her on what her next move should be.
Picture 8, here Susan can be seen making the final cut on the outside of her bowl. Picture 9, now with the bowl turned around, Susan has started to hollow out the inside.
Picture 10, Susan with her finished bowl, she was very pleased with the outcome and wished to thank all those who gave her some advice along the way.
These 2 pictures were from the turners that we press ganged into doing the demonstration at the last minute.
Picture 11, this was to be a shallow bowl by Liam Comfort, the wood was a piece of Sweet Chestnut and Liam was also being guided by several of the members. Liam is one of our junior turners and is still learning the technique, he is always very willing to try and we were more than pleased he volunteered to man a lathe at the last minute. He did finish shaping the outside of his bowl but ran out of time to complete the inside, he promised to complete it at home and to let us see it at the next meeting.
Picture 12, this was to be a Natural Edged bowl made from a piece of Laburnum, it was being made by Richard Comfort the 2nd of the press ganged turners to man a lathe. Richard levelled out the bottom and put in a chuck recess but he was not going to do any work on the overall shape leaving it largely as it is. He did turn it around and level up the face and put a small hollow on the top side making a very interesting Natural Edged bowl, he too didn’t quite complete his project although he did take it to the final finishing process.
Picture 13, we have been encouraging the members to bring along any items they have made for others to see and discuss, however this weeks meeting produced only 2 items from one member (Nick Simpson). We thank Nick for bringing in the items and would like to see a lot more of you bringing in items to view and to discuss.
That concludes this week’s meeting, it was attended by a reasonable amount of members bearing in mind that the numbers during the summer meetings are traditionally smaller due to people being off on holiday.
Our next meeting is on the 20th July and is being organized by Geoff Potter. Geoff’s theme for the next meeting is make something using a Natural Edge, it can be from a faceplate turning or from a spindle turning, the choice will be left to the turners.