Our meeting on Thursday 23rd November 2023 was organized by Susan Drew, Susan’s theme for the meeting was making wooden toys, she had arranged for there to be 4 more turners plus herself on all 5 of the club’s lathes.
This subject was very apt for the time of the year being close to Christmas, a good time to make any sort of toy. The turners were making different things on the whole although spinning tops of various designs seemed to leading the way, however the audience were all kept enthralled by watching the turners at work, and seeing their items unfold.
One of our members (John Ruickbie) is an avid maker of wooden toys and had brought in a couple of examples of toys he had made for the members to see. These had been made from books on the subject of toy making, these books were to be found in our club library for anyone to borrow if they wished to make some wooden toys.
I took a few pictures during the proceedings, here are a few of them.
Picture 1, here we have Susan Drew setting out the dimensions for her first piece of turning, Susan was making a Stacking Tree using various small pieces of wood of any description. Picture 2, shows Susan working on one of the parts for her Stacking Tree.
Picture 3, Susan holding up her Stacking Tree, as you can see the individual parts are all made from various woods.
Picture 1, here we have David Hutcheson working on his project, David was making a Sport’s Car using various woods, he had made some of the components at home due to time restrictions at the club meeting, but he did make the body and some of the wheels at the meeting. Picture 2, shows David working on one of the wheels.
Picture 3, David holding his assembled Sport’s Car, some finishing still to do at home.
Picture 1, here we have Richard Comfort making a start on his project, Richard was making a small Spinning Top from a piece of Yew wood. Picture 2, the top almost complete. Picture 3, Richard finished the Spinning Top and went on to make a Christmas Tree.
Picture 4, Richard showing his finished items, in his left hand the Yew Spinning Top and in his right hand his wooden Christmas Tree made from a piece of Laburnum.
Picture 1, here we have Liam Comfort making a start on his project, Liam was also making a Spinning Top, his was being made from a piece of Beech wood. Picture 2, Liam is working the shaft of the Spinning Top, bringing it down to about 6mm in diameter. Picture 3, now Liam can be seen removing the last pieces of wood as he creates the point on his Spinning Top.
Picture 4, Liam with his finished Spinning Top, and it did work by keeping the centre of gravity closed to the ground.
Picture 1, here we have Alan Ross making a start on his project, Alan was making another type of Spinning Top, he called it a Tippy Top, the idea is to start to spin the top and as it does so it leaps over onto the other side whilst still spinning. To make this work a great deal of precision is required. Picture 2, shows Alan carefully shaping the curve on the Tippy Top.
Picture 3, Alan holding his finished Tippy Top, and again after a few trials it worked perfectly.
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, John Ruickbie brought in the wooden toys on display, 2 of which designs are in the books on wooden toys that the club library hold, you can borrow these books if you wish to have a go at some of the toys, Susan Drew is our librarian.
That ends this meeting, it was appreciated by all those members present and the organizer Susan Drew and all her accompanying turners received a generous round of applause.
Our next meeting is on the 7th December, it’s being organized by Alan Smith and the subject of the meeting will be working with green wood.
Remember to bring any raffle prizes for the grand Christmas draw. Alan Geddes should be there to take any of your subscriptions for 2024.