Chairman's Report - August 2012

Transcription

1 YewTurn The Monthly Magazine for Norwich Wood Turners Affiliated to the association of Wood Turners of Great Britain Chairman's Report - August 2012 Another great Demo by John Gilbert showing how to make a pin cushion box, very effective for Christmas tree presents. I thought the box base with the internal radius was a great idea, much easier to get the pins out than a flat bottomed box. Well done John, thanks again. Regarding my own turning activities not a great deal this month apart from more disasterous attempts at Chinese balls. So far three goes, three failures. I have been using the wrong types of timber. After a couple of phone calls and a cry for help Vic was kind enough to sell me a couple of pieces of Box wood and some Lignum Vitie so I am hoping that will enable me to get better results when I can get back to my lathe. I was discussing the manufacture of these balls with Brian Elmar the other week as he is very good at this type of work, and I can draw some degree of comfort from this chat as he told me that he does not know many people that have been successful making these things apart from Dave Springett of course. If I ever finish a set I will of course bring them along to the club but don't hold your breath on that one. Best of luck with your endeavours and keep turning safely. Ivan Tatnell Ahoy There Shipmates A pirate walked into a bar and the bartender said, I haven't seen you in a while. What happened? You look terrible. What do you mean? said the pirate, I feel fine. Well, the nicely turned wooden leg, made from Yew if I am not mistaken? We were in a battle and I got hit by a cannon ball, but I'm fine now replied the pirate. What about the hook, what happened to your hand? We were in another battle. I boarded a ship and got into a sword fight. My hand was cut off. I got fitted with this hook, cunningly forged from an old Henry Taylor bowl gouge. I'm fine, really. The bartender asked and the eye patch?, to which the pirate replied, Oh, one day we were at sea and a flock of gulls flew over. I looked up and one of them dumped its load in my eye. You're kidding said the bartender, you lost an eye just from bird poo? No replied the pirate, It was my first day with the hook. Moral: Be careful where you point your turning tools, and wear good eye protection YewTurn No August 2012 Page 1

2 A Letter From The Editor I would like to say how pleased I am about having the chance to be the new editor of this newsletter. Many feel that this is a thankless and onerous task, not me. As far as I am concerned, this is my opportunity to help keep you all informed about what is happening in and around the club, so any events you hear of, please let me know so that we all have the opportunity of taking advantage. Also, the writeups are an opportunity for all of us to understand much more about what is being demonstrated, and I hope you feel that the detail is worth having in print. I have several ideas about articles I would like to offer you over the coming months which I hope you will enjoy reading. I would like to tell you about the wood turning I do for the Norfolk Wherry Trust: are you involved in anything that could be included in the newsletter for the benefit of all? That said, if there is something you would like to have included, or if you want to get involved in writing demonstration reports, please don't hesitate to let me know. Anything you do want to offer needs to be with me at least a week before the first Friday of the month. If necessary, come and have a chat, you will normally find me sitting on the left hand end of the front row close to the lathe, or should you want to get in touch, my contact details are / , or me at jonandbron@googl .com Jon Simpson FOR SALE A VICMARC VL300 variable speed lathe is offered for sale, in good working order. The price is o.n.o. If you are interested, please contact Roger Lowry on r e- mail him at rfl1@btinternet.com for more information. Library Picture YewTurn No August 2012 Page 2

3 The John Gilbert Demonstration, 6th July 2012 Known by his friends as 'Arkwright' because of the brown smock he wears, John is a hobby turner with no specific interests other than being a good amateur, quite simply, he loves it all. His most memorable moment was being considered good enough to demonstrate. His pet hates are people in the audience that talk, and mobile phones. For this demonstration we were to see John make a combined pin cushion and storage box. Being a practical piece, it needs to have a broad foot to ensure good stability. Before starting the turning, John explained that the cushion top was made from half of a child's sponge tennis ball with a material cover stuck on with Copydex. On with the wood turning. John started with a 4" long by 3" diameter section of an old beech table leg. The wood was quite old and very dry, hence it would be very stable. This is a good quality to have when you are making a box. When asked "what about the state of the table", the reply was "she can balance the corner on her knee". First task, hold the blank between a steb and a live centre and use a roughing gouge to skim the old polish and varnish off the blank, and cut a chucking spigot on one end. Now with the blank mounted in the chuck, the blank was turned smooth and the open end was trued up with a combination of spindle gouges and a parting off tool. This was followed by cutting a recess in the open end with a square cut skew to a depth of about 8mm, this will allow the cushion to be inserted later. Face off the rim, sand, seal, and polish. Two setting out marks were applied to the circumference of the piece, at 25mm, and a further 10mm from the open face. The 10mm section can be reduced with a parting tool, YewTurn No August 2012 Page 3

4 but be aware that this section is going to be used as a jam chuck to reverse mount the lid. Part off the lid section and refine the jam chuck spigot until the lid is a good fit. With a spindle gouge or skew, trim the outer diameter of the lid to leave a wall thickness on the rim of about 5mm. Sand and texture the side of the lid, and in John's case, add the customary burn lines. Sand, seal, and polish, and finally, clean out the patterning and burn lines with an old toothbrush. If you happen to have borrowed the wife's, it is probably best not to tell her. Hollow the outer face of the piece to about 10mm (this is going to be the inside of the lid). Make sure you cut the walls square, and add decoration to the roof. Sand, seal, and polish. Now turn your attention to the blank remaining in the chuck. Trim the outer edge and convert it into a spigot to fit the lid. At this stage, leave the joint with a tight fit. Use a round nose scraper to hollow the centre of the box base, aiming for a near semi-circular hollow. Again, aim to leave a rim thickness of about 5mm. Sand, seal and polish the inside of the box. Trim the outside of the rim with care to obtain a good fit for the lid. Fit the lid, and then complete and refine the outer section of the box to match the lid. Leave the box with a broad flat base, and sides that curve up to align with the lid section. Add texture and burn lines to match the lid section, sand, seal, polish. The final bits, part off at the base. Always make your parting cuts wider than the tool to prevent overheating either the wood or the tool. Reverse mount the box on the chuck (or a new jam chuck) and finish the bottom. Glue in the pin cushion with Copydex, and apply pressure until the glue is set. Jobs a good'n, thanks John. YewTurn No August 2012 Page 4

5 Table Critique - Carried Out By Nick Arnull Nick noted that this month there were many pieces on display of notable quality. Many had moved away from the ordinary into the realm of adding value. Worthy of note were a large platter displaying a moose's head and a pomander in the shape of a tortoise. A Brown Oak swirl from Darren Breeze was especially noted as being of gallery standard, and worth a lot of money. Also of excellent quality was a segmented hollow form from Keith Watts. Several natural edge pieces were on show, and Nick noted that you should never be afraid to sand as low as 60 or 80 grit to get rid of tool marks. You will always end up with a better piece, more pleasing to the eye. YewTurn No August 2012 Page 5

6 A Laminated Goblet For Beginners I found the following information on the world wide web a while ago. It is very easy to understand, and has the potential to lead the amateurs amongst us into the fascinating world of segmented turning. Thanks go to Bob Prichard for giving his permission to reproduce this information, his web site can be found at more of Bobs work will be seen in these pages over the coming months. The first picture shows the wood needed to start the goblet. It consists of 9 pieces which are 1/2" square by 9" long. Five of one colour and four of another. They must all be straight, flat, and have parallel edges. Glue them together to make three pieces, ensuring that everything stays flat and level. The blood wood in the middle of the centre block will be the stem of the goblet. Once all is dry, glue the three pieces together. Again, make sure that all edges stay in alignment. If you need to correct them, take off the least amount you possibly can. If you reduce one, reduce the others so that they all match. If you don't, the finished pattern will move out of registration. The pattern on the end pretty tells the whole story. Next we add four pieces around the outside. These will also be 9" long (or as long as you made your stem section). Normally they will need to be 3/4" thick. The total width will be the size of your stem block plus 3/4". So, if you made yours the same as in these directions they will be 3/4"x 2-1/4" x 9". Notice the orientation of the Peruvian walnut blocks. They should be put on like this or the goblet won't look correct. If they lap like this the finished goblet will lap also, making a curve at each corner rather than a YewTurn No August 2012 Page 6

7 straight line. Even 45 degree corners won't work because they also produce straight lines. Normally at this point you would have a square. My outer blocks appear to be hanging over because they are thicker than they need to be. The turning process will take care that. We are now ready to turn the goblet. It would be nice if we could mount it into a chuck just the way it is but we can't do that. If this was a one piece goblet that s exactly what you would do but in this case it probably won't work. Reason being if your glue-up is slightly off, the pattern won't be centred. It doesn t need to be off by much to ruin the effect. So, the best way to start is between centres. Draw a cross between the corners of the small 1/2 x 1/2 blood wood block in the centre of each end. The more accurate you do this the better the goblet will turn out. Use a utility knife for these lines rather than a pencil, which will often mark off to the side no matter how sharp you get it. Then use an awl at the intersection, and THEN mount between centres and turn a spigot at one end to fit the jaws of your chuck.. After mounting in the chuck, turn and finish the piece as normal. Be sure to hollow the cup section before the stem gets too thin. Having come this far, it would be frustrating if you lost it now. The only thing to watch out for comes right at the end. When you begin to see the stem colour change you must stop the lathe often to see where you are at. If you turn too far you could lose part of the pattern. Jon Simpson (courtesy of Bob Prichard) YewTurn No August 2012 Page 7

8 The Les Thorne Demonstration - Saturday 13th October On Saturday October 13th, the club will be holding an all day demonstration by well known Woodturner and cheeky chappie, Les Thorne. This will be a free day for paid up club members and 10 for non members. Les gives an excellent demonstration, with loads of wit and banter, so it is hoped that there will be a good turnout by members, including those that do not normally attend these sessions. It will be a good insight to a very good days entertainment, and we hope that as many members as possible turn up. Tickets will be available, hopefully at the August meeting. So put it in your diary and come along. You will not be disappointed. Grumpy Club Tools Available For Loan Did you know that the club has several tools available for the members to borrow and make use of. Please feel free to make enquiries with the person noted below, or any other member of the committee. Record DML305 Lathe See Barry Mobbs Woodcut Bowl Saver } Ashley Isles Unichaser } See Dave Wilcox Robert Sorby Texturing Tool } Axminster Reciprocal Carver } Record DX1000 Dust Extractor } Robert Sorby Eccentric Chuck } See Roger Groom Record 6 grinder and Axminster sharpening system } YewTurn No August 2012 Page 8

9 A New Member Is Made Welcome Letters of thanks are few and far between, so this was nice, received by Grumpy from Eric Smith in July. "Many thanks for allowing me to attend your meeting on Friday. I really enjoyed it and the warm welcome of all the club members, the demonstration by John was good as was the discussion and problems with the foam balls. I was very impressed with the amount of turned items on display and variety not including my own was very refreshing to see the interest of the members, the library set up you run is also a nice touch. The critique session was most informative and gave me some good pointers for the future and when Nick offered to go through all my pieces and offer me advice I was overawed with this offer and really pleased with the help and encouragement to remain a non conformist. Thank you all for a superb evening and I would like to take you up on your offer to join your club. Many thanks again for the evening and hope to see you at your August meeting." Eric Smith Forthcoming Events For Your 2012 Diary Friday 3rd August 18th August 24th / 25th/ 26th August Friday 7th September Sat 22nd/Sun 23rd Sep. Chris Norton Demonstration, A Bandstand Clock. Turn East - see details in the June issue of Yewturn. Darren Breeze demonstrates at Somerleyton. Details available at Hands On Evening. The European Woodturning Show, Cressing Temple Barns. Friday 5th October Saturday 13th October The Ralph Jones Trophy Night. All Day Demonstration By Les Thorne. Friday 2nd November 23rd/24th/25th November Jon Simpson Demonstrates Pen Turning. The North of England Woodworking Show at Harrogate. Friday 2nd December Andy Coates Demonstration. YewTurn No August 2012 Page 9

10 Committee Contact List Chairman: Ivan Tatnell Tel Vice Chairman: Barry Mobbs Tel Secretary: Roger Groom Tel Treasurer: Roger Lowry Tel Webmaster: Dave Wilcox Tel Member: Darren Breeze Tel Co-opted Editor: Jon Simpson Tel Co-opted Librarian: Ben Palmer Tel Co-opted Member: Nigel Law Tel Web Site: And Finally For This Month "Pass the hair drier please darling" YewTurn No August 2012 Page 10