Making Shavings May 2019 - Garden of England Woodturners · 2019. 11. 11. · 1st – Paul Yandell...

May 2019 [Type text] Garden of England Woodturners newsletter

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Making Shavings

In this issue:

� Welcome

� Saturday 4th

May demo: Paul Howard

� Tuesday 14th

May demo: Steve Dickens

� Woodturner profile: Louise Hibbert

� Recent events

� Forthcoming events

� Competition results

Welcome to your May newsletter

Last month we were a bit short of images, something I think I have rectified this month.

Paul Howard’s demo comprised three quite complex multi-part projects, each using various specialised jigs

and tools to achieve the desired result. Paul has kindly supplied PDF documents outlining for the projects,

and these have been circulated as separate attachments with this newsletter. These documents mean that

my write-up of the day doesn’t have to be too detailed!

If you have any ideas for articles, reports on events, dates for forthcoming events, items for sale or any other

features that you would like to see in the newsletter please get in touch.

Martin Gomme

Saturday 4th May Demo: Paul Howard

An excellent start to the day – we had

our demonstrator!

Paul is a semi-retired engineer, based

in Essex. He now spends much of his

time woodturning - teaching,

demonstrating and continuing to

develop ways to further his skills. He

brings his engineering expertise to

bear developing products and ideas

for turning, something that became

abundantly clear throughout his

demo.


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I approached documenting the demo with some trepidation as I tend to simply enjoy turning (and

decorating) and I’m not generally a great fan of fiddling around making and using jigs. However, by the end

of Paul’s demo I must confess to a change of heart...

His first project was an owl wearing a mortar board – an ideal graduation gift, although the mortar board is

optional, for wider appeal! Although it involves freehand turning in the early stages Paul uses his sphere jig

to make the owl’s head.

After marking out the eye positions as two slightly overlapping circles, he used a donut chuck to hold the

sphere in position and used his router jig and indexing system for the eye surrounds. The indexing system

allows for more steps than are usually available with the built-in indexing on a lathe. One of the key

elements of the router jig is the wooden bush that allows the router to follow the profile of the surface being

cut.

The beak is made using by setting up a sanding table on the lathe and a V-block. The mortar board comprises

a cap section made of beech, a board of 3mm ply or laminated veneer, a blackwood button, and a tassel

sourced from eBay (costing anything from £6 for 2 to £6 for 100!)


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The afternoon session’s first project was a three-centre spire box, making use of

a wooden offset chuck. Paul has supplied are two PDF documents for this – a

dimensioned drawing as well as a ‘how-to’ sheet.

The third and final project of the day was a sphere-in-a-box: as with most of

Paul’s work this required a number of specialised items; initially a chuck that

can hold a cube. Two beads were created on each face and then a skew chisel

was used as a scraper to start to form the sphere, with the highest part of the

sphere approximately 4mm below the surface of the box.

Using a rest with a 45o guide machined into it and a custom ground fine parting

tool Paul was able to move the cube around until the sphere was released.

The sphere was captured

between cup chucks and a table jig was fitted to the bed of

the lathe to hold the box steady. The sphere shape is moved a

round between the cup chucks and its shape refined with a

skew or spindle gouge. Strips of abrasive sheet can be fed into

the box and around the sphere for sanding.

Some examples of Paul’s work


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Tuesday 14th

May demo: Steve Dickens

Steve’s chosen subject for his demo was a wine stopper, just one

way of using up some of those spindle scraps that we all

accumulate. Several members of the audience clearly struggled with

the concept of ever needing such an item and the notion of an

unfinished bottle of wine, but Steve pressed gamely on...

After rounding the blank down he turned a 25mm tenon to fit into

the centre of the jaw set.

Remounting the blank he trued up the tailstock end and then

marked out what would become the top of the stopper

Refining the shape.

Parted off and ready for sanding.

Using a soft touch arbor (with an ‘O’ ring on the face) the

dimensions are checked with calipers to make sure that the rubber

insert will be a good fit. Although Steve did this with the lathe

running, less-experienced turners should do this with the lathe

stationary.


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Refining the bottom taper with a skew chisel.

The finished item, with rubber seal fitted.

Steve recommends finishing with sanding sealer, followed by buffing

with carnauba. To date he has had no problems with staining

reported.

Woodturner profile

Continuing a series of brief profiles of woodturners whose work I

particularly like, this month it’s Louise Hibbert.

She has been a professional maker for more than 20 years, designing and

creating intricate boxes, jewellery and handheld sculptures out of wood,

plastic and metal, both on her own and in collaboration with other makers.

She grew up near Southampton and studied 3D design in wood, metal,

ceramics and plastics at Brighton University before going on to become a

full-time professional maker, based in Wales. She moved to the USA for 7

years before returning to Wales where she continues to create nature-

inspired pieces. She works from a shed in her garden and turns on a 1950

Wadkin Bursgreen lathe that she bought second-hand when she started

and which has travelled with her to the States and back!

She says that her inspiration comes from microscopic creatures, marine life, beetles, bugs, seeds –

particularly the weird and wonderful, and she loves trying new things and constantly pushes herself in terms

of designs and techniques.

The first two images are from her display at the last Wizardry in Wood in 2016. The fish box is a more recent

piece. See more at www.louisehibbert.com and on Etsy.


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Recent events

Living Crafts, Hatfield House, May 9th

– 12th

I wouldn’t normally include a craft fair in this newsletter (unless there was a club interest), but I’ve been a

regular visitor to this one for many years, and Living Crafts is one of a number of events that regularly

features one of the AWGB’s travelling exhibitions. From the hundreds of pieces submitted to the Instant

Gallery at the biennial AWGB Seminar fifty to sixty pieces are selected, which are then displayed at various

events around the country to promote the AWGB and woodturning in general. There are at least two sets (of

20+ pieces each) to make the logistics easier and to avoid dates clashes. Below are a few of the pieces.


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Jason Breach at Axminster Tools Sittingbourne, May 18th

Having attended some fairly underwhelming “events” at Axminster, I was delighted to find that this was the

real deal – a proper all-day demo with Jason producing some of his signature boxes. There were around 7 or

8 eight GEW members attending, and with free entry it was great value! We are perhaps somewhat spoiled

with our club AV system, and the single fixed camera and poor acoustics slightly detracted from the whole

experience, but there was plenty of detailed explanation from Jason on how he makes his boxes and the

tools and techniques he has developed.


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Forthcoming events

Our next club meetings are:

Saturday 1st

June – club meeting: guest professional demonstrator Steve Giles.

Tuesday 11th

June – club meeting: demonstrator Les Hetherington.

Slightly further ahead:

Saturday 1st

– Sunday 2nd

June The Toolpost Summer Open House, Didcot, Oxon. www.toolpost.co.uk

Saturday 8th June - Sunday 16th June Kent Woodturners Exhibition and Sale - North Barn, The Friars,

Aylesford http://www.kentwoodturners.com

Tuesday 2nd

– Wednesday 21st

July – Ray Key Exhibition at “Nature in Art”, Gloucester. Details at

https://turnersco.com/exhibition-of-the-awgb-ray-key-collaboration

Saturday 3rd

– Sunday 4th

August - Chestnut Products’ Woodturning Weekender, Spalding, Lincolnshire

https://chestnutproducts.co.uk/woodturning-weekender

6th

– 7th

September – Yandles Woodworking Show, Martock, Somerset www.yandles.co.uk

Competition results

Turners’ Choice May 2019 Results

Novice

1st

– Carl Clarke

2nd

– Fred Long

3rd

– Simon Keen

Enhanced

1st

- Trevor Fackrell

2nd

– Des Beal

3rd

- Carl Clarke

Senior

1st

– Paul Yandell

2nd

- Nick Harden

3rd

– Gordon Duxbury


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2019 Competition Results – Novice Category

Key:

1st

2nd

3rd

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Total

Simon

Keen 23 16 17 56

Carl

Clarke 19 14 18 51

Roy

Claris 13 13

Len

Coombs 13 12 25

Fred

Long 18 18 16 52

Dudley

Gore 14 14

1

st - Carl Clarke

2nd

- Simon Keen

3

rd - Fred Long

Len Coombs


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2019 Competition Results – Enhanced Category

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb TOTAL

Nick

Harden 28 24 52

Des

Beal 28 24 27 79

Simon

Keen 22 26 19 67

Brian

Bailey 26 26

Trevor

Fackrell 27 30 30 87

John

Edgeworth 26 27 27 80

Carl

Clarke 20 25 16 61

Gordon

Blake 33 33

Bob

Edom 27 24 51

1

st - Trevor Fackrell

2

nd= - Des Beal

2nd

= - John Edgeworth


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Enhanced (continued)

Nick Harden

Bob Edom

Simon Keen

Carl King


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2019 Competition Results – Senior Category

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Total

Gordon

Duxbury 25.5 25.5 18 69

Derek

Lane 23.5 23.5 47

Derek

Wheeler 14.5 17 31.5

Des

Beal 15.5 17.5 16 49

Nick

Harden 26 23 20.5 69.5

Paul

Yandell 16.5 21 23 60.5

Mike

Blundy 17.5 17.5

Derek

Harris 21 21

Colin

Knight 20 20

Les

Hetherington 21 21

John

Reynolds 19 19

Roy

Bridgeland 16 16

Mort

Hall 13 13

1

st - Paul Yandell

2

nd - Nick Harden


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Senior (continued)

3

rd - Gordon Duxbury

Des Beal

Mort Hall

Making Shavings May 2019 - Garden of England Woodturners · 2019. 11. 11. · 1st – Paul Yandell...

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