Don’t forget you can read all the Club History to date in one place on our website at:

www.avon-and-bristol-woodturners.org.ukSimply go to the About tab and choose Club History

Dave Smith

Please note the deadline :- for copy to be included in Turnings it must reach the editor (see con-tact details inside) no later than midday on the Friday prior to the next meeting. Submissions

received after that time will be held over until the following month.

TURNINGS Official newsletter ofAvon and Bristol Woodturners

Affiliated to the Association of Woodturners of Great BritainEstablished 1989

March 2020

Contributions to “Turnings” are accepted in good faith but the inclusion of individuals’ views and comments does not imply endorsement by Avon and Bristol Woodturners

In this edition:From this…….

……..to this - In only a fewweeks.

Pete Ravenscroft explains howformer club member Ian Salis-bury’s home-designed and builtdrying kiln has enabled him todramatically reduce tree-to-lathe time. See page 6

USEFUL CONTACTSClub website www.avon-and-bristol-woodturners.org.uk

Club email messages@avon-and-bristol-woodturners.org.uk

Secretary abwtsecretary@hotmail.co.uk

Turnings Editor Mike Openshaw - 41 Tyler Close, Hanham, Bristol, BS15 9NG

07974652151 email: woodturn89@gmail.com

USEFUL CONTACTSClub website www.avon-and-bristol-woodturners.org.uk

Club email messages@avon-and-bristol-woodturners.org.uk

Secretary abwtsecretary@hotmail.co.uk

Turnings Editor Mike Openshaw - 41 Tyler Close, Hanham, Bristol, BS15 9NG

07974652151 email: woodturn89@gmail.com1

Editor’s comments

The imminent approach of our Annual General Meeting once again prompts a number ofthoughts in my mind, thoughts which are never very far below the surface anyway. Thesemainly comprise fundamental questions about the usefulness to the club membership of Turn-

ings - does it fulfil its purpose as a newsletter? Is the content every month of any real interest tomembers? Is the format one which inspires? Is a monthly newsletter too much to ask of memberswho might otherwise wish to contribute?

Sitting at my computer desk, month after month, spending what amounts to at least a full day of mylife in trying to make your magazine as interesting and readable as possible, I am constantly askingmyself those questions. And, as those of you who do read it (including readers from around theworld who access our website) will have seen, I also frequently ask for feedback, though with littleresponse except from a very few of you (for which I am extremely grateful). So, what am I to con-clude from this? If I were to answer that merely on the basis of evidence alone I would have tosay that the apparent general lack of interest does seem to beg the question: Is Turningsworth the effort it takes to produce it?

This was obliquely alluded to in the minutes of last year’s AGM, reproduced here on pages 8 - 10And it is not just me sitting on my high horse - this month there is a comment by a relatively newmember who laments the lack of response to a very interesting project that he shared with us in Jan-uary’s edition, but which so far has evoked no feedback from any of us, which, with his permission Ireproduce below in full.I am happy to continue in my role as editor for as long as necessary, but in the final analysis the fu-ture of Turnings lies firmly in your hands.

Mike

As a footnote to his “Tools Explained” article on pp Stuart added the following comment which, withthe writer’s permission, I reproduce here, unabridged.

“Whilst I’m here, hope you have had lots of feedback from members to your commentsin this month’s letter. On a personal note I look forward to the newsletter but amsometimes disappointed at the lack of content, as expressed in my goldfish bowl articleyou published last month. It’s a shame that more folk don’t put pen/finger topaper/keyboard but we can hope! I personally would love to hear of other member’swoodturning journeys and experiences.

Keep up the good work

Stuart”

Coronavirus

To end on a slightly lighter note - wood-turning in general is a hobby/pastime which can be enjoyedin solitude so we are perhaps fortunate in that the expected Government recommendations toself-isolate will be unlikely to cause us too much distress and might, in fact contribute to a rise inproductivity, especially in relation to monthly competitions.

A novel use for that discarded wine bottle - by Dave SmithFollowing Keith Fenton’s demonstration in January I researched & purchased a glass bottle cutter via the internet.After several attempts I did have some success in cutting a few glass wine bottles.Instead of using a square block of wood I used a piece of ash log. (Fraxinus execelior) (See photos).The thing to member, apart from all the H&S factors when turning wood & cutting glass, is to ensure you drillholes for air to circulate up & around yourcandle holder (see photos)Also do not make the ‘glass-to-wood’ atight fit.

Stage 1 select & cut glass bottle

Stage2 select wood turn to desired shape.

Stage3 drill air circulation holes (10mm dia- Photo 1)

Stage 4 place night light candle in recess.

Stage 5 place bottle top over wood.

And there you have your recycled Night light

2 Photo 2 showing side air hole Photo 3 showing completed bottle night light

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Last month’s competitionThe names of the all entrants in the February 2020 Competition are as below.  The theme was ‘An animal orbird’.Beginners/Intermediate – Bob Hewinson.

Advanced – Dennis Albutt.  Both Bob and Dennis made a Penguin, in slightly different styles and I thank themfor taking part. We must all (me included) try harder and submit an item for the Competition.

April will be the AGM so the next Competition will be in May but to date there is no theme - a new list of themeswill be published soon. If you have a theme that you feel would be of interest then please let me know soI can include it for the 2020/2021 list.

Chris

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AdvancedDennis Albutt – Penguin – Photo

Beginner/IntermediateBob Hewinson – Penguin –

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TOOLS EXPLAINED

Most of us will have used these tools at one time or another, completely oblivious totheir real purpose, and so, for your enlightenment and edification see below a compre-hensive list, supplied to us by Stuart Clarke, which will help us decide which tool isbest suited to a particular operation. As a space-saving bonus, it can be seen that manyof the tools described have MORE than one application, thus avoiding the purchase ofexpensive, single-use, special-purpose kit.

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock outof your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, dent-ing the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothingcould get to it.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbenchwith the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers inabout the time it takes you to say, 'Oh sh*t'

DROP SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs intomajor refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle... It transformshuman energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influenceits course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else isavailable, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXY-ACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting on fire various flammable ob-jects in your shop. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which youwant to remove a bearing race..

TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles fortesting wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you haveinstalled your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

BAND SAW : A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good alumi-num sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the in-side of the line instead of the outside edge.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everythingyou forgot to disconnect.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER : Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for openingold-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as thename implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER : A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert com-mon slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.

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PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed toremove in order to replace a 50 p part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kindof divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons deliveredto your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquidsin plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund cheques, and rubber or plastic parts. Especial-ly useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

ADJUSTABLE WRENCH: aka "Another hammer", aka "the Swedish Nut Lathe", aka "CrescentWrench". Commonly used as a one-size-fits-all wrench, usually results in rounding off nutheads before the use of pliers. Will randomly adjust size between bolts, resulting in bustedbuckles, curse words, and multiple threats to any inanimate objects within the immediatevicinity.

SON OF A B*TCH TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage whileyelling 'Son of a b*tch' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that youwill need.

Stuart

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See also Stuart’s comments on page 2

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In my workshopBy Pete Ravenscroft

I was planning on writing an article on making a box for a trophy and I planked up some ash on thebandsaw to make it from. However, the weekend after I did that I came into possession of a much nicerlog, so I planked that, but as it only came down only a few weeks ago it is still too wet to work with.

So that will be another month…Last autumn Ian Salisbury donated his home-made kiln to me. I have used it to dry out some bowl blanks I cutfrom a couple of chunks of horse chestnut obtained from Arno’s Vale Cemetery. I used my bowl saver to roughthem out, but it was VERY wet and I had to clean down the workshop to avoid everything going rusty. I put themeter on it and it was reading 38% wet! Some I put on to my normal storage rack to dry in the workshop whileothers went in the kiln. After only 5 weeks the timber in the workshop is 35% but the timber in the kiln is 19%- soit is now out of the kiln and most of it will spend a few weeks getting acclimatised to the workshop- and for me toget around to turning it. I have however turnedone and I have to say the kiln is a serious suc-cess. I like to pay for free wood by returning apart of it as a turned item and thanks to the kiln Iwill be able to do that much quicker which hope-fully will mean that I get offered more timber bybeing able to return payment in kind quicker.Thank you Ian, the kiln is in use. I haven’t got itquite right yet, but will learn as I use it, I havethe planks for the future article as well as someapple tree bowl blanks in it now.

First bowl from free horse chestnut that was felled in December 2019.

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ADVERTISEMENT

Minutes of the Annual General MeetingHeld on Thursday 11th April 2019 at 7.30 pm in St Teresa’s Church Hall, Filton.

____________________________________

1. Welcome from the chair.Alan welcomed the 20 members who attended the 2019 AGM , declared the meeting open and asked if there were any apolo-gies for absence.

2. Apologies for absence.These have been received from:-

Andy Gray

3. Minutes of the ABWT AGM held on Thursday 19th April 2018The minutes had been circulated to members and it was proposed by Helen Woodward, seconded by John MacLellanthat these be taken as read. This motion was approved by a unanimous show of hands.

4. Matters arising.There were no matters arising

5. Election of Officers and committee members:

Ian, and John had completed three years as officers of the club and are required to step down but arehappy to put their names forward for re-election to the same posts.Peter had also completed another three years but after twelve years wished to stand down as member-

ship secretary.

Ian Burke (Secretary) Nominated by Stuart Bradfield, Seconded by Vic Atkins.John Mac Lellan (Events & Vice Chair) Nominated by Richard Lane, Seconded by Peter Oram..Alan Griffiths (Committee member & current Chairman) Nominated by Richard Lane, Seconded byStuart Bradfield.

Committee Members(i) There are two other vacancies but no nominations have been received..

Derek Edwards proposed that as there were no further nominations those proposed and seconded for committee positions be electedas a block vote, this was approved by the members.He also gave thanks to Peter and Debbie for their hard work over the many years and this was also endorsed by those present.

6. Treasurer’s report.Robin presented copies of the 2018/19 accounts summary to the members present. These had been approved by the committee asa true representation of the ABWT club’s end of year financial position and scrutinised by Paul Woodward and Vic Atkins.

He explained that there had been a surplus of income over expenditure of £1593.25 this year, largely because we had sold the largeAxminster lathe kept at the Mill to the Max Carey trust. This had of course reduced the assets held by £1125 but released cashtowards the upgrade of AV equipment.AWGB provided their annual £300.00 grant towards the cost of demonstrators and they also pay the public liability insurance. Theclub is responsible for its own “all risks” policy covering equipment etc.

7. To Receive the AccountsThere were no questions regarding the presented accounts and it was proposed by Derek Edwards, seconded by Helen Woodwardthat they be accepted. This was agreed by a unanimous show of hands.

8. Report from the Chair.Alan began his report by reminding us that although he had been a committee member for several years this was his first AGM as

chairman and was amazed by how quickly the year had flown by. He praised John for the variety and quality of the8

demonstrators he had managed to book for us and for forward planning for next year, and asked for help from members withthe hands on evenings.

The demise of the Westonbirt show as well as the Thornbury model engineering event were mentioned as they were our major fundand membership raising opportunities so it was pleasing to have been invited to the Frenchay flower show again even though itwas only a one day event, and Helen was thanked for organising this but would need someone to take over on the day for 2019.

He thanked all those who help with the running of the club behind the scenes and on club nights; arranging the lathe and AV kitand said storing things away at the end of the evening in the container behind the Church takes time so more hands will bewelcome. The use of storage at the Church has made things much easier and we are grateful for the use of the warmth of theboiler room to store the more delicate items of electronic equipment.

This year saw the Turnings sent to members electronically with only four hard copies required for members without internet access.Mike was praised for his sterling work as editor but once again a plea was made for more contributions if we were not to losethis valuable addition to the woodturning month.

Mention was also made of John, Robin, Ian, Stuart, Helen, Richard, Vic, and Peter for the tasks they fill as committee members aswell as non committee jobs done so well by Debbie, Loraine, Chris, and the various members of the AV team for their upgradeimprovements and work on club nights to make things more professional. A big thank you from the members.

9. Membership Secretary’s report.Peter told us there were 81 members consisting off 76 paid up, 4 Honorary, and 1 Founder member. 7 Had not renewed and 8 people

had joined in the past year.( 2 from the web site, 2 from the Mill, 2 from members,1from Bells Tools and 1 other)As mentioned in item 5, Peter felt that after 12 years in the post he wished to hand over the reins to someone else and the committee

would now be looking for a volunteer.

10. Mill Report.Stuart reported that the MCWT was in its 10th successful year expanding and developing its activities.

There are 65 people registered with the Trust, 34 of these are club members using the Mill on a regular basis. 18 new apprenticesstarted during the year and 14 people completed the Apprentice program during the year but there is still a waiting list of peoplewishing to join.

5 MCWT students are working on the AWGB/WCT’s certificate course and a further 5 direct from AWGB are attending theweekend certificate course, any club member not registered at the Mill is eligible to join the weekend course. It is noticeablethat students who have completed the Mill apprenticeship course have a better understanding of the skills required to completethe certificate in woodturning.

Marion Groves from the Mill became the 100th person to be awarded the certificate and this was presented by the Master of theWorshipful Company of Turners at a special lunch in the Apothecaries Hall, London, in October.

The two day hands on course with Nick Agar and Les Thorn was over-subscribed and lots were drawn, 4 of the 12 places went toclub members. These workshops are free to AWGB members and are advertised in Revolutions.

7 members of the WCT visited the Mill for their annual turning tuition in October and this coincided with a visit to the “Mathew”when the Master of the Worshipful Company presented the ships Captain with 50 belaying pins made by Mill apprentices. Sadlythe trip round the harbour had to be abandoned because of high winds.

Patron of the Trust, Nick Agar, has emigrated to America to set up a school of woodturning in Savanna Georgia, a great opportunityfor Nick but sad for the trust as his artistic influence on the Mill courses will be missed.

A reminder that the Trust has a discount arrangement with Axminster tools (shortly to extend across the whole range of theirproducts) and just to finish – as always a huge thank you to all those people who give their time so generously to make the Millthe success that it is.

11. Any other business.Ian brought to the member’s attention that use of the library was at an all-time low and Members were reminded that if they

do not use it they will lose it.12. Date of next year’s AGM:- Thursday 16 April 2020

13. Meeting Closed @ 8.20 P.M.

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Notice and Agenda of the Annual General MeetingTo be held on Thursday 16th April 2020 at 7.30 pm in St Teresa’s Church Hall, Filton.

____________________________________

1. Welcome from the chair.

2. Apologies for absence.

3. Minutes of the ABWT AGM held on Thursday 11th April 2019

4. Matters arising.

5. Election of Officers and committee members:

The following members have been proposed for Club officer and committee positions. Michael and Vic were co-opted dur-ing the course of the past year and their positions now require formal approval by the members.

Michael McCrea-Steele (as Membership Secretary) Proposed by John MacLellan & seconded by Robin Goodman

Richard Lane (as Events Organiser) Proposed by John MacLellan & seconded by Ian Burke

Vic Atkins (as a committee member) Proposed by Richard Lane & seconded by Alan Griffiths

Following the resignations of Helen Woodward and Chris Santry there are two committee vacancies and nominations are invitedfor these posts.

Nominations with names of Proposer and Seconder for these posts to be received by the Secretary one weekprior to the meeting, these can be sent by e-mail to:- abwtsecretary@hotmail.co.uk or by post to:- Ian T.Burke, 37, Gloucester Road, Rudgeway, South Gloucestershire, BS35 3SF.

6. Treasurer’s report.

7. To Receive the Accounts.

8. Report from the Chair.

9. Membership Secretary’s report.

10. Mill Report.

11. Acceptance of minor amendments to the Club Constitution.

12. Any other business.

13. Date of next year’s AGM:- Thursday 15th April 2021

14. Close.

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Andy Mason

L

Club events calendarVenue - St Teresa’s,

Filton @ 7.30 pm unlessotherwise stated

Event / guestdemonstrator

Monthly competition themes(Advanced and Intermediate -

single theme)

2020January 16th Keith Fenton Any item turned between centresFebruary 20th By members,

for membersAn animal or bird

March 19th Colin Simpson Item with moving partsApril 16th AGMMay 21st Mary AshtonJune 18th John Boyne-Aitken (The

Bowler-Hatted Turner)

Please note programme changes, January 2020to June 2020 above

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