Riding the Bevel - Dublin Woodturnersdublinwoodturners.com/history/Newsletter2011-03.pdf · hold...

March 2011 www.dublinwoodturners.com

Riding the Bevel exhibiting items and demonstrating at both, so why not come along and lend your support?

Plans for the Seminar are moving along at a pace. The featured demonstrators have been finalised. For more on what there is to look forward to, check out page 2. It makes planning this event so much easier if we have an accurate handle on numbers before hand so please get your booking form back to Vinny in good time.

The February competition saw another huge turnout of entries. Once again, well done to all who entered. Given the dark evenings it is perhaps not so surprising that the first few months of the year always seem to get the most entries, but this year has been exceptional. After such a good start, it would be fantastic if everyone can keep the level of participation up and we could set a record for competition entries in a year!

Finally a reminder that I welcome any contributions to the newsletter. Have a great month.

Varn.

Inside this issue:

March 2011 Volume 3 Issue 23

Coming SoonComing SoonComing Soon

Sun 6 March - Tree Week: Family Fun Day at Avondale Forest Park 12-4:30 pm

Wed 9 March - Workshop (Scout Hall)

Thu 10 March - Tree Week: Demonstration and Exhibition at IKEA.

Sat 2 April - (Scout Hall)

Demonstrator: Michael Fay

Competition: Platter

February turned out to be a good month for turning. After the Saturday meeting, I made it over to the Wednesday workshop (more on that on page 5).

I followed this up with a trip to Frank Gallagher for a workshop. This was a very enjoyable evening and my thanks go to Frank for hosting this workshop and John Doran for organising things for those who attended. Workshop visits are a great place to get all sorts of tips and ideas and I find them useful on so many levels. Frank’s one was no different by any means and I came home armed with plenty of things to try.

I know John Doran has been trying to encourage more people to host workshops and it would be nice if we could get more of these going over the coming months. There is no requirement to be a talented turner, with an exciting project ready to host a workshop. It just needs a willingness to have a few people around and a bit of wood to mess around with.

In that spirit I have asked John to organise a workshop in Happy Place. Hopefully, someone will get something out of this even if it is only me being told why I’m going wrong!

If I can do this, anyone can, so why not talk to John and put your name forward.

March looks like being busy too, with Tree Week events including the Fun Day at Avondale Park and the day at IKEA. Members of the chapter will be present,

This stunning piece by Cecil Barron won the artistic section

in February’s competition. More competition news on page 4.

Fun and games at the February workshop on page 5

Irish Woodturners’ Guild


Roger Bennett started woodturning in 1992

and in 1994-5, was the first woodturner to

participate in the Craft and Design Business

Development course run by the Crafts

Council of Ireland in Kilkenny. Since then,

Roger has made his living from woodturning

and has had his work shown in many

exhibitions and received numerous awards.

Roger’s demonstrations of his delicate and

exquisitely decorated pieces are always

extremely popular.

Joe Laird was a member of the Dublin

Chapter, before turning professional a few

years ago. Around this time, Joe established

Ireland’s first dedicated woodturning school

and set up the Craobh Cuig Deag chapter to

accommodate many of his students.

Joe has always been a very popular

demonstrator at Dublin Chapter meetings

and it is great to be able to welcome him

back at our seminar.

Saturday 7th May 2011, Registration: 9.00 a.m.

Venue: Willington Scout Hall, Templeogue Lodge, Dublin

OneOne--Day Seminar 2011Day Seminar 2011

Featuring:

Mark Baker, Roger

Bennett and Joe Laird

Mark Baker is well known to many as the

editor of Woodturning magazine. In

addition to numerous articles for the

magazine, Mark, who is a member of the

Register of Professional Turners, has

written a number of books including “Wood

for Woodturners” and “Woodturning

Projects: A Workshop Guide to Shapes”.

Mark is no stranger to Ireland having

demonstrated at both the 2008 and 2009

IWG national seminars.

Demonstrations

In addition to our featured demonstrators, there will be demonstrations by a number of Dublin chapter members.

Competitions

An open competition will be held on the day. Up to three pieces may be entered in the seminar competition by each delegate.

Dublin chapter members may enter any one of their pieces to the regular chapter competition, which will also be held on the day.

A raffle will be held on the day with some great prizes on offer.

Trade Stands

A fabulous array of trade stands will be present on the day.

Seminar Price

Irish Woodturners Guild Member - €50

Non Member - €60

Non members are welcome.

Lunch will be provided, together with tea, coffee and biscuits throughout the day.

Reservations with payment in full by 27

April 2011

Please send booking form to:-

Mr Vincent Whelan 5 Woodfield Scholarstown Road Dublin 16 Ph: 087 760 4918

For more details check our website: www.dublinwoodturners.com

Scout Hall

From the M50, take the N81 Exit (J11, towards the city centre). On the N81, turn left on to Wellington Lane at the roundabout by the Spawell Pub/Leisure

Centre. Continue straight until you reach the next roundabout and then turn right

onto Orwell Road. After passing a shopping centre on your right, the scout hall

is just to the right at the next roundabout.

From Terenure Village, head in the direction of the M50 on the N81, at the roundabout by the Spawell Pub/Leisure Centre turn right onto Wellington Lane.

Continue straight until you reach the next roundabout and then turn right onto

Orwell Road. After passing a shopping centre on your right, the scout hall just to

the right at the next roundabout.

Please remember to show consideration for local residents when parking

around the scout hall.

Directions to the Scout Hall:


Turning gives you wings

shaped concave for the underside of the lid, The lid was now reversed – not into the chuck for fear of marking the actual lid-edge, but into a tailor-made friction chuck, with the tailstock brought up for support. Again, the finished shape of the lid-top was a gently undulating convex area, flowing into a concave curve out to the edge.

The final stage of the piece would be to create a finial which would be located into the hole left by the screw chuck. Unfortunately time caught up with Tony before this could be done. The final stage of this demonstration involved mounting the piece on a plinth, thereby giving it the gallery-status such an item deserves.

Demonstrations where everything goes like clockwork have a potential for informing the onlookers. But they have their limitations (I have a drawer half full of glass-cutters with which I have never, ever been able to cut glass!) In a very real and practical sense though, the demo which is fraught with problems has an even greater potential to teach us such wisdoms as never give up/ when you meet a dead-end, think of a way round it/ every problem can become an opportunity to do something different.

I have seen enough of Tony Lally’s competition entries over the years, to know what a fine turner he is. On behalf of all of us who are still on the learning curve, thank you Tony. You are a tonic!

Pacelli O’Rourke Photos by Tom Delaney and Rich Varney

At this moment, the piece began to run out of true, so Tony decided to bring up the tailstock for support. Just when things were progressing nicely, the piece broke just in front of the chuck jaws!

At this point, anyone who has any experience of woodturning would wish me to make the point that in turning “Every show is a live show”. From the first moment you switch on your lathe you are embarking on a journey. In the case of a complex item such as Tony set out to demonstrate, that journey is fraught with many perils. Two things immediately stand to his credit; first of all his courage in tackling such a difficult item for his demonstration, and secondly his character in refusing to abandon what he had started.

So, on with the story... Having reversed the piece and created a new spigot, Tony now parted off the broken portion. Once again the hollowing could proceed. At this stage Tony switched to using a scraper, which proved a more secure option than the gouge. Having hollowed to his satisfaction, he now created a ‘ledge’ on which would sit the lid. However deep the hollowing, deeper yet was the wistfulness in Tony’s voice as he said “Why couldn’t I have just said I’d turn a rolling pin!” A lesson for all; never lose your sense of humour!

The Lid

Tony now mounted a circular blank on a screw chuck-and-spacer. First he trued up the edge, and then the face..He then created a spigot to match the already fashioned ‘ledge’ inside the box. Before reversing, he created a pleasing dome

he first thing to be emphasised regarding this item is safety! Just as the result is a dramatic, eye-catching 3 cornered, lidded

box, so the process involves off-centre turning of quite a perilous kind. Not for the faint-hearted.

Actually, there was a 2 for the price of 1 aspect to this item, since Tony had glued 2 pieces together to produce his initial blank: a 127mm (5”) cube of mahogany. This is held between centres diagonally, with a small flat on each holding area. Tony recommends a 2 prong drive at the headstock, driven well in. Be sure to check tool rest clearance before starting up, by revolving the piece fully through 360°.

At this point Tony put up a piece which had been partly worked on. The blank ends up in a conical shape, with the tapered end facing toward the tailstock. For sanding Tony recommends using a sanding block. He reversed the piece, gripping the narrow end in the headstock in a compression hold using very deep “shark” jaws.

Now comes the delicate procedure of hollowing the 3 cornered end of the piece, so as to create the actual box/container. One could not be too careful at this point. For safety, it is a good tip to apply a piece of tape to the tool rest marking the extremity of the wings of the spinning piece. Tony began to work his way down with the gouge, through the diagonal remnant of the original block. He left about 38mm (1½”) of stock at the centre, for stability. The RPM was increased. A nice concave curve began to emerge on the wings, so he began to remove the centre section.

February’s meeting saw Tony Lally triumph in the face of adversity while demonstrating how to make a three cornered

winged box as Pacelli O’Rourke reports.

T


Colm McIntyre (Advanced)

Rich Varney (Experienced)

John Duff (Beginners)

Competition News

Photographs by

Hugh Flynn

Tw

o C

hri

stm

as

Deco

rati

on

s

Tab

le L

am

p

Hollow

Fo

rm

Advanced Total Dec Jan Feb

Michael Fay 33 15 11 7

Frank Gallagher 23 13 5 5

Cecil Barron 23 5 5 13

Tony Lally 21 5 7 9

Colm McIntyre 20 5 15

Joe O'Neill 19 9 5 5

Henry East 15 15

Albert Sloan 15 9 6

Seamus Carter 13 13

Sean Ryan 11 11

Pat M. Walsh 11 11

Tony Hartney 6 6

Martin O'Halloran 5 5

Pat J. Walsh 5 5

Experienced Total Dec Jan Feb

Willie Reville 32 15 6 11

Rich Varney 30 0 15 15

Stephen Harbourne 27 11 11 5

Gerry Ryan 23 5 13 5

Pacelli O'Rourke 23 5 9 9

Graham Brislane 15 9 6

Jonathan Wigham 13 13

John Owens 10 5 5

Paddy Finn 7 7

Frank Maguire 7 7

Tom Delaney 5 5

Sean Murtagh 5 5

Beginners Total Dec Jan Feb

Peter Curran 22 15 7

John Duff 15 15

Seamus McKeefry 13 13

Paul Murtagh 13 13

Frank Trappe 11 11

Noel White 11 11

Vincent Whelan 9 9

Dean Dawson 9 9

Artistic Total Dec Jan Feb

Frank Gallagher 24 15 9

Gerry Ryan 22 11 11

Cecil Barron 15 15

Joe O'Neill 13 13

Colm Hyland 13 13

There was another fantastic turnout for the February competition and

the judges had a tough task separating twenty four hollow forms and

four artistic pieces across the four categories. Colm McIntyre, Rich

Varney, John Duff and Cecil Barron were selected as the winners.


How many turners does it take to... The level of audience participation up until

to this point was nothing compared to what

was about to follow. The live centre had

become jammed in the tail stock and a

huddle around the lathe ensued as some of

the finest minds in the chapter came

together to tackle the problem.

It was like watching the Krypton Factor on

Mogodon as gradually brain power turned

to brute force in an ever increasingly

desperate attempt to prize metal away from

metal. Finally success was declared and with

the Steb centre (now in pieces) removed

from the lathe, John duly finished his fruit.

With some time remaining, John turned to

working on one of the cored bowl blanks

that Gerry Ryan had picked up from Glenn

Lucas and brought to the meeting. The jovial

atmosphere continued, but John was able to

turn down the bowl uninterrupted. So

ended a great afternoon.

I’ll definitely try to make it over for these

workshops more often! For those who have

not been to one, you should really try to go,

if you get the chance. They are a really

friendly gathering, where the audience is far

more part of the demonstration often

influencing what is turned and how.

Rich Varney.

n unexpected opportunity to take an

afternoon off of work, provided me

with the welcome chance to go to

the February Wednesday workshop at the

scout hall.

Joe McLoughlin had arranged for Paddy

Kelly, who combines a little woodturning

with his real passion for working with

leather, to do a demonstration.

Paddy had brought a number of leather

items he has made including belts and

wallets in addition to some examples of

clocks he has made.

Paddy took his audience through his method

for making a clock. He started by showing us

a picture of two horses and tracing the

outline over to a piece of leather. He then

proceeded to cut the outline into the piece.

I was surprised at just how tough the leather

was and how hard the cutting tool was

being hit into it. Paddy showed that these

cuts were not piercing right through the

hide. The tool that Paddy used at this point,

he informed us, had a ceramic tip. On close

inspection it looked far more fragile than

one might expect and seemed pretty blunt.

Paddy rubbed the tip against his skin to

enforce the point that it was not sharp or

dangerous. Its performance on the leather

belied all of this though and we were told

that the tool would perform better than

steel and not need sharpening.

With the basic outline in place Paddy

proceeded to texture the picture with a

variety of tools. He then described how he

paints the leather explaining that he builds

up colour with as many as sixteen coats

before spraying with lacquer.

With the leather part completed Paddy

explained how he glues it to a turned frame

to make the clock. While no turning was

actually done during the demonstration, this

was an interesting insight into how turning

can be mixed with other disciplines to

produce unusual items.

After a short coffee break John Doran

stepped up to the lathe with the mission to

turn some fruit ahead of the March

competition. Now this was a demonstration

of turning by committee, if I’ve ever seen

one. At every stage John was interrupted

with suggestions from the floor covering

everything from which end of the pear

should face the headstock to ideas for

changes to shape and offsetting the turned

fruit in the chuck. I noted that the person

who put forward the latter suggestion was

well out of the line of fire should reduced

grip have proved insufficient!

A


Woodturning Tuition

Morning, afternoon, evening of full day tuition available for 1 to 2

students. Graduate Lathe per student.

Contact: Peter Mulvaney Telephone: 01 280 2745

Advertisements

Woodturning Classes

Joe O’Neill offers classes on Tuesday and Wednesday A.M.

& Thursday nights.

Telephone: 087 623 0162 Email: [email protected]

Woodturning Classes

Joe Laird woodturning Studios Half-Day, Full-Day, Evening and

Weekend classes available (up to 5 students) for all skill levels.

Ph: 01 825 8079 / 087 269 8027 www.joelairdwoodturning.com

Hennessy Glass Company

Offer a discount to all members.

266 Lower Kimmage Road Dublin 6W

Telephone 01 4925920

Ace Saw Services


Earl’s Court Industrial Estate Beaumont Ave,

Churchtown, Dublin 14 Telephone 01 2989115

Apex Electrical Rewinds


Marrowbone Lane, Dublin 8 Telephone 01 4541066/4541135

www.apexrewinds.com

Dublin 15 Chapter meet on the 3rd Thursday of every month, 7:30pm to 10pm, at the BRACE Centre, Main St, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. www.craobhcuigdeag.org

Dublin East Central Chapter meet on the second Saturday of each month in Lorcan Green Community Centre / Scout Hall from 2.00 pm. Tel: 086 8241470

www.eastcentralchapter.com

If you have anything to contribute to the newsletter or any comments or suggestions for what you would like to see in future, please contact the editor by e-mail, by phone, or in person.

Woodturning Supplies

The Hut

Ph: 086 333 3226 / 086 813 2040 Email: [email protected]

www.thehutwoodturningsupplies.com

2011 Committee Chairman: Joe O’Neill

� 087 623 0162

� DWT.Chair*

Secretary: Alison Hurst

� 086 856 0472

� DWT.Secretary*

Treasurer: Vincent Whelan

� 087 760 4918

� DWT.Treasurer*

Vice-Chairman: Joe McLoughlin

� 087 261 0803

Membership: Peter Mulvaney

� 01 280 2745

� DWT.Membership*

Competitions & Workshops: John Doran

� 087 639 3081

� DWT.Competitions*

Books & Video: Eamonn Boland

� 086 274 7600

� DWT.Library*

Exhibitions: Frank Maguire

� 087 285 3716

� DWT.Exhibitions*

Exhibitions: Adrian Finlay

� 087 983 8633

Newsletter: Rich Varney

� 086 832 7985

� DWT.Newsletter*

* When sending e-mail to the “DWT”

addresses, add “@gmail.com” to the end of

the email address given. For example

[email protected].

Vicmarc Lathe For Sale

VL175. 9 months old, complete with standard accessories, stand and chuck (with standard and pin jaws). Still

under manufacturers 5 year warranty. Can supply original invoice. €3800

Ph: Keith on 087 637 2277

Crossword Solution Here is the solution to last month’s quiz

set by Cecil Barron.

Across: 1 Yew, 5 Fir, 6 Broom, 8 BlueGum, 10

Apple, 12 RedDeal, 13 Ash, 14 Maple, 16

MonkeyPuzzle, 17 Plane, 18 Camphor, 19 Poplar

Down: 2 Elm, 3 Pine, 4 Box, 6 Balsa, 7 Palm, 9

Mistletoe, 11 Greenheart, 15 Pear.

Graduate Lathe For Sale

Totally refurbished Graduate lathe. 6ft Bed with variable speed.

Ph: Peter Mulvaney on 01 280 2745

Record CL3 Lathe For Sale

Deceased members Record CL3 lathe. 3ft bed, with stand and bowl turning

attachment

Ph: Peter Mulvaney on 01 280 2745

Bottle Stoppers

Pat Walsh has come across some nice wine bottle stoppers that are a reasonable in price and has more than he needs. They are priced at €2.50 each (less if more than 10 are purchased). For more details phone Pat on 087 221 6649.

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