Alan Hazel was to have been our demonstrator for the day but he was unable to join us so Phil Wolsoncroft stepped in in his place. Phil specializes in large work, in particular burr bowls. So that’s what he did. He arrived with his own lathe which was a 1932, yep, 1932 Graduate Turnstyler which he had modified to suit his needs. (Wonder what he did with the steam engine??) His first bowl was an elm burr that he turned to roughly the finished size and coated it with sanding sealer to be finished at a later date. Then flogged at a boot sale!! Next piece was another burr, this time Horse Chestnut. His method was the same as the first one, that is to mount it on a face plate and then turn the outside shape and also form a spigot to hold in the chuck when he turned the inside. This burr was almost too far spalted and was crumbling considerably as he hollowed it out. He stopped at much the same thickness as the first one and sealed it saying it should harden with this and allow a better finish. The general feeling was that his sealant was too thin to achieve this. Bowl number three was another elm burr that came out rather like number one and bowl number four was another horse chestnut burr. This one was the best one for me. The wood was in good condition and the burr lent itself to a much more interesting finished shape. Producing it though was the same as with the others but a bit more care was needed to avoid breaking off the spikes. I had to leave at this point but Phil turned one more bowl before the end of the meeting so I have no photos or description for you. In last Month's newsletter I said that Peter Blake turned a cone and then wound a polishing mop on to it. I was not quite right.The wood he used was a piece of box and he chased a 10 TPI thread on to the taper to accept the polishing mop. I hope none of you tried it the way I reported it last month because apparently you would have got nowhere. (Bloody secretary. Wish he would get hs facts right). Next month we are having a club day and in the morning Howard Overton will showing how he goes about making his segmented work to produce his beautiful candlesticks and salt and pepper mills etc. In the afternooon we will hold a speed turning competition and the subject will be a christmas ttree, something to hang your balls on during the festive season!!? We will supply a piece of wood approx. 2"x2"x6" but you might want to bring your own small tools. The cost at the door will be £4.50 and I can guarantee you won't be wandering about. That is on Saturday 14th August. Come along and have some fun. Graham We have had a call from Ernie Frith thanking us for the card we sent that was signed by you at the last meeting. It means a lot to him that we should think of him in his absence. |
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