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Thanks to Peter Blake we had a demonstrator for our last meeting of 2006 having been badly let down by Louise Hutton. He started the day with a talk on alternative materials used in turning and today he was to use brass. To turn this Pete used a tile cutter with the end ground slightly rounder than its usual profile to use for spindle work and an engineers scraper for cutting across the face of a disc. CAUTION — When you turn brass this way the swarf flies off in a spray of small particles so it is important that you wear eye protection when turning. Brass looks good with dark woods such as ebony. Peter was going to use ebony for his first piece but he found that his bowl blank was cracked so he turned an Amarillo bowl instead with a recess to take a brass insert in the base. He turned a brass disc with the tools described above and the finished disc was glued in to the base. His second piece was a laburnum goblet with a brass stem. We stopped at mid morning to judge the entries for the December turning of the month. It was not easy for Pete as the standard was once again very high. He finally chose Tony Handford’s bowl as the winner and John Brocklehurst’s owl as runner up. John’s item was a long time in the making. He had a piece of laburnum that reminded him of an owls face. He knew what wood he wanted to make the body and it took another two years to find a log of London plane with a pronounced enough grain to give the effect of feathers. The only parts not turned were the talons. Peter’s last item for the day was to make a bud vase from a piece of padauk, After careful scrutiny Pete Fuller gave it his full approval!! Our next meeting is on Saturday 13th January and will open at the normal time of 10 am. The first item of the day is the AGM when you have to vote in your committee for 2007. Bernard Slingsby has resigned his position on the committee so we need someone to replace him. If you would like to be involved in the running of the club or would like to nominate someone please speak up at the meeting. Remember, if you wish to nominate someone you must first get them to agree to it and have someone to second your proposal. The current committee members are: Chairman — Bill Burden Deputy Chairman — Bernard Slingsby (retiring) Secretary— Graham Holcroft Treasurer— Peter Branchett Events Organisers — Bert Lanham, Paul Hunt and Bob Mann Website manager.— Fred Taylor Caretaker— Alan Dungey The Agenda for the AGM will be as follows. Reading of the minutes of the last meeting (Copy enclosed with your newsletter) Chairman’s report Treasurer’s report (Copy of accounts enclosed with your newsletter) Secretary’s report Events organiser’s report Website manager’s report Any other business. This will be the point when Ian Alston will be invited to present the Bill Alston Trophy to the person who has won the most winners certificates during 2006. When the business of the AGM is completed the rest of the day will be taken up with demonstrations by Ian Alston, Tony Handford, Peter Fuller and Howard Overton. Sounds like the makings of a really interesting day. The Christmas dinner was a success with an excellent choice of food and plenty of it. There follows a few photos of what woodturners do when woodturners aren’t turning wood !!! Fred has put more pictures on the web site so if you have a computer , go and have a look. (edit: The photographs are in the gallery) Axminster 950 Lathe 1” x 8tpi headstock spindle No2 morse taper 39” between centres £250 For more information please phone Bernard Slingsby on 01795 472939 and : Alexandra Palace The trip to Ally Pally exhibition will be on Sunday 11th February. We have reserved a 40 seat coach and provided we get 25 bums on seats the cost will be approx. £16 per person. If you want to book a seat please contact Bert Lanham on 01622 726532 |
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