Simon Hope was our demonstrator for February. Simon has been with us a few times before so we all knew we were in for a good day. He brought his own lathe with him which is one of the German made machines he now has the UK franchise for. Very nice it is too. I have just heard that one of our new members has just bought one. I’m not jealous!!!!much.

Simon’s first project was to make a bell shaped holder for a sewing measuring tape. The bell was made out of yew with a base that could be unscrewed if the tape got pulled out too far. Because yew is a soft wood he hardened the area where the thread was cut with super glue. There is a hole in the base that the end of the spindle holding the tape fits in to and the dimensions are fairly critical for this. It is there to stop the spindle wobbling while in use. The length of the spindle holding the tape is also equally precise. To assemble it the spindle is passed through the bell and then the end of the tape fitted in to the slot cut in the spindle and super glue dripped on to it to hold it in place.” The secret of this operation is not to let the glue run down the spindle and fix it to the hole in the bell. It’s never happened yet and I’ve made a lot of these” Said Simon. Yea, well, guess what. I’ll let the picture tell the tale.

On to project number two and this is an angle poise lamp all in wood. He turned the shade first which took up most of the time. For this he used sycamore and first turned the log to round and formed a spigot to hold it a strong set of chuck jaws. Now out come his hollowing tools starting first with one of this carbide tipped tools.
After getting a small amount of wood out he brought out his new easy arm hollowing jig. It uses the 8 or 10 mm tools but takes all the effort out of hacking deep down in to the log. It does the same as the one Dave Reeks demonstrated some years ago but maybe sonmewhat more sophisticated. He also fitted a small laser light to the fixture and set it to gauge an equal wall thickness all around. When he was satisfied with the shape he reversed it onto a jam chuck securing it with masking tape, just in case!!, and carefully bored a hole for the lamp holder and then faced off the unwanted spigot. He turned just one pair of knuckles for demo purposes and also turned one of the arms.
These he bores with a long hole boring tool, different to what we would buy in that it had a flat machined all along the top surface and a hole in the end of the cutter.. To this he had a suction pump fitted that draws the dust away so saving the need to keep on withdrawing the tool to clear it. Not something we would buy but it is a tool he uses a lot when he makes his bag pipes.The base of the lamp is big and heavy enough to prevent the lamp from toppling when opened out.

Project number three was a textured bowl using a King Arthur proxon cutter. A fairly simple bowl which after texturing he first sprayed it with ebonising black and then polished it with black shoe polish. Yea, that works. Norman suggested sanding the tips of the texturing, something Simon had not tried before and he quite liked the effect.

Last turning of the day was a three part yew pyramid box with all parts going together to form the shape of a tree. Something we can all try at home and one Pat did won him a rosette at SAW last year.

Our next meeting is on Saturday 14th March and it is a club day so anything goes!
Just to remind you, it’s going to cost you a fiver to join in the fun but it’s still cheaper than taking the wife shopping.
(From this moment I am invisible to ladies!!)

See you on the 14th.

Graham