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Roger Foden was with us for the day, much to his relief! He had set up his journey on his sat nav system and all was well until he left the M2 and it directed him up these narrow country lanes. He phoned my wife and asked for me but I was already on the way but she assured him that he was most likely on the right road. When I arrived he had made it but was sure he wouldn’t find his way home again. What we didn’t know was that Roger has only got one arm, something that he quickly demonstrated didn’t stop him in any way. After a brief chat to introduce himself he started his first project. This was to make a pair of salt and pepper mills styled on the king and queen of a chess set. He chose spalted beech and he had prepared the blanks before he came to us. The end was cut off from which he would make the top and he marked it to be sure that the grain followed through. The end that takes the bottom of the mechanism he drilled on the bench drill with a suitably sized forstner bit and the body he drilled with a 1” drill, coming in from both ends as it is not important that the holes line up. He followed a template he had made to be sure that pairs matched and apart from a roughing gouge and a parting tool he chose to use a skewchigouge for nearly everything else. After sanding Roger likes to use sanding sealer and an acrylic lacquer. This took care of the morning session apart from setting up a bowl blank for the afternoon. I wasn’t able to stay on for the afternoon but thanks to Peter Branchett I have got a couple of photos to add. The bowl was a piece of burr oak which he finished apart from sanding and oiling. He gave this to Tony Handford to finish and the proposal is that it is sold at Farming World when we are there on the August bank holiday weekend. The money will be donated to Demelza House. Finally, to fill in the last few minutes Roger turned a laburnum goblet. Now then. The next meeting is on Saturday 8th September and you just cannot afford to miss this one. We have got Melvyn Ferminger with us for the day. I asked him (just a moment ago) what he would be doing and his usual day is to turn a side grain hollow vessel in the morning, working the hollowing through a small aperture and an end grain vessel in the afternoon, hollowing through an even smaller aperture. To fill in the rest of the day the choice is yours. He will either go through the basics of turning a roll top bowl or he can trim the earlier sessions to make time to turn a multi rim bowl. Got it? I’m going to have to see it to really understand what it entails. He will ask you what you want to see on the day. Don’t forget we have got the fish and chip lunch on the 15th September and there is still room for more of you to join in the fun. We have got the use of the hall from 11.30 am till 3.00 pm which gives us a couple of hours for skittles after lunch. Farming World August 25th ,26th, 27th. I didn’t get to visit the show but the weather was kind and a lot of people did. Norman Smithers, Paul Hunt, Peter Branchett, Fred Taylor and Bert Lanham were all there for the three days Michael Fryer and Tony Handford were there on the Saturday. The objective was to promote the club and to make some money for Demelza House. Thanks to the hard work put in by the above it was a success on both counts. After the first day Bert asked me for more club membership application forms because they were running out. I ran off another 50 and got them to him ready for the next morning. The sales table was kept topped up with turnings hot from the lathes and brought in £340 which included £35 for the bowl that Roger Foden made and was finished by Tony Handford. That’s all the news for now. Looking forward to seeing all 86 of you on the 8th. Graham Winning certificates We have decided to add two more certificates to be won for turnings brought in each month. These will both be designated “Commended” and the pieces chosen to receive these will not be judged by the professional of the day so that more of us get a chance to be recognised. So who will be the judge? You will find out on the day!! We hope this will encourage you to bring your favourite turnings along. |
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