For our November meeting Mark Baker spent the day with us. After a not so good start, first he had to open out the register on his chuck to fit our lathe and then he was off, or was he?
He set up an ash blank to make a box and his first cut sent the overload into orbit!! This happened several times and Paul was ever present with his manual reset digit!!
We made groaning noises about a clapped out lathe and Mark asked if we had applied for a Lottery grant. We have and were turned down . Paul said that he is putting a second request in and Mark suggested he had a word with him at the end of the day because he may have a few suggestions on how to approach it.

On with the day and the ash blank was turned to a cylinder with a spigot at either end to fit the chuck before parting off the lid section. The box was turned first which Mark hollowed out using a spindle gouge, a tool much like a scraper with a swept back grind and a ring tool to show the use of these tools to the newer members of the club.
The lid was turned next and the rim made to fit the box with a fairly tight fit to allow the whole thing to be turned to a finished size including a finial to the top of the lid.
To be on the safe side he taped the lid in place while turning the finial and finally parting the box off with a rounded bottom. The box fitted into a stand that Mark had made earlier.

Mark’s second piece of the day was to turn a shape like a discus from a sycamore blank and decorate it.
Once happy with the shape and the small bowl in the centre he sprayed it with ebonising paint so that he could mark out his design with chalk lines for the carving tool to follow.

When all the markings had been cut the piece was returned to the lathe and the surface carefully shear scraped to remove the black finish except from the grooves of the pattern.
The centre was also cleaned up to a fine finish, coated with a liquid adhesive and layered with a thin foil. If you want to be extravagant you can use gold foil, but not on a demo piece that ain’t goin’ nowhere!!

Another vase, similar to the first, was Mark’s next project but this time he hollowed out the base to form a small bowl on the bottom. The vase was removed from the lathe and three lines were marked at 120 degrees from each other around the base and a line drawn either side of each line to give a pre determined width. Now out comes the mini arbotec and before you know it you have three legs for your pot to stand on.
Ideally you need a power sander to clean up between the legs but these can be expensive.

Mark’s tip.

Buy an electric toothbrush, the type that reciprocate, not the rotary one, cut the bristles off, stick a piece of velcro on and fix a strip of sandpaper to it. There, you now have a mini sander for a couple of quid!!
For a sanding sealer Mark used a mixture of danish oil and lemon oil. The final finish would be whatever you chose.

He also showed us the effect of wire brushing the outside of an ash bowl to raise the annular rings, ebonising it and then applying gilt cream and buffing to a shine.
There are many colours of gilt cream available and Mark went on to talk of other mediums of colour such as nail varnish and a few more I didn’t note. (My nails were still wet!!)

That took us to the end of a very enjoyable day and I am sure that is not the last time we shall have Mark with us.

NOW THEN. PAY ATTENTION

The date for our next meeting is a change from our normal routine
There will not be a meeting on Saturday 11th December.
Instead our December meeting takes place
Sunday 19th December when Nicos Siragas will be demonstrating.
The time and cost on the door are the same as usual although non-members will be charged £12.

Neither will the hands on evening on the last Thursday of the month, 30th December, take place.



Notice board

Subscription renewals

There are still quite a lot of renewals to come in. Would you all get them to me ASAP please so that I can start compiling the new Membership Directory for 2011.

Many thanks.

Graham.