Back to normal after a couple of months away from Milstead and we had Sue Harker entertain us for the day.
Sue’s work is varied and she chose for her first piece a vase with an open segmented neck. She used sycamore for this and first turned her square stock to round and put a spigot at either end.
Next she parted off about a quarter to form the neck at the end. To this she glued the segments that she had cut earlier on her bandsaw.

To get the layout right Sue had made up a jig using strips of mahogany glued to an MDF back board. Depending on how many segments you plan you make it up with either 12-24-36 etc.

Once the glue has set the next pieces are fitted in the same way with the centre line of the second set over the centre of the gap in the first set and so on until you have completed your design. In this case due to time constraints just two layers. When you do more the holes in alternate layers should all line up vertically.

Next the base was hollowed and when the segments on the top were dry this was hollowed out to match the thickness of the base. After this the two pieces were glued together ready for finish turning. All that’s left is to finish turn it to your desired shape and don’t forget to put the hole in the top to take your favourite silk red rose to present to your favourite lady!!

For her second piece of the day Sue decided on a candle stick using involuted turning. Instead of gluing her two pieces together she had screwed them together. The holes wouldn’t show once the candlestick was finished.
So in between centres she turned the waist to form the hole.( I kid you not).
Next it was taken apart and reversed and then glued together (Yep, there’s your hole) for turning to the desired thickness of wall.
Also the spigots were turned at either end to fit in to the candle holder and the base. The base and candle holder and the sticky up bit in the middle were all made from mahogany. The body I think was cherry.
The beading was cut using a ground back spindle gouge.

That was it for our May meeting. So what’s coming up for June.
Our next meeting is on the 14th June and Garry Rance is spending the day with us. A day you must not miss, except I will because I will be on holiday!! Time to sack the Sec? !!

Also we have as I said in the last newsletter two events in June and they clash with each other.

We are having a display table on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd June at the Elm Court Garden Centre where we can sell only, no lathes allowed, and we will be raising money for the Marie Curie charity.

On Sunday 22nd the Milstead Village Hall are holding an event to raise money for the repair of the village hall car park. Here we will have a lathe on show and all we need is someone or a couple of people to do a bit of showing off!

For both events we need some quality items to sell, so if you have anything to donate and are also able to be at either event please let Bert know at the next meeting and bring any donations in with you if you will not be at either event.

Graham