The box he made from walnut and after turning a square section blank to round with a chucking spigot at each end he rough turned the shape overall before parting off the lid section.
Once parted off he mounted the lid in the chuck and shaped the inside with a recess that would locate on the body of the box. A little sanding and the box was next to be made.
He hollowed it out using a small bowl gouge and a round skew to finish the inside. He also created a spigot for the lid to fit on and at this point made it a tightish fit so that the overall shape can be turned including the recess for the pewter disc.
Once happy with the fit he jammed the two halves together and finish turned the outer shape and where the two meet he made a small groove so that if it should go slightly out of shape later it would not show at the join.
With the shaping finished and sanded he took the lid off and eased the spigot until the lid was a nice snug but not tight fit.
He parted the box off and from the waste piece in the chuck he turned a jam chuck to fit the box so that he could finish the base.
Next came the pewter disc. He mounted the mushroom in the chuck and faced it off with a gouge taking very fine shear cuts to get the best possible finish from the tool. As he worked the swarf fell in to a pot on the lathe bed and these would be used in the next melt.
Then he sanded it going through the grits down to 1200 grit and then some burnishing cream. Good but not good enough but he parted it off and took the spigot of pewter off the lathe and replaced it with a floppy mop which he coated with a wax Running it at around 400 rpm, too slow and it wouldn’t polish very well and too fast it would become a hard wall that would only create more scratching.
Holding the disc to the underside of the mop he polished it to a mirror finish. All that remained was to glue it in the lid.
Richard’s second piece was a small furniture leg with a barley twist.
This was more an exercise in spindle turning and the use of a skew chisel and spindle gouge with a lot of hand finishing involved.
First he turned a spindle leaving a square end with a bead at the chuck and shaped the foot of the leg at the tailstock.
Next he marked out a spiral, drawing four lines equidistant along the length and divided the length in to four divisions. The number of lines you use will depend on how tight you want your spiral.
Next he joined the sections created diagonally and followed this line with a hand saw to start the groove.
With this guide in place it was easy then to follow on with a round micro plane to deepen the grooves to the depth required.
The tops were then rounded off using a flat micro plane and once the shaping was complete it was just a matter of sanding with long strips of sand paper down to about 400 grit.
Richard then turned a basic leg at the speed he would on a production run. It took 4 minutes 50 seconds. On that note he finished his demonstrations for the day.
What’s coming up?
Our next meeting is on Saturday 8th June when we have John Boyne-Aitken demonstrating his skills to us. Known as the Bowler Hatted Turner because that is what he does. He wears a bowler hat when demonstrating. Sounds like fun so come along to grab some.
We will also be having our annual BBQ and like last year it will be at Milstead village hall. Sunday 30th June 2019. £10 a head for all you can eat until the grub runs out.
Bring your own booze.
It’s still not too late to volunteer to help out at the next scout taster session on the 6th July. An extra turner would be really helpful. Because a couple of regular volunteers will not be able to make it on the 6th
Dawn is really struggling to get enough turners for the day. One would help but two would make life a lot easier.
Graham
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