Orchard Woodturners May 2024 Greg Moreton
Greg started with a piece of Mulberry between centres leaving the bark on at one end. This was rough turned and shaped and a chuck mount created. This was then reversed and mounted in the Chuck and the hollowing of the bowl was started with tail stock support. Greg uses a constant bevel for this cut across the bowl and an almost traditional grind rather than a fully swept back grind on his gouge, something he called the 40/40 grind.

If you want to check what the 40'40 grind is look at (Stuart Batty demonstrates bowl turning with his 40/40 grind) on youtube. Fred

To help avoid tool marks Greg softens the heel of the bevel on his gouges for when he's turning the inside of pieces.

With the inside of the bowl finished Greg switched back to the outside and used a bowl gouge to shape and finish the rim.After shaping the bowl, he removed the tail stock to finish following. As he hollows, Greg likes to leave a step as he gets to the middle to make it easier to pick up the cut each time.

With the bowl finished, Greg moved down the outside to create a foot/pedestal that was turned to complement the shape of the vase. Once the turning was finished Greg sanded lightly through the grits on the bowl and on the outside with gentle hand support. The piece was finally turned onto a jam Chuck using foam, with tailstock support to turn away the excess wood. Careful cuts were made to undercut and slightly hollow the foot. For the second piece Greg decided to do a banana bowl that was similar to one he did when he last visited us but using different techniques. Using a log of Yew that had been split in half, Greg measured diagonals to find the centre and then mounted this on a screw Chuck. The base was turned flat without a chucking point then the shape of the base was turned Greg was keen to point out that the motion is from the body and not from the arms ensuring that all cuts were smooth.

Once the arms of the bowle are flattend to the right size the bottom of the bowl is started. This is to be rounded like a half sphere and a sharp transition between the bowl and wing. With the bowl finished in a perfect round shape this was sanded very carefully without touching the wings. The wings will be sanded by hand.

The bowl is now mounted in a special jig that Greg created with a cut out designed to hold the bowl, the wings are then bolted in place and the bowl removed to a careful depth (As you cannot see the thickness!) this is then sanded off of the lathe and the bolt holes cut off on a bandsaw and sanded again.

The third piece of the day is called a Brighton bun, a night candle stick used by travellers in Victorian times. This was made out of laburnum and when broken down into its pieces it folded into itself in a clamshell box that screwed together.
To begin the clamshell a bowl bank is split in two to give equal halves. The bowl is then hollowed out to leave a raised centre which will become the centre of the bun. The centre of this is then threaded using a box cutter threading tool. The thread is cut by hand without using the lathe motor to cut a fairly coarse thread.

The other piece of the bowl bank is then mounted in the Chuck to turn the other side of the clamshell and this is turned to match the other exactly. This is then threaded in the same way as the first piece. Greg used orange oil during the threading process as a non-drying lubricant.

With the bowls complete a matching piece of laburnum in spindle orientation was placed in the Chuck and turned to the right diameter to have a male thread cut along it’s length. With the thread cut this was then cut into three pieces using a V cut from a skew to protect the thread.

A scrap piece of wood was mounted in the Chuck with the correct thread already cut into it the first clamshell was then mounted in reverse so that the rear could be finished. This was then turned around and screwed back on, followed by the other clamshell to allow the base of the second piece to be finished, as well as aligning the sides of both pieces. A fine amount of sanding was done on the rim to allow the grain to line up. With the clamshell now complete a small blank for each of the candle holders is mounted as side grain so that the threading will work (Box threaders don’t work well in end grain!). The diameter is then reduced so that all parts can be stored inside the clamshells when they're screwed together.

The candle holder blank is drilled through so the thread can be added and then the top of the hole opened to hold the candle. With the hole complete the sconce is then shaped and reversed onto a wooden jam Chuck so that the base of the sconce can be turned and the threaded rod screwed in.

Traditionally a second candle holder would have been turned or a pocket watch holder for people travelling on their own. For this a small spindle blank is mounted drilled out in the same way for a matching thread and then a small section of thread is installed and the bottom shaped. This is reversed onto the previous chuck with a threaded hole and turned to suit the watch.

Altogether a great day of demos!

Paul

The next meeting will be Saturday June 8th Which will be a Club day so bring your failures/successes and get a get an educated guess as to why.

Fred