Saturday May 10th Orchard WoodTurners welcomed Richard Findley to the club to demonstrate to us.

Richard started the day by giving us a potted history of how he got into wood turning.

Then, he talked about the skew chisel. Their various angles and the advantages and disadvantages. He said his favourite was a hybrid between a skew chisel and a parting tool.
Using a roughing gouge he rounded off a piece of soft wood to a cylinder and showed us how a skew chisel can be used as a plane. Moving from left to right and right to left, he used his body weight to move the skew along the tool rest, not his hands. That way achieving a more even finish. He also emphasised how important a clean, smooth tool rest is for even movements.
With another piece of wood he demonstrated a 'peeling cut' to make a tenon, and then in conjunction with a calliper, to achieve an accurate end result. Then on the end grain, using a slicing cut to make a 'clean' finish.

When making chamfers and beads he advised that the end of the skew be lifted not pushed into the wood.

Richard then finished his skew demonstration by showing us how he sharpened skew chisels.

His first challenge was one shape positive and one negative, to fit together, the idea being to practice making shapes to correct dimensions, such as a pair of say candle sticks.

Using a kinder egg Richard then proceeded to make an egg. Using a ratio of 1.4D = Length and the high point of the egg is about 5mm from the base.

He then showed us on a victorian styled dining room table how to make the transition from the square top of the leg to the lower leg using either a lambs tongue shape or OG.

After lunch he set about making a 'Sea shell threaded box in Ash wood.
First of all Richard talked about the thread chasers and how to use them. He illustrated thread cutting on a spare piece of wood.
The ash wood was turned into a cylinder. For the outer thread, with the lathe set at about 320 RPM, a chamfer was made on the edge and using the chaser's middle teeth, using a circular motion as the thread starts to be cut, the chaser is drawn into the work. Richard uses sanding sealer to make the edges 'crisper' and paste wax to lubricate the wood. Using the arm rest to support the internal chaser using the middle teeth of the chaser proceeded to make the internal thread, as the thread started to cut, the chaser was brought round to be perpendicular to the work.
What was basically a 4 inch bowl blank, tenons were made at each end. The piece was then divided in two.The piece left in the chuck was chosen to become the top of the shell. Using a bowl gouge, it was hollowed out leaving a slight dome in the lid. A chamfer was created and the internal thread created, sanding sealer and paste wax being used to aid the chasing.
To create the base, using the callipers, a tenon was made 3mm larger than the internal measurement of the lid, this allows for the depth of the thread. As with the lid, a chamfer was created and using the middle of the chaser, proceeded to make the thread. To get the grain to match on both the lid and base the length of the tenon was adjusted. The two pieces joined together and the base was shaped. To shape the lid, rather than using a 'jam chuck' Richard made a thread on another piece of wood to hold the lid whilst it was shaped, tenon removed and work finished.

Richard then showed us how to make a left handed thread.

If anyone wants to see a video of thread making there is a video of Bill Jones on YouTube thread making I am told. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R0LKIhdnk0

Matthew Jevons.

June 14th Saturday Will be a club day so as usual any questions or assistance with wood turnng topics, please ask and an answer may be forthcoming. (No guarantee)

Fred