June meeting will be a Club day, so the normal rules apply, ask questions, ask advice, ask for a demonstration of a solution of any turning problem you may have.
The fish and chips pictures are in the gallery/ Skittles winner Paul. Table top competition winner Chris Whittle. The money raised was Raffle £110. Skittles £73. Cake sale £31. Donation £10. Total £224 to MS Swale

May meeting
Mick Hanbury as our demonstrator this month. Originally born in Cyprus he grew up moving around Europe as the son of a soldier, spending significant time in Germany where he became fluent. After decades in the woodworking trade, he shifted into woodturning around 25 years ago, quickly developing a reputation as an artistic turner, know for bold colour, texture and decoration after becoming bored with “Round and brown”. He demonstrates widely around UK, Europe and the US.

When sharpening, Mick uses a CBN wheel in two grades, 180/320 which are used frequently, especially before finishing cuts.

The first piece was from a 14” diameter piece of “dirty sycamore” with a large knot featuring in the rim. Getting this on the lathe, Mick likes to turn as fast as comfortable to get the best cut. The rear of the piece was turned to a basic ogee shape with a chucking point suitable for the chuck jaws. The knot is quick to blunt the tool, and Mick pointed out how the sounds changes as the tool becomes blunt.

As the knot is quite loose, Mick will sometimes reinforce the wood with superglue, but he always uses the accelerator on the wood first, to ensure that the superglue sets deeply, rather than just on the surface, which he learned to his cost some years ago.

As he moved to the final cuts, Mick cautioned us to look first with your eyes, then your fingers to find the right shape. When approaching the finishing cut, there is a tendency to tense up, try to relax and drift the cut along the surface. Once the shape was finished, the chucking point is refined before wet sanding using a mixture of 80% Paraffin Oil and 20% beeswax (with a drop of essential oil to make it smell nice!).

This is rubbed over the surface of the wood before being sanded with full extraction. The finish was then burnished using the fine shavings from the finishing cuts. The piece was then reversed into the chuck and the front turned to a shape that complements the rear of the piece. The rim was worked from the outside to the centre, retaining the core for support as the piece was turned.

The rim was sanded using the same approach before it was textured using and Arbortech cutter. The tool was used held with the cutter head at 10 o’clock and the base of the tool at 5 o’clock to prevent it kicking. A random pattern was then created with the piece stationary and being rotated bit by bit. (For those of u=you with the small Proxxon with the narrow neck, Mick suggests using a pair of mole grips as a side handle!).

Once texturing was completed, the piece sanded both in forward and reverse to soften the leading and trailing edges of the cuts before being ebonised using black lacquer. This was then given a coat of clear lacquer before 3 different colours of interference paint was dry brushed across the textures. (These were Mick’s own Chameleon Metallic paints). Once completed, the rim was sanded back to bare wood to clean the texture. Then a light pass with the sander was made across the texture to reveal some of the timber colours. The centre was then cored out with a slight undercut and then finished, before reversing onto a foam drive and the chucking point removed.

The afternoon piece was to be a finial box, turned in the style of a Cypriot minaret , an influence from mick’s childhood. The design is heavily based on the rule of this. The blank is 3 inch square Ash around 10 inches long. This was too long, so Mick turned it to round, added chucking points at each end and then parted the main piece off at around 7 inches long.

The finial end of the box is formed using a spindle gouge, with the base of the finial being around 2/3rds of the diameter of the base. With the finial roughly shaped, Mick began shaping the body of the box to ensure that all of the sizes worked. With the basic box shape in place, the finial was finished and then parted off with a fine parting tool, leaving a witness mark for the opening, and a mark made in the centre. The centre was drilled to depth using a drill in the tailstock before the box was hollowed initially using a spindle gouge. The Finial lid was fitted carefully to the opening before the hollowing was completed using a Simon Hope hollowing tool, followed by a negative rake scraper. The base was refined to the inside shape before sanding the inside with a timber probe and then parting off. The base was tided on a jam chuck so that it could be cleaned and sanded.

The third piece was an Ash platter, with the rear turned using a bowl gouge to create a flat wing with a nice transition. A texture was applied to the curve of the bowl and the underside of the rim using a Simon Hope texturing tool. This was then turned and mounted in the chuck to allow work to be done on the front of the piece.

The front of the piece was flattened with a pull cut on the bowl gouge to rapidly shape the front. The wing of the bowl was turned down to around 3mm thick to allow it to be pierced. The front of the bowl was cut proud of the wing, to suggest a bowl flowing through the rim (The pictures will make more sense!). A design was drawn on the wing and then pierced using a woodart machine with end mill cutters. This was then defluffed using a chefs blow torch which also provides a slight shadow to the texure.

Fred/Paul