Author Archives: Phil Jones

I am the former treasurer and website manager of the Galloway Woodturners club. I also enjoy bodging occasionally. In my spare time I work as an analyst programmer for Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Wood Prep Workshop – Sunday 5 March

Having taken the cold, wet winter months off, I’m kicking off the wood prep workshop on what looks to be a cold, wet wintry Sunday this weekend!

Partly due to the weather and partly due to the amount of jobs needing to be done at the workshop, we’ll be staying at the workshop.

The usual time of 1pm to 4pm still applies but I plan to be there from 10am so if anyone prefers the morning feel free to join me.

Jobs to be done include:

  • Make new bars on all the lathe legs to make them easier to move by pallet truck
  • Clean and reorganise the wood prep area
  • Continue wiring the lights and sockets in the new work room (Roger)
  • Move the shop and work bench
  • Take the rubbish over to the tip
  • Move the measuring tool board from behind the finishing cupboard
  • Assist with gloss painting (please bring any spare paint you have)
  • Create something to hold the TVs, camera and spot lights on the new ceiling
  • Create new brackets and put the electric heaters back up
  • Tidy up the cupboards and lathe boxes to make sure everything is in the right place
  • Replace mug cupbard in the kitchen

There’s probably more, that just a few things that spring readily to mind.

See you there!

Nicos Masterclass – 1 space available

Due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. Xmas) I am no longer able to fill my place on the master class with Nicos Siragas on Sunday 18th Dec. The total cost for the day and the materials should be £68 but I’ll be happy to take £50 if someone wants to take my place.

Note this is not a beginners course but you don’t need to be an expert either. You just need to be  comfortable mounting a piece of work and turning it to completion with a reasonable finish.

Wood prep day – Sunday 4 Dec

Update: meeting at the workshop at 1pm

Three parties:

Team 1 – Kirkcowan: up to 6 people, picking Roger up from Creetown at 1:30pm on the way, loading wood onto trailer, then over to Glengap to have the wood planked on the sawmill, then back to the workshop

Team 2 – Barwhinnock: 2 people, one with chainsaw to cut back sprouting sycamores, the second to do a bit of sanding (sander, mask, etc provided)

Team 3 – Workshop: blank and seal more of the dry wood, tidy up shelves inside, find room ready for planks coming in from Kirkcowan, kitchen and toilets could do with a clean

If you’d prefer to go straight to Kirkcowan or Barwhinnock please let me know (07590 695199) so we don’t end with too many people at the wrong place.

Wood Prep – Sunday afternoon 6 November

Thought I’d post a few details for what to expect on Sunday.

Meet at the workshop for 1pm and then we’ll split into two groups, one staying at the workshop and the other travelling to at Barwhinnock House. If you’d rather go straight to Barwhinnock House I aim to be there for 1:30pm.

The aim is to be finished by 4pm.

Workshop party

  1. Cut, seal and price blanks and put on shelves
  2. Tidy up the wood shelves and move any non-blanked pieces of wood back outside
  3. Outside, convert useless wood to firewood

Note that a proportion of the firewood is to go back to Barwhinnock, the remainder is available to members in return for a donation to club funds.

Barwhinnock party

  1. Clearing a section of branches (loppers and axes might be more suitable than chainsaws)

 

Wood Prep Day – Sunday 2 October

Apologies for the late update on this, but only myself, Hugh and Bill will be going to Barwhinnock House tomorrow (Sunday 2nd) afternoon.

It would be great if everyone else who was planning to join us could join Arthur at the workshop instead with the aim of trying to tidy up the outside woodstore and replenishing our supply of sealed blanks.

Times are 1pm until about 4pm.

I plan to make wood prep day a regular event on the 1st Sunday afternoon of each month but, depending on what is needed to be done, the location might be off site, at the club or a mixture of the both.

Hope to see you all tomorrow,

Cheers, Phil

Simon Hope Demo and Masterclass

Well I think it’s safe to say that a really top class weekend was had by all who came to see Simon Hope at our workshop. Simon spent Saturday demonstrating and Sunday giving a masterclass to five of us. Everyone seems to agree that he is an excellent demonstrator and teacher and we’re all looking forward to having him back for a return visit some time.

These are some pictures of what we made (or half-made in my case!) during the masterclass. While Rolf was masterng the art of thread chasing the manual way, the pieces made by Jake and myself incorporated threaded elements made using Simon’s thread-cutting jig. As a result of our success the committee members present agreed it was exactly the kind of thing that the club should own… so we bought one! Jake and I will be on hand to assist if anyone wants to try it out.

So a big thank you to Simon and, to those who missed it, plan ahead carefully and make sure you don’t miss our next great professional demo with Nikos in December!

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