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.

Auction 2016

galloway-woodturners-auction-2016

I have now catalogued our current items for our upcoming auction (Sunday 23 October). This is the initial list and is subject to alteration in the next week or two because I know we have more stuff coming in. We currently have 73 items and I’m thinking we should probably cap this at around 120 to make sure we get through them all in good time on the day. If you have items you want to sell with a small commission going to club funds then get in touch with one of the committee.

I’m currently thinking the auction will perhaps start at 13:00 with an hour beforehand to view the items. I’ll firm up these times in due course.

Stuff, lots of stuff!

A few things to mention:

Woodturners’ Question Time

The club meeting next week is Woodturners’ Question Time so try and spend some time between now and then thinking of any questions you’d like to put to our panel of experts. How do you stop tear out, what’s your favourite wood, what’s an ogee, why doesn’t my wax finish burnish up properly, where’s the best place to get 60 grit? No question is too daft but, as compere for the evening, if you’d prefer me to ask questions on your behalf just let me know beforehand.

Sharpening

Following the popularity of the first pro-edge sharpening workshop we have two more lined up: sharpening on a grinder on the 14th August and more on the pro-edge on the 28th August.

Auction!

Some of you may have noticed a growing pile of tools and equipment in the kitchen at the workshop, well we thought we’d try to convert it to funds for the club by holding another auction on Sunday 23rd October. Make sure you keep the date free and if you’d like to sell anything let me know and I’ll see if we have capacity.

Wood Prep at Barwhinnock House

We have been offered a regular supply of wood from Barwhinnock House near Twynholm. The wood is in its raw form so needs to be cut and planked before being moved to the storage racks at the club workshop to dry out. This needs to be a regular event to make sure we stay on top of it and keep a steady supply of blanks getting to the workshop. We are therefore planning to meet there on the first Sunday of every month at 13:00 starting from 2nd October. It may take an hour or it may take longer depending on the size and quantity of wood and how many people turn up to help. As we progress I guess it will be easier to work out what needs to be done and how long it might take.

First Aid Course

I’m going to arrange a first aid course for any interested members – if that includes you please let me know at the next meeting.

Sharpening the Club Tools

Our recent sharpening workshop was well attended and everyone seemed to think it was worthwhile and successful. We only managed to get through the Spindle Roughing Gouge  and the Bowl Gouge but everyone seemed keen to have a further workshop to cover the remaining tools so I’ll try and get a date arranged for that sometime soon.

One of the key outputs from the workshop was the following list of rules which were discussed, debated and agreed unanimously by all who attended:

  1. All club tools must only be sharpened on a pro-edge
  2. All club tools must only be sharpened to the following standard grinds:
    • Spindle roughing gouge: 45° using v-block
    • Bowl (deep-fluted) gouge: 45° bevel angle standard (aka short) fingernail grind
    • Spindle (shallow-fluted) gouge: 45° bevel angle standard (aka short) fingernail grind
    • Skew: 15° using triangle block
    • Parting Tool: 20° using side of the v-block
    • Scraper: 80°
  3. Blunt or unusable tools must be sharpened or put in the red Tools To Be Sharpened box (i.e. not put back on the shelf)

Some explanatory notes:
The main purpose of these rules is to keep things as simple as possible and thereby make it easier for members of any ability to sharpen tools well. This should reduce the chance that tools will be sharpened poorly or not at all for fear of getting it wrong.

By “all club tools” we mean the six standard tools listed above. Exceptions are hollowing tools, texturing tools and the like.

If you are proficient enough to start using long or extra long grinds then you can adapt your own tools. For simplicity, club tools will only have the short grind.

Our standard grinds are the same as those suggested by Robert Sorby: see pic below or their instruction video.

sharp

Sharpening

Thought I’d do a quick post to clarify what we’ll be doing this coming Sunday at the sharpening workshop.

The workshop will run between 12 and 4pm

The primary aims are:

  1. Get a core group of members competent in using a Sorby Pro-Edge
  2. Sharpen as many club tools as possible using a Pro-Edge
  3. Clearly mark all the club tools to show
    • whether they have standard grinds or not
    • whether they are to be sharpened on a Pro-Edge only

Secondary aims:

  1. Sharpen personal tools
  2. Look at honing for skews, hollowing tools or other tools
  3. Use of the grinder

Things to bring:

  1. Your own tools
  2. Spare tools to practice on
  3. Your own Pro-Edge if you have one

Before you come it might be useful to check out some online resources such as Doc Green Woodturner or some of the Pro-Edge videos on you tube such as the one from Robery Sorby.

If successful and there is sufficient demand we will look to having another workshop later in the year to cover the use of Pro-Edge alternatives such as a grinder or a Tormek.

Competition Scoring

I’ve just been looking at the latest scores for the competition (June 2016: Table Lamp) and am curious about the low scores. It might well be that someone thinks that the competition entries are really not very good (which is fair enough because everyone is entitled to their opinion) but the range of low scores (1, 2, 2, 4, 4, and 5) suggest to me the possibility that someone is marking the entries as 1 for the best one, 2 for the second best, etc.

So for clarity I thought I’d reiterate that the marks given on the score sheets are marks out of 10, not positions of preference. If you’ve been marking them as first, second, third, etc. then the ones you liked best will only have got a score of 1, 2 or 3 out of 10. This could explain why I’ve mysteriously ended up near the top of the table this year!!

If you’re not comfortable making an absolute judgement and would prefer to put them in relative order then you could still do that but remember to start at high and work down rather than starting at 1 and working up!

Finally, if you have been marking the wrong way and you’d like to rectify it, perhaps you could have a discreet word with myself or Carl and we’ll see if we can get the results updated.

Smock Order

I’m still able to add items to our latest smock order which will be ready in about two weeks. So if anyone wants a new smock (resplendent with their name and club logo) I will be taking orders at tonight’s meeting.

Programme Change

Please be aware that we have had to swap the club nights for June and August which has also affected the competition items for August and September. The changes are highlighted below and the GW Programme 2016 has been updated if you want to print yourself a new copy:

Tue 14 June: Question Time (comp = a table lamp)

Tue 9 Aug: Platters (comp = anything)

Tue 13 Sept: Easy Bowls Part 2 (comp = a platter)

 

Wood Prep Workshop – 20th March

Please note that the date of the wood preparation workshop is the 20th March not the 13th as mentioned in some places – my apologies for any confusion!

Note also the time is 12noon to 4pm.

The main objectives are:

  • Convert the remaining ash planks from the outside wood store into wax-sealed bowl and spindle blanks.
  • Tidy up the inside and outside wood stores and make sure as much as possible is priced up.

Secondary objectives are:

  • Plank the remaining logs of oak, elm and sycamore in the outside wood store
  • Convert the remaining yew logs inside into something turnable

Anyone wanting to assist would be very welcome. There will opportunities for getting acquainted with the bandsaw under supervision, sealing wood with wax as well as some planking using the chainsaw.

Hope to see you there,

Phil J