Galloway Woodturners

Senior/ Mature

Colin Marshall (winner)

Steve Eccles

Rolf Buwert

Arthur Young

Kenny Coates

Phil Jones

Junior/ Novice

Ken Powers (winner)

David Simpson

Finlay Mitchell

Notices from our June Meeting. I forgot to get Colin to do the Show-and-tell. Given he won the raffle again he will be down to do the show-and-tell for sure in August ! We look forward to it Colin.

49 Notices June 2022

At our last club meeting I announced the sad death of Bobby Lees, and that I would notify you all of the funeral arrangements when I knew them.

Jardine’s the funeral directors have published the following:

Robert LEES
On the 8th May 2022, suddenly but peacefully whilst on holiday, Robert Lees (Bob/Bobby) beloved husband of Anne and a loving brother of Penny. Funeral service at the Dumfries Baptist Church on Thursday 26th May at 1pm. All friends are respectfully invited to attend. No flowers please. Donations if desired can be given at the service in memory of Robert. Funeral thereafter private.

I will be there and hope that one or two other members of Galloway Woodturners could attend too.

Rolf

Phil Howard entertained and enlightened us again at our May meeting with a repeat of a demonstration based on a cube, where the cube, through some kind of wizardry, becomes a three-pointed bowl, lidded pot or tealight candle holder. 

He has shared his notes in the pdf file below.

starting with a cube Phil Howard demo May 2022

Senior/ Mature

Colin Marshall (winner)

Rolf Buwert

Phil Jones

Junior/ Novice

Ken Powers (winner)

Finlay Mitchell

Some images of the wheels demonstrated I did at the April meeting.

The ones with the five short spokes are more decorative than practical as the spokes are bamboo skewers, which are strong enough but not for children to play with. Spokes on both are 72° apart.

The jig for the solid wheels has a removable plug to keep the hub located while the remaining four holes are drilled (from the back).

I like ‘full profile’ tyres on my vehicles but it is more fashionable, especially on sporty cars, to have ‘low profile’ tyres. If you are making a Land Rover type toy car then you want the tyre part to be quite substantial, but for low profile tyres you want it much thinner, and the centre hub/rim to be correspondingly larger.

Chose the colour of your woods according to the use the wheel is being put to, namely as dark a wood as possible for black rubber tyres with a light wood for the centre to suggest an aluminium / silver metal wheel. For traction engines, trains and cart wheels you would want similar lighter woods which might be more easily painted.

Remember if you are making a toy car that might have spare wheel, strapped to the side or back, that you want to make a set of five wheels at the same time for consistency of colour. It is surprisingly quick to make a set of wheels in one go, especially if you have a set of three or more callipers set to the different internal and external diameters.  

The better weather is here, it is not quite summer yet but days are much longer and we have had Easter Holidays and the Mayday Holiday. Maybe you have been doing the Spring cleaning and feel both the workshop and yourself are refreshed, ready for some new projects. The sunshine and warmth certainly lift our spirits. For some of us we are able to quickly slip back into our old routines and habits, but please remember that others have more difficulty post-Covid, and the world is certainly not the same. Could we try and be mindful of peoples personal space and respect their choice to keep a distance, wear a mask, decline to participate in communal coffee breaks etc. If a friend takes a step back from you it may not be your aftershave that is the problem it is just that they have been used to the comfort of being 2 meters away from other people, so don’t step forward when they step back.

Handwashing and opening windows for ventilation has always been a sensible thing to do and I would encourage everyone to do this, or accept other’s choice to do so.

At our next meeting you may notice that one of the huge sections of oak has been reduced to more useable chunks, had he ends sealed and brought inside for sale. I will continue to slice up the rest over the next few weeks with my chainsaw. The wood is still ‘green’ so easier to turn, but will be prone to splitting if you are not careful. Feel free to buy and use it straight away but remember that oak contains a lot of tannin and that can make your hand go black and cause iron-based metals to rust on contact with the damp shavings. Fresh oak shavings smell lovely and there is less dust than fully seasoned wood, but if you prefer fully seasoned oak then you may have to wait another year or two. Season it yourself at home or wait for it to dry out at the club.

There is other wood on the shelves outside, and under the tarpaulin, speak to our wood prep team to see what there is available.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the next meeting.

Rolf