Welcome everyone to the first Club meeting of 2014 and a belated Happy New Year to you all.

David Wright

Those of you on the email circulation will already be aware of this, but it is with great sadness that I have to announce that fellow member David Wright died recently after a brave fight with cancer – only a little while ago he ordered some candlestick cups, he kept on turning to the end.

As David has left his body to science there will not be a funeral service but there will be a remembrance service sometime during the next few weeks at St.Ninian’s, Castle Douglas, where David was a member.

I will let you know when the service will take place, in the meantime please keep his wife Marjory in your thoughts.

 Club Champion

 At the December meeting we didn’t have time to work out the final placings on the night. They were posted on our web site later and confirmed that the results, based on your scoring throughout the year were:-

 First                Chick Hampton

Second            Reg Thirlwall

Third              Phil Howard

This means that Chick retains the Club Champion trophy. Congratulations to him, and well done to everyone who entered. Our competition really IS about taking part and not just about WINNING. 

February 

You’ve had two months to make your tazzas for the competition so we’ll expect a good entry.  

The demo tonight is by Roger who is going to make a natural edge bowl and explain some of the challenges and opportunities you may encounter !!! 

Wood of the Month. Rather than spend a whole evening looking at different woods, which could get a bit repetitive, we are going to try looking at one a month for just a couple of minutes each. We’ll pass around some samples of each wood and talk about how to identify them and what they are like for turning. For no particular reason, we are starting with Ash this month.

Turning Tuesdays are really buzzing. It would be a good idea for you to bring your tools, chucks and even bench top lathes with you. Club lathes spindle sizes are one with ¾ “ x 16 tpi, No. 1 Morse Tapers and two with 1” x 8 tpi, No. 2 MT. The lathe that we have on loan is ¾ “ x 16 tpi, No. 1 Morse Tapers and Phil J’s lathe which he often brings is 1” x 8 tpi, No. 2 MT. 

If you didn’t get your copy of the 2014 Programme previously, they are available tonight. I mentioned in December that there is already a change; Robert Sorby will now visit us in May and the Mallets demo will be in June. The Competition items for June and August also swap places. Please amend your copy of the Programme. 

The next ‘Introduction to Woodturning’ course starts on Friday 21 February and is fully booked with someone interested in the next course after that !! The course is only open to Club members and the course fee is £50 which includes everything you need i.e. use of a lathe, tools, wood etc. 

There is a Committee Meeting scheduled for February 25^th, so if you have anything you want to raise, please have a word with any Committee member – namely Phil H, Phil J, Roger, Rolf, Judith and David. 

March 

Saturday 1 March is a full day professional demo by Andrew Hall, The Hat Man. Not to be missed, get your ticket TONIGHT.  

The topic for the Club meeting next month is a demo by Bill Johnstone and Ian Dawson from Craftsman’s Supplies, and the competition item is a natural edge bowl.  

You also need to bring a piece of wood to go into a draw, then you will get another piece of wood back from which to make your April competition entry. If you can’t be at the March meeting for some reason, please arrange for someone else to bring your contribution and pick up your drawn blank, otherwise you’ll not be able to make your April entry. Clear ??? 

April

The hollowing have-a-go session on the Saturday after last month’s meeting went very well. We had four lathes going and members had the opportunity to try at least five different hollowing tools. The notes from the presentation are on our web site with some additional information about the retailers and prices of various tools.

May

The topic this month is ‘It’s about time’, a demo on clocks and other timepieces with Phil Jones.

The competition item is a hollow form. There have been a few discussions about what is meant by ‘a hollow form’ so we circulated an explanation via email which we hope you found useful. This was ‘For the purposes of the competition, a hollow form is a vessel where the diameter of the opening is considerably less than the maximum diameter.’ When you are marking the entries – large size, elegant shape, fine surface finish, thin wall, small entrance hole should all get good marks. Small size, poor shape and finish, thick wall (heavy for the size), large entrance hole should be marked down.

We hope that lots of you have brought a chunk of wood to enter into the draw. To remind you – this is how this will work . . . . .

1. At the May Club meeting, everyone who wants to take part brings a turnable lump of wood. Wood is photographed, then allocated by lot to all participants. The challenge is to make the best item you can from what you are given.

2. In June, the items are judged by members according to the skill and ingenuity shown, with the starting point taken into consideration. A second question on the judging form asks members to suggest a selling price for the piece.

3. Then at the fundraising events we hold over the summer the items are sold for the average price recommended. The two winning items (most expensive and most ingenious) are raffled.

From next week, 21st May, for three weeks, we will run Turning Tuesday in the afternoon and evening as a trial. In the afternoon from 2pm – 4.30pm and 7pm – 9pm as usual in the evening. Then there may be a pause in the afternoon sessions as Phil H will be on holiday.

On Saturday 25 May, Mark and Lisa Raby from Mylands will be presenting a full day of demos. Mark will be covering all aspects of Wood Finishing and Lisa will be demonstrating Pyrography. The full range of Mylands products will be available for sale. This should be of interest to all woodworkers, not just turners so please spread the word as widely as possible. There are some posters on the table below the Notice Board. Admission will be £6 per person, tickets are available tonight at the Shop, and on the day if there are tickets remaining. There is an opportunity for you to bring a piece of work for Mark to finish – bare wood, fully turned and sanded with the spigot or recess remaining so that it can be remounted.

On Monday 27 May we are running a Coffee Morning and Sale in Kirkcudbright to raise funds. It will be in St. Andrew and St. Cuthbert’s Church hall, High Street, DG6 4JW from 10 – 12.30 (map in the Calendar entry on our web site). As it is a Coffee Morning we need members to donate lots of home baking and to help on the day. Judith is leading this fundraising effort for the Club so speak to her to discuss your contribution. We will be demonstrating woodturning and selling work so we need you to get busy in the workshop as well as in the kitchen. You can either donate items for sale so that the Club gets the whole of the sale price OR we do a 75/25 split with the Club getting a 25% commission. Any unsold items will be returned to their makers, so make sure that all items are clearly labelled with your name or initials and selling price. You can bring items to Turning Tuesday or to the course on a Thursday evening or to the Coffee Morning. Speak to Phil H about this aspect of the day.

Spring Fling, the finest open studio event in Scotland, runs from Saturday 25 to Monday 27 May. This year a record 93 artists and makers invite you to visit them in their studios and workshops. Brochures are on the table below the Notice Board.

We have an ‘Introduction to Woodturning’ course running at the moment. If there is a demand we could start a further course in July – speak to Phil H if you are interested. The syllabus is on the Notice Board and on our web site.

June

The competition item next month is ‘a timepiece’.

The Turning Tuesday on June 4th will be a special have-a-go session with Texturing Tools, mainly the Sorby tool and the Decorating Elf.

On Tuesday June 11, Chris Pouncy from Robert Sorby will be with us to demonstrate their latest goodies. If you are considering any Sorby product this is the best opportunity to buy them direct. As usual, if you want anything from the Turners Retreat catalogue, let Roger know by the end of May and Chris will bring it without any Post and Packing charges.

July and August

The idea of having Club meetings in July and August has been raised. Here’s the deal – if members come up with some ideas for topics by the June meeting, the Committee will consider holding the extra meetings.

We have booked tables at the Dumfries (Sat 3 August) and Wigtown (Wed 7 August) shows to promote woodturning and the Club. This year we are asking YOU to provide bowls to sell on the same basis as at the Coffee Morning.

And finally . . .

The Shop has a good stock of wood for sale and we need the money. If you want a particular size or species, let us know and we’ll see what we can do.

Susan Colley has suggested that we design and sell Christmas cards to raise money for the Club. Members could provide a picture, or a piece of their work that they want photographed. What do you think ???

Our new web site continues to develop. The Calendar shows details of all our events. The Document Library includes 13 projects and 14 sets of Presentation Notes, all of which you can download and print for your own use. To get the most benefit from the site you need to REGISTER with the site. You simply need to enter a user name (make this easy to understand e.g. fredbloggs, not cleverturner) and your email address. Then you will receive an email when anything new is added to the site.

The Beading and Parting tool that went missing from the workshop has returned. Thanks to whoever returned it.

April
The topic this month is ‘Holloween’ comes early, a discussion and demonstration of standard and specialist hollowing tools. If there is sufficient interest we may run a hands-on, have-a-go type session this Saturday. We’ll pass a sign-up sheet on a clip-board round later; please put your name down if you are interested.

The Competition item is a pepper mill. The Shop still has a few pepper and salt mill mechanisms in stock if you didn’t buy them last month and want to have a go.

The current ‘Introduction to Woodturning’ course finishes this week; another course starts next week and is fully booked. If there is a demand we could start a further course in July – speak to Phil H if you are interested. The syllabus is on the Notice Board and on our web site.

May
The topic next month is ‘It’s about time’, a demo on clocks and other timepieces with Phil Jones.

The competition item is your interpretation of a hollow form. Note : a discussion during the evening came to the conclusion that for the purposes of the competition, a hollow form is a vessel where the diameter of the opening is considerably less than the maximum diameter.

On Saturday 25 May, Mark and Lisa Raby from Mylands will be presenting a full day of demos. Mark will be covering all aspects of Wood Finishing and Lisa will be demonstrating Pyrography. The full range of Mylands products will be available for sale. This should be of interest to all woodworkers, not just turners so please spread the word as widely as possible. There are some posters on the table below the Notice Board. Admission will be £6 per person, tickets will be available at the May Club meeting and on the door if there are tickets remaining.

Spring Fling, the finest open studio event in Scotland, which has been widely copied but never bettered, runs from Saturday 25 to Monday 27 May. This year a record 93 artists and makers invite you to visit them in their studios and workshops. Brochures are on the table below the Notice Board.

And finally . . .
The various ideas regarding possible uses for our workshop which were listed in the previous two Notices have generated very few responses – one person thinks it would be a good idea to run Turning Tuesday in the afternoon. There is a Committee Meeting on 29 April so now would be a good time to put your ideas to any Committee member.

We will need to run some sort of fundraising in the future and we will need to have some turnings for sale. Judith came up with the following idea to make this more interesting for everyone . . . .

1. At the May Club meeting, everyone who is willing to take part brings a turnable lump of wood. Wood is photographed, then allocated by lot to all participants. The challenge is to make the best item you can from what you are given.

2. In June, the items are judged by members according to the skill and ingenuity shown, with the starting point taken into consideration. A second question on the judging form asks members to suggest a selling price for the piece.

3. Then at whatever fundraising event we hold over the summer (coffee morning, soup and sweet, open day etc.), the items are sold for the average price recommended. The two winning items (most expensive and most ingenious) are raffled.

 A very warm welcome to everybody for our first Club meeting in our new home. We have spent the last four Turning Tuesdays getting things set up as you now see them – no doubt things will continue to evolve. Thanks to all the members who have got involved and contributed their time, expertise and enthusiasm.

 A few bits of ‘housekeeping’ about our new premises. Toilets – there are two toilets, one in the main section behind the seating, and a disabled toilet as you come in the entrance. Notices – there is a Notice Board on the left as you come from the lobby into our area. Fire – in the unlikely event of a fire, please leave promptly by the same door that you entered. Do not attempt to use the large vehicle doors. One of the Club Officers will ‘phone the Fire Brigade. Kitchen – when we break for coffee etc., please collect your drink and bring it back to the main area. Biscuits will be on the table below the Notice Board.

 General Workshop Notes – at all times, leave the workshop as you would wish to find it. If you are not confident about using any piece of equipment, then don’t; ask for help from someone who is competent with that piece of kit. Workshop machines can bite; make sure they don’t bite you ! There are two First Aid kits, one on the wall next to the small toilet, the other in the workshop area.

 The purchase of the superb new monitor was made possible by generous donations from Mrs Betty Howard and Mr David Wright; a big Thank-you to them both. The Committee felt that a new larger monitor would be of benefit to every member at every demonstration and would be a sound investment.

 We have also bought a range of turning workshop ‘stuff’ – callipers, Jacob’s chuck, drills, sanding pads etc.

 There is a maroon folder on the Library shelves which contains copies of Project Notes and Presentation Notes from previous meetings. These are for reference – you can print a personal copy from our new web site.

 These Notices, Competition results, a Calendar of events and much more can all be found on the web site. Phil J would love some more pictures for the Gallery section on the site.

 March

 The competition item this month is your interpretation of a Greek urn.

 The topic this month is a demo of making a Pepper Mill and a chat about the AWGB from Dave Grainger.

 April

 The topic next month is ‘Holloween’ comes early, a discussion and demonstration of standard and specialist hollowing tools. If there is sufficient interest we may run a hands-on, have-a-go type session the following Saturday. There is a sign-up sheet on the Notice board; please put your name down if you are interested.

 The Competition item is of course – a pepper mill. We have tried to make life easy for you – the Shop has pepper mill mechanisms in stock at just £5 each. We also have salt mills at just £3.20 each. The Shop may be available at a Turning Tuesday not just the monthly Club meeting, ‘phone Phil J or Phil H to check before making a long journey to buy something.

 And finally . . .

 The Shop has ready to turn blanks for you to buy. Very reasonably priced, much less than any woodturning supply store and all proceeds go to the Club – we need every penny. The ash is fairly dry, the spalted beech and elm is wet, so treat them accordingly.

 In the workshop, you will see an area labelled – ‘Please help yourshelf’. If you have something that you no longer need, bring it along and put it on the shelf. If you can use something on the shelf, please ‘help yourshelf’ and put a donation into the tin or give it to the Treasurer.

 The February Notices included a few ideas for you to consider regarding possible uses for our workshop :-

             run Turning Tuesday in the afternoon for the retired folks

            then in the evening for the workers

            occasional workshops on topics suggested by members, daytime, evening or Sat/Sun, your choice

            run a session on the Saturday after a Club meeting to follow up on whatever was demonstrated

            a public Open Day

            public Have-a-go day

            project sessions where several people work together on a project, possibly one that they may not feel confident to tackle alone. Suggested by Judith who would be willing to nominate the first project, probably something covered in Woodturning magazine.

 We asked for your views and ideas to any Committee member, so far we haven’t had much feedback . . .

 Our finances look OK for the rest of this year but we could run low about this time next year. Therefore we need to run some sort of fundraising activity this year – ideas to any Committee member please.