Each month I do the ‘Notices’ but in the current situation I have not done one for April, instead I thought I would try a Newsletter. Never having done one before it will we a bit rough and ready, hopefully it will get better over the next couple of issues. Feel free to contribute something, or volunteer to do it.

Newsletter Galloway Woodturners April 2020

Dear All,

Next Tuesday, 14th April, we should have been at the workshop for the April 2020 Club meeting.  Steve was to have demonstrated “An Egg Box” and the Club competition was to have been “A Time Piece”.

We all understand why we cannot be there for the event BUT we could go ahead with a virtual competition by submitting photos of those pieces we would have wished to enter.  I hope we are all still turning in our workshops whilst still maintaining our social isolation ~ even if only to get out of the house for a while!  A competitive element might spur us on.

What do you think? Would you be prepared to join in?

We could ask Mike to advise on how best to judge such a competition and publish the results.  Then, when life has returned to normal, we could bring in those items for which we have submitted photos to the next Club meeting and hold a retrospective competition.

I attach a couple of photos of two of my clocks as my proposed entry for the April event.  They were made from a Yew branch turned propeller-wise before being halved and the clock mechanisms inserted.

Look after yourself and your family and keep turning.

Best wishes,

David

I have heard that Axminster are offering a series of free live internet demonstrations featuring Colwin Way. The demonstrations are set to run every day this week beginning on Monday at 4pm.

Colwin’s schedule will be as follows:

Monday

Colwin will take a piece of burr oak and cast it with resin, this is purely a tutorial on casting with the intention that on Friday we turn the piece cast on Monday into a small bowl. Colwin will explain how to make the mould, cut the timber, mix the resin and add pigment and explain about pressure pots.

Tuesday

Making wooden apples and pears, this will involve jam chucking and polishing techniques.

Wednesday

Hollow form day, the project will be a leaning garlic jar inspired by French sculptor Thierry Martenon. It will have a textured outside surface and a sanded flat base. This will feature the Woodcut hollowing system.

Thursday

Back to a smaller project for this and an offset pendant, this uses several types of jaws both bought and home made to create the “off set”.

Friday

Turning the cast burr oak bowl we prepped on Monday, again several holding techniques here plus reversing the bowl to finish.

To access the demonstrations you need to point your web browser at the following page:

Colwin says that he would like lots of questions ….so fire away!

where there are several really good videos to inspire us at home.

(Thanks to Carl Burns for letting us know about this)

Hello folks,

for a little while we have to suspend our regular meetings so the club is going to come to you instead! 

The club will send out a regular newsletter by email to all members and keep you up to date with whats going on with other club members and where possible include news from further afield. If you know a member who doesn’t have email then why not give them a ring and have a chat, most woodturners don’t bite!

The newsletter will, hopefully, include:

• A handy hint or tip from members or from further afield, for example a hint on the best way to sharpen a skew for opening paint tins….that’ll definitely get at least one email!!
• A photograph (or several) showing “whats on the lathe” so you can see what other members are making.

So you can see that there is plenty of opportunity for you to participate, you don’t need to write volumes or produce photos suitable for use on a magazine cover. If you have a mobile phone you can take photos and send them through. If you don’t know how then just call your grandkids and they will explain how, we all like being patronised by teenagers!

We have also begun speaking to the professional turners who have demonstrated at the club in the past and have been given a very warm reception, so we can expect some hints, tips and photographs from them as we progress.

The club competition is still on, please photograph your entries and send them through. Entries will be put onto the website and we will arrange a voting system on the website to allow you to vote for your favourites.

Please remember that the club is not a building, a date on a calendar or a lathe. The club is the members and the shared interest we all have.

So to get things going here is a starting point (please switch on your images in this email or you wont be able to see the photos!! ):

BWT HINT/TIP

For those of us who use Carbide tools (no, I’m not the antichrist) and for those of us who use scrapers I have noticed a tendency for people not to realise that they have the tool at the wrong angle. When I do beginners sessions with these tools I have noticed that folks don’t always realise that the tool is pointing up ….until things go horribly wrong (loud bang, lots of swearing).

Interestingly this seems to be a bigger issue for taller people, or at least that’s what I have noticed. So in order to overcome this I came up with two things:

1. Take a simple plastic bubble level (you can get them on eBay) and stick a magnet on to the bottom of it with super glue. You can then attach this to the shaft of the tool, the bubble should be near you when using the tool, if it goes to the other end of the level then things are going to become unpleasant. 

2.

1. Once you have done this then you remember to use it with a simple ABC.
   A = anchor (the tool to the rest)
   B= Bubble, get it where it should be
   C= cut (or in this case scrape)

Carl Burns

Just like the fairytale Sleeping Beauty it is now time for Galloway Woodturners to go to sleep, not for a hundred years, but possibly for a hundred days, depending on how many times the wicked witch of Covid-19 comes back.

The workshop is ‘out of bounds’ to everyone. It is secure, and I will go and ‘mothball’ it soon (not by growing an impenetrable wall of thorns and briars)

Fear not, I will not awaken you all with a kiss, but a boring old email as soon as I possibly can.

The club will continue to live in us, the members, in our individual workshops, and in Facebook and this web site.

I have just received the following e mail from Chris Pouncy (Robert Sorby Tools)

“Following on from yesterdays briefing from the Prime Minister and on health policy from Head Office we are regretfully cancelling all events in March, April and May. Events later in the year will be considered closer to the dates and when we know more about the virus. Many clubs and stores have already cancelled events some for two and some for three months.

This means that the demo scheduled for Tuesday 12^th  May 2020 has been cancelled.

I hope that we may be able to reschedule later in the year but that would of course depend on suitable dates being available.”

No doubt our Committee will be discussing the way ahead for our club in light of any further announcements by the government.

Roger Cutler

In view of the government announcement today it is with a very heavy heart that I must take the decision to postpone the Gary Lowe Demo and Masterclass on 28th and 29th of this month. I can see no way round the very clear advice from the government to avoid travel, social contact, pubic meetings, clubs and other contact with other people. We would struggle to say our event is ‘essential’. Even though there are very few cases in this part of the country the situation is changing very fast and it makes a lot of sense to close things down 10 days before any potential infection rather than 10 days after.

It would be wrong to allow folks to be sitting in close proximity for a whole day (and pay for the pleasure) and (potentially) come away with a serious illness.

The club will continue to operate, for this week anyway, as normal, but I fully expect numbers to be very low. The Beginner’s Course will still take place this week, week 4, but the participants will decide themselves if they wish to continue for weeks 5 and 6, or postpone them.

Beginners course 2/2020 looks in jeopardy at the moment too.

It distresses me to have to make this post, but I care for every one of our members and feel we need to protect everyone at this difficult time.  We should continue to turn wood at home, if we can, and return to the workshop, and normality, as soon as it is safe to do so. Remember the government can only do so much for us, it is our community and friendships that can be real life savers in times such as these.

Rolf

Dear All,

In view of the current situation, I will open the workshop on Wednesday 18th March from 1.00 – 3.00pm this week for the last time until the current Covid 19 crisis is over. 

I will be happy and pleased to resume opening once we all feel it is safe to do so.

Do keep turning in your own workshops, (we all need the practice), and please keep an eye on the club website for notice of when Wednesday afternoon openings will start again.

Look after yourselves and keep well.

Best wishes

Sorry to raise this when it seems to be coming at us from all directions. 

Having read as much as I can, discussed with knowledgeable people, read advice from similar organisations to ourselves, and of course the NHS advice, I have the following advice to give to members.

Galloway Woodturners will continue to meet at the same times as normal.

Anyone feeling unwell, with anything remotely like a cold, flu, or Covid-19 should not come to the workshop for 14 days. Even if you feel well but cough or sneeze you may be spreading Covid-19 which you have picked up and show no symptoms of, so be ready to ‘catch it, bin it’, or leave the building.

Immediately upon entering the building WASH YOUR HANDS. Use the bar of soap, work up a foam which completely covers your hands and between your fingers, then rinse it for the same time that it took to work up the lather – at least 20 seconds.

Use the PAPER TOWEL and bin the paper immediately.

If you are using club tools, or sharing any tools, use your HAND sanitising GEL, and rub your hands and the tools. Given the short supply of the gel I am assuming that is because everyone by now must have several bottles.

Use disposable cups, or WASH the cup BEFORE and AFTER use.

Immediately BEFORE LEAVING the building WASH YOUR HANDS again, in the same thorough way. This way you will not bring the virus into the building, nor take it home with you.

We can not avoid the virus, and most of us will get it, either this year, or next year, but we can delay getting it, and we can smooth the peak of infection so that the NHS is not overwhelmed and can deal with us better.

Should the situation get worse you will find it fairly obvious and difficult to avoid hearing about, so act according to NHS and government advice, and your own common sense. 

If you are in doubt about coming then err on the side of caution, keep turning, and self isolate to your workshop where  you can make things for club competitions, the Borders Inter-club competition and Christmas (never too early to make things for Christmas).