Category Archives: General

Lump of Wood Competition Results

Hello, All,

Thanks to everyone who joined in with our fund-raising completion, where we were challenged to make something interesting out of a donated and randomly allocated lump of wood. We had twelve entries, and we were asked to judge them on skill and ingenuity, given the starting point, and then to suggest a suitable selling price. The selling price was clearly quite a challenge, as the valuations varied widely…by a factor of fifteen in one case!

I don’t have the IT skills of Phil J, and have relied on pen and paper, with the backup of a £1.99 calculator. Nevertheless, having done the sums twice, I have come up with the same answer.

Winner for skill and ingenuity is Rolf Buwert, with an average score of 8.8 out of 10. Roger Cutler came a close second with 8.5, then David Simpson was third with 8.0.

David Simpson topped the valuation table with his five items totalling £32.25 in our estimation. John Brown’s two items were judged to be worth £29.67, and Rolf Buwert’s single bowl, £25.56.

It may be that we shall raffle Rolf’s bowl and David’s five items, if we have a suitable event at which to do this. All other items will be offered for sale to the public, possibly at the Dumfries Show, with the proceeds to club funds. I have them safely at home meantime, as the heat in the workshop may damage them.

Bryan Jardine and John Brown both told me that they had buyers lined up for their items, so I suggest we work on the assumption that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and let them sell their items on behalf of the club. If anyone has any objection to this, could they please let me know? Otherwise, Bryan and John, if you contact me in a week or so, we can arrange to get your items returned to you to pass on to your buyers.

Happy Turning!

Judith Simpson

Spoon Carving with Steve Tomlin

25 & 26 May 2013 at Shed Therapy, Dalbeattie

Spend the weekend with professional spooncarver Steve Tomlin and learn the techniques of carving with axe and knives on this fun and inspiring workshop.

All tools & materials supplied

You will learn

·         How to select wood for carving spoons

·         Splitting blanks from branches and larger timber

·         Using an axe for fast, efficient carving

·         5 special knife techniques to shape your spoons

·         Hollowing the bowl with a hooked knife

·         Safe methods of working

The focus on this course is building skills so that you take home much more than just your completed spoon. You will learn a set of skills which are the foundation of any greenwood working and will enable you to go on carving on your own.

Steve Tomlin has been a professional greenwood worker for 10 years and is an internationally respected carver. In 2013 he was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship in recognition of his skills and spent 4 weeks working one-to-one with master spoon carver Fritiof Runhall in Sweden. As well as selling and demonstrating his craft at shows around the country, Steve has taught dozens of people how to carve on his lively and engaging courses.

Spoon carving is an engaging pastime which is accessible to all, requiring only a small toolkit and easily-found materials. It makes an ideal introduction to woodworking for beginners while the design elements and particular skills will engage more experienced woodworkers.

Two-day workshop just £100.
Only  6 places – call Gavin on 01556 611380 to book.

Or gavin.phillips@virgin.net

 

Lathe Maintenance

Is anyone interested in having a Saturday session on Lathe Maintenance?

In the past couple of weeks we’ve had problems with two of the club lathes: the Coronet was overheating and making funny noises, and the the motor bracket on the M950 broke just before my demo was due to start last Tuesday! Fortunately a bit of oil in the right place and a new motor bracket fitted and both are now up and running again.

While we had the M950 in pieces, I thought it was really interesting to see how the gearing mechanism worked and it struck me that it might be worth spending a day taking all the club lathes apart with the aim of cleaning them up, making sure they’re running properly and getting to learn and understand how each of them work.

Maybe everyone could bring their chucks along and we could have a go at those as well!

What does everyone think?

 

Fundraiser…help needed 27 May

Hello, all.

Having discussed it with the committee, I am proposing to organise a coffee morning +/- sandwich lunch in Kirkcudbright on May 27th.

I have made a provisional booking of St Andrew and St Cuthbert’s church hall for the day. The hall, a smaller room off the hall, and a fully equipped kitchen are available to us for the day for £60. The hall is a bright modernised building, extremely clean (I’m on the cleaning rota!), and May 27th is both the tail end of the Spring Fling, and Bank Holiday Monday. There should be lots of tourists around, so I would anticipate a good turn out.

In order to go ahead with this, I need to know how many people can help, and in what capacity. We need at least four people on the day to run a coffee morning, probably six or eight people who will do some baking the previous day, another two on the day if we are also going to serve sandwiches, which must be freshly made for safety’s sake.

It would be good if we could rustle up some turning to sell as our “lump of wood” competition turnings won’t be ready till June. Even better if we could have a turning demo in the smaller room, or possibly have-a-go penmaking? Maybe an exhibition of our best efforts (not for sale).

Any other suggestions gratefully received.

Please let me know if you or your better half can help in any way. I anticipate the event running from 10am till 2 pm, with an hour to set up beforehand and an hour to clean up after. Even if you can only be there for part of the time, you’re still welcome. Parking is freely available, and I can give directions to anyone who needs them.

Judith

May Newsletter

Dear All,
Thanks for all the get well messages, I am now, hopefully, on the mend although I do have to have more tests in the weeks to come.
I have now put together a short newsletter to cover some of the events coming up soon.
At next months meeting on the 14th May the demo is “It’s about time” and Phil Jones will take us on journey through the various turnings that can be incorporated in telling the time – not just a clock!
The competition follows on from last months demo and will be“A Hollow Form”. Following the demo there has been a great deal of questioning as to what constitutes a hollow form? The committee has addressed the question and have come up with the following definition:
“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 and the height is less than twice the diameter.”
Also please see the attached drawings which show what is required very easily.
Also in May, Saturday 25th, we have a full day demo by the professional woodworker Mark Raby, whom many of you may have seen at the Edinburgh and Harrogate shows last year. Mark will be demonstrating all aspect of finishing, how to use the various finishes and colours. As this is a subject that will be of interest to woodworkers in general so please advertise the event as widely as possible – attached is a copy of the poster.
Accompanying Mark will be his wife, Lisa, who will be demonstrating aspects of pyrography
Tickets are available £6.00 for the full day
As announced last month at the May meeting you are asked to bring along a piece of wood that will be put into a draw; from the draw whoever gets a particular piece of wood has to turn something from it that will be judged  by the club. The wood will be photographed before and after so that points can be given taking into account what the original wood was like. All the pieces will be sold to raise funds for the club. So please bring along some wood and we will see what can be made from it.
We are missing a Sorby 10mm beading and parting tool from the workshop could you please check your tool kit to see if you have picked it up accidentally – It will have Galloway Woodturners or GW on the  end of the handle.
Turning makes you dizzy
Roger