Club Night Report
Wednesday 12th February 2014
Club Night Report for 12th February 2014 - observations by Vernon Hughes |
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Our demonstrator for the evening was Nigel Maddocks - who is Chairman of the Somerset Woodturners Club (www.somersetwoodturners.org.uk). He took us skilfully into uncharted waters by making a 5-sided shallow bowl/ dish and a 3-cornered bowl. More than this he brought a full set of well-prepared instructions for creating both items. Several copies were provided as hand-outs - thoughtfully Nigel encouraged us to place these instructions on the Club website. They are the result of a Somerset Club project and bring the great boon of eliminating the need for your correspondent to attempt an inadequate description of the methods. Hearty thanks to Nigel and Somerset Woodturners Club!
A PDF file of the instructions/ methods can be downloaded from HERE.
Before getting down to the main business of the evening Nigel very quickly made an appealing ornamental bird (with detachable head) and a hammer handle using the off-centre turning technique.
Prowling on foot behind the back row of seats I made some notes and during the interval took one or two photos to guide this report. Listed below are a few observations that may be of interest to Members:
Nigel is clearly a fan of 'Robert Sorby' tools and equipment (and why not?). He emphasised the merits of Sorby Steb Centres and employs the rotating tail centre version, as well as the more familiar Steb drive centres. Others (particularly the non-engineering brigade) may have been wondering, like me, how to move beyond the ordinary pointed rotating tail centre. The Sorby Tail Stebs are certainly a simple option, although I have not checked prices. It will be recalled that our own Richard Branscombe used one very effectively last month.
At the drive end Nigel employed a Steb centre held in a chuck, which requires a straight-sided stem of course. I have only been familiar with Stebs mounted directly onto morse tapers but a visit to the Robert Sorby website (highly recommended) shows that there is a Steb Drive designed for chuck mounting.
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The opportunity to see the Robert Sorby 'Pro-Edge' tool grinding and sharpening device close-up was most instructive. A truly striking feature of the evening was the perfect quality of the long 45 degree bevel and swept-back wings of Nigel's 1/2" bowl gouge. This is obtained readily from the 'Pro-Edge'. I asked him about belt prices and learned that those with 'regular' abrasives range from £3 to £10. Whereas those with diamond chips - used for sharpening carbide tips are over £130! Certainly, the 'ceramics' range (at around £6) would serve the average amateur turner very well. The 'Pro-Edge' is a well-designed and a heavy-duty piece of kit but you may have to work hard to persuade someone to enable Santa to deliver one to your workshop. The Pro Edge toolrest can be set to a wide range of solidly fixed angles, and is broad enough to provide a solid grounding for tools as they are swivelled on the rest.
Two photos show the first three items made and the three-sided bowl. The latter was quickly 're-designed' (Nigel's word!) to a four-sided one due to the sod's law appearance of a flaw in the blank.
Footnote: Having now looked up the excellent Robert Sorby website (www.robert-sorby.co.uk) I have ordered a catalogue (which I will happily show to others on a Club night), and there was a very good YouTube video of Steb Centre use in making an oval hammer handle.
Tool-handling: Nigel made a number of useful points whilst turning the 5-sided bowl. It is a good idea to master the ability to cut from left to right and right to left so that your sense of ease and confidence is the same in either direction. This can be very important in achieving a clean finish. Further, when cutting along the side grain identify the direction in which the wood cuts more smoothly, left to right or right to left - in order to achieve the best possible finish from the tools.
Conclusion: We had a thoroughly enjoyable and useful Club Night exploring unfamiliar territory.
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The Show 'n' Tell theme for the evening was A Vase - this was well supported with varied and interesting items on display.
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| This months winning entry was a superb open segmented vase from Roger Hoare. The vase stands approx. 17" high by 8 1/2"diameter at its widest point. The timbers used were: Sycamore, Purple Heart and Pau Amarelo Technical: 40 segments per ring 41 rings total - with 1 closed at the top each segment is 3/8" high total number of pieces 1681 |
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