Club Night Report

Wednesday 15th May 2013

An evening with Dave Appleby - observations by Vernon Hughes

Arriving early allows time to examine a presenter's display of work and David's (Website: www.daveappleby.co.uk) must surely count as some of the finest we have seen. Pieces with lids and/or inserts had perfectly fitting components such that you could feel the suction as you moved them; designs were highly original/ attractive and finish was superb throughout. Hopes for a good evening were high and we were not to be disappointed. He demonstrated the making of an immaculate 2" diameter hollow sphere (current topic in our Club of course), eating plates fit for long term use and the employment of his own-design bead-turning tools. His deft precision in hand-tool use was of the highest (staggering) order!

David introduced himself by mentioning that he is Chairman of Martock and District Turners, a member of the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen and is on the Register of Professional Turners. (Note: the Somerset Guild always provides a fine display at Yandle's Shows). From extensive notes I have extracted, and list below, the hints, tips and points of specific interest or value given during the evening. Separately, in order to keep this report suitably concise, I will describe in detail David's way with hollow sphere-making as a temporary point of reference for our Club sphere-makers.

Safety - wear boots because chucks are heavy and do on occasion move floorwards. Wear a good rigid facescreen. Take care of your lungs, remembering that the greatest risk may well be bacteria/ organisms that can transfer readily from wood to human lungs - e.g. spalted wood. To tackle dust David uses a Microclene filter as well as a chip/ dust extractor. Maintain a discipline to remove chuck keys before starting the lathe, and always stop the lathe before moving the toolrest.

Chuck Use - make sure you know and use the maker's recommended optimum diameter setting for expanding chuck jaws. If a piece is removed temporarily from a chuck make a pencil mark to enable replacement exactly at the original position.

Tools - His main spindle gouge was quite short and he had bought a replacement (Ashley Isles) blade at Yandles show. He grinds to an exaggerated lady's finger-nail form - the shape and the grind quality were inspirational. During the sphere-making project David employed a non-standard tool at a late stage in the shaping; picked up from what he called Jason Breach's (of Axminster) trick. This was a hole cutter with teeth ground

away leaving a sharp cutting edge round the circumference, and fitted with a long-ish hexagonal head bolt as a handle. He emphasised though that the diameter of the cutter must be less than that of the sphere for safety reasons. His (Axminster) rotating tail centre set-up for sphere work was magnificent - but I doubt if many of us have one in our tool kits. He buys abrasives in 5-metre length rolls and marks the whole length with a coloured marker for quick identification.
His perfect beading designs on spindle and faceplate work are achieved using two home-made tools (see photo). Chainsaw files are used to achieve the required tip shape with two sharp cutting prongs. His results were superb. David applies a little soft wax before cutting - which results in a dust retaining 'slurry' - and advised leaving a faint trace of wax at the high point of each bead to ensure standard cutting depths.

General - Examples of his exceptional ability to make pieces fit perfectly with total certainty of touch where the two halves of the sphere that just clicked together in a permanent fit and used his jam chuck to finish the sphere. Marvels to behold!

Conclusion: This was an exceptionally enjoyable session which must have been of great value to all Club Members at all skill levels. David demonstrated total certainty of touch in every move (and observation) that he made!

Click HERE to download a PDF file write-up on Dave Appleby's Demonstration of Turning a 2" Diameter Sphere

The Show 'n' Tell Theme for the evening was "A Platter" - here is a selection of the items displayed:

This was a popular theme and there were over thirty entries. There was a varied interpretation on the theme - to include plain turned, pyrography, pierced and coloured work.







The winning entry for this month's theme was this pierced platter in sycamore - 14" diameter by 3" high. Entered by Roger Hoare - his first attempt at pierced work!
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