Club Night Report

Wednesday 9th May 2018

Club Night Photos for 9th May 2018 - Club Demonstrator - Richard Branscombe

The demonstrator for the May meeting was long standing Club Member Richard Branscombe - whose subject for the evening was Therming.
This is a subject that had never previously been shown at the Club and as the evening progressed it became clear why professional demonstrators do not offer this as a live event.
Richard showed the turning of a 4-sided candlestick (in American black walnut) - made via a therming setup so that 4 items were turned at the same time.  Therming techniques can be applied to a large number of items e.g. staircase spindles - as long as it is a multiple of 2.  The procedure is a little repetitive as the individual items had to be indexed 4 times - they were secured to a 1" thick plywood carrier plate and were held in position with wood screws.
Richard did an excellent job - and provided a full appreciation of the techniques required - turn as fast as possible - at a speed you are comfortable with - it is intermittent cutting, use a skew to reduce the sanding required, exercise precise tool control - learn to turn a shadow, keep track of the indexing positions and so on.   We also saw what can go wrong and Richard did produce a finished 4-sided candlestick!

After the break Richard demonstrated the making of a 'Jar Spoon' - a long thin spoon with a square (ish) end to get to the bottom of the jar.
This was also produced by a therming setup - only 2 items this time.  The initial blanks were flat strips - with some rough shaping (to a dumbbell shape) along with 2 screw holes to mount the blanks to the carrier.  The stem/ handle was turned via a 4-jaw chuck on the headstock and an Axminster collet chuck mounted on a tailstock centre - under tension to help facilitate turning the thin diameter.   Once mounted on the therming jig - the curve on the back of the spoon was created. The parts were the turned over - and a power carver was used to match the outer curve.  After using a drum sander to smooth the curves - the timber was steamed and then placed in a 'bending jig' to curve the spoon section.

Thank you Richard! An admirable, skilled and brave presentation of complex techniques we do not expect to see again in the Club room.

NOTE:  Click on any photo that has a RED border to display an enlarged image.

The display table contained a mix of turned items and tools.
Tim Mortimer provided full details of how he had made a number of inertia sanders and flexi-pads - along with a cutting tool to make the sanding discs.  Tim also showed a couple of ash dishes with 'Milliput' resin rings.  Roger Blake showed a fine elm candlestick with a hand cut spiral.  Steve Body showed a thin walled ash goblet and Arthur Kingdon presented a large yew knitting bowl along with an explanation of what was done to disguise a very large split in the blank.
The display table also showed a number of segmented items made by the late Ian Hooker. These have been donated (via the Club) to the Prospect Hospice.