Club Night Report

Wednesday 8th May 2024

Club Night Photos for Wednesday 8th May 2024 - Guest Demonstrator: Jason Breach

The demonstrator for the May 2024 meeting was a welcome return of Jason Breach, (Website: www.jasonbreach.co.uk) who last visited us in August 2018.
Tonight's demonstration was the making of an Owl and a Bunny.  Both of the designs, although simple, utilise a lot of different skill-building techniques - as well as being fun-to-make objects.

The Owl consists of two eyes, a small, accurately made sphere for the head and a body.
The head swivels easily in a shaped recess in the top of the body to change the Owl's 'expression'.
Jason started by making the eyes.  A 12 mm square blank of Ekki timber was held in pin-jaws, then roughed to remove the corners, with a slight taper cut on the end.  A 10 mm diameter plug cutter was used via a Jacobs chuck in the tailstock to quickly cut the part to 10 mm diameter.  A 5 mm diameter hole was drilled down the centre of the part.  A rod, turned in satinwood, to 5 mm diameter was pushed down the centre of the part.  Two 'eyes' were cut off with a saw to 10 mm long, to complete the first part of the demonstration.

A 55 mm cube of spalted beech was mounted between ring centres, and turned to 48 mm diameter and the ends faced to give 48 mm long.  The sphere shape was roughed out and then finished with a skew chisel and sanded.  Jason showed how a true sphere shape could be achieved with a large saw tooth hole saw - with the teeth ground off and the edge sharpened.  The partially completed sphere was mounted between a pair of cup centres, and the stubs carefully turned off; rotated in the cup centres, and blended into the rest of the sphere, shear scraped and sanded.  The lathe indexer was used to mark two 'cross mark' positions on the centre-line of the sphere, exactly 90 degrees apart.

The body was made next - from a blank approx. 55 mm square by 120 mm long, also in spalted beech - mounted between ring centres.  The blank was turned to round, and a spigot cut on the tailstock end.  The part was then mounted in a 4-jaw chuck, and the tailstock end turned to an elongated spherical shape. The end was hollowed to a dished shape to match the owl head. The remainder of the body shape was turned, sanded, coated with cellulose sanding sealer and parted off.

The owl head was mounted in a pair of shaped wooden jaws held in a 4-jaw chuck.  One of the pencil cross marks was aligned, accurately on centre, via the tailstock centre.  A 20 mm diameter line was marked on the end of the ball (with dividers) and a flat was turned to this scribed line.  A 10 mm diameter Forstner bit was used to drill a hole approx. 5 mm deep.  A parting tool was used to cut a recess, adjacent to the drilled hole, and then a bead forming tool was used to create the eye socket.  The flat was extended to leave a raised ring around the eye.  The eye (made earlier) was pressed into this hole using the tailstock (a spot of CA glue could be used if thought necessary). The eye was rounded over to blend in the socket - and sanded.
The ball (head) was rotated in the cup chuck to line up with the other mark - again utilising the tailstock centre.  The marking out, turning the flat, drilling the hole, creating the eye socket etc. was repeated to complete the second eye.  The chuck was removed from the lathe and the head was rotated in the shaped jaws to the vertical - then, a small carving chisel (or a small file would also work) was used to cut a 'beak', which was defined with a soft pencil.  The base of the owl body was flattened on a home-made sanding disc held in the chuck. A polishing mop was mounted on a Morse taper in the headstock and both the head and the body were 'rough' buffed and then finished with Carnauba wax. Completed!

The second part of Jason's demonstration was the making of an (Easter) Bunny - basically a small and a large egg shape for the head and body, along with a flattened egg shape, cut into two-pieces for the ears.  The 'body' was made from Japanese cedar approx. 75 mm square by 125 mm long - held between ring centres.  The timber was rounded and then the egg shape was cut - sanded and sealed.
The 'head' egg (40 mm square by 50 mm long) was turned in a similar fashion.  The 'ears' (25 mm square by 75 mm long) were turned as an elongated/ flattened oval shape - leaving the ends square, to provide support when it would be cut in half on a bandsaw.  An alternative would be to use a paper and glue joint on two blanks.  The end stubs on the body were carefully turned off by holding the part in a jam chuck - aligned by using the tailstock centre.  The stubs on the head were turned off by holding the part in a set of custom formed jaws, held in a 4-jaw chuck.
A flat was sanded onto the body base and another on the top surface to accommodate the head, on a sanding disc - a flat was also sanded onto the head.  The ears were smoothed and finish shaped (to suit the head curve) on a sanding disc and on a smaller sanding pad held in a chuck.  The ears needed a small hole (3 mm diameter) to be drilled in the bottom of the ear, and another into the head - so, they could be fixed via a small dowel.  All of the components were sanded, sealed and buffed prior to being glued together.

Well, that was quite some demonstration - a full and fine display of skills, precision, techniques and humour, with plenty of hints and tips along the way. A set of 'simple' component parts that were inventive and a definite skills builder, to achieve two very attractive items.
Thank you, Jason!

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