Club Night Report
Monday 24th October 2016
Club Night Report for 24th October 2016 - observations by Jim Jefferies
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Tonight's demo was to be a square edged lidded goblet - ebonised black and highlighted with gold gilt cream. Steve chose Ash for the project as the gold and ebonising suits this type of grain.
The meeting got off to a slow start as the lathe variable speed drive seemed to be playing up. The Record back up lathe was brought out - this seemed to have the desired effect and the Wivamac lathe decided to co-operate.
To start this project Steve held a blank approx. 3" square by 12" long between centres and turned a tenon on the end of the Ash, using a parting tool and calliper to check size. This enabled the material to be reversed and fitted into the Axminster Evolution chuck (with gripper jaws), of which Steve spoke very highly. He brought the tailstock back into position to give maximum support whilst removing further material.
The setting out completed - he then used a thin parting tool to carefully establish the square edge for the top of the goblet, at the same time cutting in to remove the lidded section, adding another square tenon on the lidded section ready to turn later. With the lidded section removed, the shape of the outside of the goblet could be made using a small gouge, care being taken when working up to square corners.
When Steve was happy with the shape of the goblet he hollowed out the inside shape, again using a small gouge, checking the wall thickness as he went. Then using the long point of the skew chisel he cut in a recess for the lid. Steve aims for the wing thickness to be much the same as the goblet wall thickness. Sanding through the grits was completed on both the inside and outside of the goblet bowl.
To allow drying time, the inside of the goblet was sprayed with acrylic sealer and then lacquer, to stop any over spray of the black getting into the bowl, which Steve wanted to keep natural in colour.
The stem of the goblet could now be worked. Steve undercut the stem to leave two small raised beads, using a small gouge and skew chisel. When he was satisfied with the result Steve masked up the chuck, and then used black ebonising lacquer to spray the bottom section of the goblet - any overspray could now be sanded from the inside of the bowl. Gold gilt cream was applied on top of the black all over (the intention being to fill the grain of the Ash timber). Any excess gilt cream remaining on the surface was cleaned off with Chestnut Finishing Oil and a tissue. The bottom section complete, this was parted off.
The lid section was then mounted in the chuck on the spigot. This was turned down to make a good fit to the goblet - but, not too tight. The lid was slightly dished, decorated and then sanded. The underside and the small tenon could now be removed to bring the finial to shape. The final shape could be achieved by reversing and fitting to a jam chuck, but Steve managed to carefully finish this by using the chuck jaws. The finishing process was the same as for the bottom section, and it produced a lovely unusual goblet with a very attractive black and gold finish.
This was an extremely entertaining evening with Steve showing great skill and control of the tools. Thank you.
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This months Show and Tell theme was - A Spindle Turned Item
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In 3rd place this month were two goblets from Steve Body - made from a piece of IKEA table leg and one laminated in oak and walnut In 2nd place was a small goblet/ tea light holder in rhododendron from Sean Snook |
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| In 1st place was a set of eight napkin rings in spalted beech on an ash stand from Harry Rock |  |
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