Club Night Report

Wednesday 10th September 2014

Club Night Report for 10th September 2014 - observations by Harry Rock

Our guest demonstrator for the evening was Gerry Marlow - a Yorkshireman who now resides in Derbyshire, was going to start his demonstration with an unseasonal 'Christmas Decoration'.

   
 
He announced that during the evening he would be showing:  spindle turning, sphere turning - with a ball turning jig, hollowing, texturing, colouring, liming, indexing and slot cutting, finial turning and shaping, component assembly, buffing and off centre work, along with anything else he thought of as he was working.  It looked like he was going to be busy!  And, indeed he was!  I suspect that the Club lathe has not worked so hard for quite a long time, as Gerry appeared to run it at full spindle revolutions for the entire evening - even when he was sanding.  He did admit later that he would normally slow the machine down (considerably) for sanding (in his own workshop) - but, when demonstrating he just wanted to get the boring bit over with asap - and get on with the techniques.

Gerry started with a 3" square by 4" long piece of lime (or you could use sycamore) - as it takes the colouring well, held between Steb centres and proceeded to turn the blank to a cylinder.  He then set up his ball turning attachment (home-made/ designed) and shaped the tailstock side.  Taking small cuts with a 'proper' spindle gouge, properly angled/ tilted in the jig - rather than the usual scraper that most other ball jigs seem to use.  He repositioned his jig and completed the other side to produce a very smooth sphere that would require very little sanding.  A spigot was left for the next operation.  Holding on the spigot in a 4-jaw chuck, Gerry hollowed out the sphere, with an opening measured to match a 'battery driven, flashing light, colour changing insert'.  He showed an interesting use of a small plastic tube to 'blow out' the chips from the hollow - so he could see what was happening.  A small scraper with 'home-made' silver steel cutters (just a thin sharpened disk, with a hole, attached to a bar and handle) - was used to smooth the inside of the sphere.
 
   
The hollow sphere was then reversed onto a jam chuck, held in a 4-jaw chuck and the bottom of the sphere was shaped and drilled for a finial.  A Henry Taylor Decorating Elf tool (see Axmister Tools part number: 952453, current price:  £42.95 - www.axminster.co.uk/henry-taylor-decorating-elf) was used to apply a number of spirals onto the outer surface of the sphere and finial support.  Gerry did actually drop the lathe speed to around 800 rpm for the 'decorating' - holding the tool at different angles to produce a variety of patterns.  Smooth the result (lightly) with 400 grit abrasive.
The textured part was then coloured with Chestnut Spirit Stains - randomly 'dabbed' on with paper towel - Gerry used purple, followed by blue and finally yellow - completed with a thickish coat of liming wax - to fill the spiral indentations.   Surplus liming wax was removed with a paper towel - then finally, clear wax was used, under speed, to remove some of the liming wax to produce the desired effect.

Next, a slot cutting jig (originally a Keith Rowley design) was mounted in the toolpost banjo and aligned over the top of the sphere.  A plunge cut was then made through the wall of the sphere - index the part - plunge cut - index the part - plunge cut - and repeat until 24 slots had been cut around the sphere.  The part was rotated by a small amount in the chuck and another 24 slots were cut - to give 48 in total.  Gerry freely acknowledged that not many of the Membership would possess such slotting equipment, but suggested a couple of good alternatives.  Rows of holes - in sequence of 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4 and 3 mm diameter could be drilled along the length of the sphere/ finial along with some indexing - to produce a suitable effect.  Or, create a support platform and use a Dremel type machine (plus indexing) to produce a slotted effect.  The Membership were then able to 'share the experience' as Gerry handed the slotted part to the audience for examination and for them to sand/ de-burr the slots whilst he got on with the next component.

   
   
The long finial for the bottom of the decoration was next - made from a Sycamore blank approx.  7/8" square by 7" long.  Gerry wound the lathe back up to maximum RPM, roughed the blank to round - and then progressively completed the taper/ thinning and detailing from the tailstock end up towards the headstock.  He used his fingers curled around the part to act as a moving work steady as he worked along the wood.  He cut a spigot to size at the chuck end using an old open ended spanner as a gauge - sanded the part all over - then parted the piece off with a small skew chisel.
Out came the superglue to fix the 'flashing light' bit into the top of the sphere and the long finial into the bottom.
The top of the decoration was basically an umbrella shaped (with scallops) cap with a hole in the side to turn the light on/ off.  The usual turning techniques were (rapidly) used to  rough out the shape, add a spigot, hold in a 4-jaw chuck, drill part way with a 1 1/2" diameter custom shaped spade bit (it had 'shoulders' and a depth mark) - drill through with 8 mm diameter drill for the 'hanging' finial and finish off with a spindle gouge.

After the break - Gerry made the knob/ finial for the top of the decoration - drilled through and super glued a small hanging loop in the hole - and a small on/off button that fits into the cap.
Before the final assembly Gerry used a small diameter sanding drum mounted between centres to carry out his 'ornamental turning' on the cap.  He marked the positions out by 'eye' and then just sanded 6 scallops into the rim on the sanding drum.  An interesting, original, easy and fast technique!  The final alignment, fitting, assembly and super gluing were carried and the part was complete.
NOTE:  Gerry has a favourite Children's charity that he usually donates his Christmas decorations to. However, he decided to give the item to the Club for auction.  Arthur Kingdon conducted the auction and sold the decoration for £30.  This was then given to Gerry for the children's charity.

   

A baby's rattle was the next item to be produced.  Starting with a 1 1/4" square by 5" long Sycamore blank (although Beech would be just as appropriate).  The blank had been pre-drilled on 4 sides (with 3 - 6 mm diameter holes, spaced 16 mm apart).  The blank was mounted between centres, and Gerry roughed it to round and cut a spigot for the 4 jaw chuck.  He mounted it in the chuck and used a small spindle gouge to turn a lid shape on the end - cut a spigot and parted off the lid.  A Forstener bit was then used to drill the hole in the body.   Using the tailstock centre for support - the body was finish shaped, sanded and parted off.  Gerry made an interesting point that the handle should not be much longer than 50 mm - for safety reasons - when in a baby's mouth it shouldn't reach the back of the throat!  A couple of small bells (to provide the rattle) were inserted into the body and the cap given the super glue treatment.  Gerry suggested that the addition of some pyrography work might make a nice addition to the rattle - for example - name, date of birth, god parents' names etc.
The rattle was buffed through the usual 3 stages - Tripoli, Diamond White and Carnauba Wax.

   
With less than 10 minutes of the evening left - Gerry insisted that he show us just one more piece - an off-centre candle stick!  A 3 1/2" square by 9" long blank of Sycamore was mounted between Steb centres.  Note: the 'hole' for the candle had been pre-drilled.  The blank was roughed to round - the headstock end faced and the top was shaped with a spindle gouge.  Gerry then enquired how much he should offset the piece by - the answer came back as "A lot!"  So he offset the tailstock end by the maximum amount possible - leaving just enough to keep the Steb centre in the work.  A spindle gouge was used to turn the 'shadow' and achieve the shape.  Then it went back on-centre for the final shaping of the base.  High speed turning indeed!

Conclusion:  An excellent evening spent being entertained by a master of his craft.  There was never a dull moment - Gerry worked and talked at full speed throughout the entire night.  Lots of techniques, lots of tips and tricks, lots of humour, lots of savings flying - what's not to like?  A good night!

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The Show and Tell - theme for the evening was:  A Bowl - this was well supported and displayed some interesting pieces.

   


Mike Crawshaw announced the results in reverse order:

 
 



Joe Kerrawn with an octagonal segmented platter in Sycamore and American Black Walnut.  See the Odds and Ends page (www.northwiltswoodturners.co.uk/OddsEnds#techniques) Spiral Platter Project for Joe's account of how the piece was made.










Bob Wells with a Spalted Beech square topped bowl - approx. 12" square









   




Dave Branscombe was this month's Show and Tell winner with a 3-lobed triangular bowl with a pyrographed 'Green Man' in the base.  The piece was made from a 9" square section of Oak gatepost - wall thickness is 3 mm.




   
The Display Table showed a number of items by Dave Branscombe - he said he was going through a 'Green Man' phase with his current concentration on pyrography (his lathe is out of action).  Dave had experimented with engraving on the outside of a drinking glass - using a Dremel tool and ball ended cutter.  He used an interesting technique of printing his design on a dark background - then securing it on the inside of the glass to act as the pattern to follow.

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