All Day Event Report

Thursday 24th July 2025

All Day Event Photos for Thursday 24th July 2025 - Guest Demonstrator: Stuart Mortimer

Today's all-day, extended demonstration was a rare opportunity to observe a true master working at the lathe - Stuart Mortimer. He is an award winning, internationally known, woodturner with a wide knowledge of many aspects of turning and is most famous for his mastery of spiral work. Stuart spent the day sharing his expertise on his spiralling techniques - offering valuable insights and practical tips.

I will not attempt to describe the steps of marking out the timber with vertical and horizontal spacing and then joining the crossover points with the spiral lines - far too complex for this review. To find out exactly 'how to do it?' then I recommend that you obtain a copy of Stuart's definitive book on the subject: "Techniques of Spiral Work" - A Practical Guide to the Craft of Making Twists by Hand. Although the book was published 30-years ago and is no longer in-print - you may be able to pick-up a 'previously-owned' copy from eBay or Amazon…

Stuart started his demonstration with a classic/ basic 'double twist' - that leads on to other spiral work. He likes to turn with a high spindle speed - usually around 3,000 rpm, and makes extensive use of the skew chisel. Having turned the blank (1.5 inches square by 15 inches long) to round, he marked it out with a pencil and then 'drilled' a hole down the centre of the blank with a 3/8" spindle gouge followed by a 1/2" spindle gouge. The twists were cut in stages with a small dovetail saw, a custom made 'twisting gouge' - which is used with the workpiece stationary, and cuts the initial twist along the length of the item, an Arbortech Power Carver and a tapered rasp mounted in a high-speed flexible drive - followed by sanding using long thin strips of abrasive – often 'rolled' into a tube shape to suit the work. NOTE: the photographs show the workpieces in a ‘rough’ machined state – clearly, a lot more cutting and extensive sanding would be required to produce the finished article. Time constraints and the avoidance of repetition, meant that having shown the techniques and tools involved, Stuart moved on to the next piece.

Stuart's next demonstration was the making of an open twist finial. After shaping the timber - roughly an egg-shape - similar marking out and cutting techniques/ tools were used to complete the part.

The next project was the making of a double twist, thin stem goblet. The blank - approx. 2 inches square by 12 inches long - was held in a 4-jaw chuck and roughed out. The goblet cup was hollowed out, the stem was reduced to 1/4" diameter and the foot was turned to shape. The twists were cut in the stem by hand, using a tapered rasp.

Stuart's next project was to show the making of one of his classic spiral hollow forms. The blank was an ash log approx. 4 inches diameter by 10 inches long. This was turned to shape and marked out for the spirals. A mini-Arbortech power carver, the powered rasp, and a Proxxon mini-grinder equipped with a saw blade, were all used in the production of the spirals. The part was, of course, hollowed out to produce a thin uniform wall thickness.

The final project for the day was the making of a pigtail tapered twist. The blank was 1.5 inches square by 10 inches long. The blank was turned to round and tapered at the tailstock end. We were rapidly running out of time - so, Stuart just cut the entire twist with the Arbortech, without any marking out!

We all had an excellent time observing superb craftsmanship, skills, precision, tool control and techniques - an entertaining, engaging and highly informative day.
Thank you, Stuart!