Welcome

The purpose of this website is to provide you with some basic information about the club – when and where we meet, what meetings are like details about membership and other club activities. It’s not meant to be a gallery of resources about woodturning, simply an introduction to the club.​

​​The Club has been running for over 20 years and has always been affiliated with the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain (AWGB).

Our Roots have always been set in the heart of the Midlands known as the “Black Country”. The Black Country is a defined area steeped in industrial history. For a flavour of its early days follow the link, you may find it interesting:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Country

The club home is located at Dudley College, a super venue with easy disability access, and plenty of free parking, “Club Nights” are usually held on the third Thursday of the month. 6 pm to 9 pm. (see events page for full details).

Since the start of the 2020 pandemic the club has had to rethink and redefine how it pilots the future, we now embrace technology as best we can, mixed with good old hands-on learning. We were able to remain open throughout the Pandemic period by hosting across the Zoom platform, However, we are delighted to state that since October 2021 we are back open at Dudley College.

We host a variety of meeting types informal online monthly “Chinwags” via Zoom plus monthly club night events, made up of Hands-on, Club turner or professional demos.

All are welcome, from those thinking of taking up this fabulous hobby to those already giving it a go you will meet and enjoy the company of a friendly bunch of folk, sharing your venture to learn more about this historic craft.

If you are interested contact us via the website or simply come along and see what goes on. Details of the costs involved are shown on the  Mission Tag “Joining the Club”. as well as Organisation & Documents where you will find our policies on Safeguarding & Health & Safety matters

March 2024 – Chairman’s Challenge

This month’s submissions for the Chairman’s Challenge and other items that were made by our club members during the last month.

The challenge was “Vase with Decorated & or Textured Rim” and any other items made by members this month

Next month’s Chinwag Zoom meeting is on the 4th of April 2024. The Chairman’s Challenge theme will be “Three Pieces of Fruit (Different Woods)”.

February 2024 – Chairman’s Challenge

This month’s submissions for the Chairman’s Challenge and other items that were made by our club members during the last month.

The challenge was “Platter with decorated Rim 150 to 200 mm in diameter” and any other items made by members this month

Next month’s Chinwag Zoom meeting is on the 7th of March 2024. The Chairman’s Challenge theme will be “Vase with Decorated & or Textured Rim”.

Demo Report – January 2024 – Wolfgang Schulze-Zachau

We start this new year off with our first demonstrator of the year, Our very own club member Wolfgang Schulze-Zachau kindly agreed to start the year with what is becoming his annual demo club, Wolgang is fresh from appearing on Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker 2023, in which he came an excellent 2nd place. During 2023 Wolfgang also transitioned to a professional wood turner. The club wishes him well in his future endeavours.

For tonight’s demo, Wolfgang will be covering some helpful turning basic tool use.

  • How do wood-turning tools cut the wood?
  • Why do you get catches & how to avoid them?
  • Achieving a good surface cut.

To help explain how turning tools cut, Wolfgang will be using extra large dummy tools he has made. There was a Skew, a Spindle Gouge & Bowl Gouge that were all made from wood.

The first tool Wolfgang demonstrated the use of was the spindle roughing gouge.

The skew chisel was next. Wolfgang explained about following the bevel and cutting in the correct area of the cutting edge. He also demonstrated how catches occur.

Next, Wolfgang covered Spindle gouge use.

And finally the bowl gouge.

Members asked relevant questions throughout the evening which is a good thing, with everyone taking in the relevant techniques employed by Wolfgang.

Once again the club would like to thank Wolfgang for the evening’s demonstration and explanations of what was taking place during the demo.

The club would like to give their thanks to all who helped out with both the setting up process and also the cleaning up at the end of the evening.

Report by Steve Hackett

January 2024 – Chairman’s Challenge

This month’s submissions for the Chairman’s Challenge and other items that were made by our club members during the last month.

The challenge was “Any Style Bowl between 100 -150 mm in diameter” and any other items made by members this month

Next month’s Chinwag Zoom meeting is on the 1st of February 2024. The Chairman’s Challenge theme will be “Platter with decorated Rim 150 to 200 mm in diameter”.

December 23 – Mary Stevens Christmas Coffee Morning and Jigsaw Festival

Well, it’s that time of year again when we are taking part in Mary Stevens Charity Coffee Morning and Jigsaw Festival, there were tables with various Christmas-themed items and a few tombola tables all for the benefit of Mary Stevens Hospice. Again it was nice to be invited along for this annual event and take part in the fundraising for the benefit of the hospice and the people who rely on it.
The stalls attending the event were showing a varied amount of items and were displayed to the best and people were able to get round the hall easily. In addition to this, a hot drink and cake stand was being used to its fullest by everyone who attended.


The weather for the day was very cold with snow being advised at some point, thankfully we had a stand inside the hall and not outside unlike the jigsaw gazebos. We had to be at the event by 9:00 to set everything up and be ready to start at 10:00 and was open during the hours of 10:00 and 14:00. The event attracted a steady footfall throughout the opening hours, although the weather could have caused a few not to show up.


We had a few of the normal crew to set up the event which included Ian, Rob, Steve and Brian, along with this we had a few members arrive during the day and help and support the event, they were, Arthur Roger S, Roger C, Paul & Barrie
A lot of turnings were as per normal donated by the club members for the charity table and those members who were selling their own pieces, gave a donation at the end of the day, out of their profits.

The club had a three-foot wood block snowman donated for a raffle, Tickets were sold at our last club meeting (Nov) and the Coffee Morning and Jigsaw Festival throughout the day, this was donated by Paul Wiley and it was appreciated by the committee for his generosity with all proceeds going to the hospice.

The ticket for the raffle was drawn at the end of the day by James from Mary Stevens Hospice. The winner was our own Elwyn Jones. The snowman raffle raised £79 for the hospice, Throughout the year the cub has raised a total of £1644.75 for the hospice over the last year, which has been handed over to the hospice.

We can now all look forward to the club’s Christmas Bash on our normal club night at Dudley College as usual.

Report by Barrie Fisher, edited by Steve Hackett

Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker 2023

Congratulations to our very own club member Wolfgang Schulze-Zachau for competing in this year’s “Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker 2023” TV program. Wolfgang was the woodworker of the week in many of the episodes and got through to the final episode. Unfortunately, he did not win, but Wolfgang’s kitchen island, which he designed and constructed in the final was excellent.

Well done also to the winner Nathaniel Griffiths.

Demo Report – October 2023 – Stewart Furini

For our entertainment of the evening, we have Stewart Furini, who has now retired from being an English teacher to become a full-time professional woodturner and demonstrator who likes to play about with embellishments and texture in addition to colouring wood.


Stewart started by going through some health and safety information for the normal mask that he uses when he sprays paint or lacquer. He also showed how to attach the siphon glass bottles under the airbrush; he also stated that he had a different siphon bottle for each colour that he uses; in this way, he cuts down on the cleaning requirements. He tends to use chestnut spirit dyes, but he also stated that you would require a set of gloves as it was difficult to remove the stain from your skin. With a siphon/suction feed airbrush, you can use it without cleaning if you always go from light to dark.


Stewart started by applying a stain directly to the blank using a homemade template. He just followed the edge of the template and kept moving it around the blank to develop a pattern. He demonstrated how to alter the degree of shade by moving the airbrush at different distances from the blank. The template needs to be kept dry for this and needs to be wiped every couple of uses so that the residue does not mark the blank.


Various templates can be obtained from both Amazon and eBay; these come as singles and also as bundles of different effects; they are relatively cheap.


Next, Stewart showed how to use masking tape on a blank after using a lighter colour first and going along the edge of the tape to form a shadow effect. The centre of the blank is now removed to give an overall effect. At this point, you could also frame the colouring of the effect with an outer ring effect, which will also add framing to the blank. The blanks that are used are then all sanded down to 240 grit to give the colour a base for the dye to adhere to.

A second blank was then mounted on the screw chuck of the lathe, and while all of this was going on, Stewart answered all questions that were asked The rim was also trued up, and an angle was produced in the rim. A spigot was also produced on the base of the blank for later use. The foot was established first by using a pull cut, and then an ogee shape was formed.
With the blank in reverse, a Proxon Long Neck Grinder/texturing tool was used (alternatives include the King Arthur Merlin2 Long Neck Grinder and the Abortech Mini Carver) to go across the face while the blank was turning. Without excessive pressure being applied at this point, the speed is around the 550 rpm mark. Stewart then used the airbrush and cloth with spirit stains to demonstrate colouring the texture.

Stewart then used the same textured blank to show a different technique; he used acrylic paint by Jo Sonia, but first, the blank was covered in black ebonizing colour and allowed to dry. Next, white and blue colours were applied, with the lathe turning slowly. Stewart used a wood frame cover to go around the blank, which was held in place with magnets. This was used to stop the overspray from the blank The lathe was then sped up to produce a flying-out effect with the paint.


Stewart tends to use the following types of cutters on his Proxon: Arbortech and Manpa, with the size being 51 mm x 8 mm.

The above Manpa cutter was used on the first part of the demonstration`s bowl blank while it was being turned by hand, and a series of indents were produced around the blank. This was then sanded down to remove the feather edges. Stewart then used his airbrush again to colour the texturing.

Stewart covered a lot of different techniques throughout the evening, which everyone seemed to enjoy. He stated that you can use the blanks to practice prior to turning a blank down, as the wood would get turned away anyhow, so you do not need a finished bowl to practice with the techniques.

Rob, as usual, took control and looked after the video and sound, while Steve looked after the raffle.
Thanks go to all who helped with the refreshments, setting up the room, and cleaning up at the end of the event.

Report by Barrie Fisher, edited by Steve Hackett

September 2023 – Members Workshop Evening

The theme for the night was a follow-on from the demonstration by Keith Fenton on our all-day demo, which was a Tee Light with a glass bottle cover.

Thanks go out to Steve for taking his bottle cutter along for the evening and demonstrating how to undertake the marking and separating of the two parts of the bottles. The bottle cutters can be purchased from Amazon.

It must be remembered to keep the boiling water on the mark within the glass bottle for about 20 seconds prior to pouring cold water over the same mark; this process may need to be repeated to cause a separation. This causes a process known as thermal shock.

Thanks also go to Roger Sherwood, who took over the bottle cutter while Steve moved on to a lathe.

At the same time, Roger Cheshire provided some blanks for the 2 lathes that we had out for the evening; the blanks were turned by members with assistance from the lathe masters for the evening, Steve and Roger, into a couple of different designs for the Tee light bases. They get the air to flow through the wood to aid the candle flame.
Thanks go out to Rob for looking after the raffle sales for the evening before taking over the bottle-cutting table from Roger S.


Thanks must also go out to all those responsible for the setup process and packing everything away at the end of the evening.

We must also congratulate Arthur, who will be celebrating his 90th birthday on Saturday. He kindly provided the club with two excellent cakes for the evening and a bottle of Famous Grouse whiskey for the raffle.  

Many thanks, Arthur, for these, and enjoy your day.

Report by Barrie Fisher, edited by Steve Hackett