Welcome back to the first in-person club night of 2022, where we had a live demonstration from our very own committee member Wolfgang whose project will be a Chinese Style Square Box with Lid.
Thanks to the club’s audio-visual setup, we were able to broadcast the demonstration via zoom to other members of the club who were unable to attend the meeting, Many thanks to Rob for his expertise.
Covid regulations and guidelines were followed and in line with the club’s covid policy.
This evening Wolfgang will be turning a Chinese Style Square Box with a Lid made out of Crab Apple which has a fine grain.
Tools he used were 2 x bowl gouges, 2 x skew chisels, and a basic chuck.
Wolfgang started by marking the centre and setting up the lathe so that the blank was positioned against a pressure pad for the drive with the tailstock positioned up close to apply a ridged and secure position for the blank.
The first thing to carry out was clean the surface and then form a tenon for mounting within the chuck later, the speed was set up to 2700rpm which means that you keep your fingers and hands away from the edges whilst it is spinning. Whilst the blank is spinning at this speed and the square shape it is essential to have sharp tools for developing the corners and keeping them sharp and clean, also you have a better chance of not having the corners chipping off.
When shaped the corners will need to be sanded whilst the lathe is stationary and your fingers are safe.
When he was satisfied with the base of the box Wolfgang turned it round and mounted the tenon into the chuck, at this point the flat wings were perfected and the bowl part formed, at this point we are now at the halfway point.
Sanding was carried out at this point, which Wolfgang stated that he goes to 240 grit only unless it is a gallery piece.
The same process was carried out for the lid apart from making sure that the lid actually fitted the box base
Wolfgang explained and demonstrated how gentle you needed to be so as to get a sharp edge on the corners.
To remove the tenons from both parts of the box a jam chuck was used which was a softwood so as not to damage the crab apple project, this chuck was used with both parts with the smallest being done first and then the largest, in this way we only need to produce one jam chuck.
The club would also like to thank all of the club members who helped out during the night with putting everything together and taking it back down again.
Report by Barrie Fisher and edited by Steve Hackett
