Month: April 2023

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April 2023 – Saturday All-Day Members Workshop

Blackcountry Woodturners had their Saturday All-Day Members Workshop on April 29th 2023. It started at 10.00 and went on till 16.00, this is an event that is popular with members and takes place at least once a year.

The project for the day was to turn a set of nine oak Skittles

The workshop day was well attended by the committee and had a steady member base drop in during the day with most being in attendance all day. 

Members’ workshop days and evenings will be ongoing events in the coming years for the members to get hands-on with the club lathes. 

We had three lathes on the go during the day, which were used to good effect, each lathe was looked after by a “lathe master” (an experienced club member) giving guidance to members turning the Skittles.

Though out the day members were able to help themselves to tea and coffee with biscuits, cake and savoury items provided for everyone

Robert kindly brought along one of his 3D printers to demonstrate to members that were interested. He was kept busy most of the day with questions and demonstrations.

These are some interesting infrared Videos, thanks to Chris Clay.

Report by Steve Hackett – Photos thanks to Andrew Bache, Chris Clay and Greg McAteer.

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April 2023 – Members Workshop Evening

Toy Car Competition

Thanks go out to both Ian and Roger who have spent time in putting together the car kits for each car with all items being prepared and drilled ready for the exhausts and wheels to be mounted, all of which were included within three boxes for the teams.

The room was set up with three lathes being set out in a row for this competition with each team made up of three club members, there are three lathe masters who will be offering individual guidance to the team members as they progress through the project.  The lathe masters for the evening were Paul, Roger and Steve.  Each team had the same  pattern to follow.

At the end of the challenge event the teams will have two car bodies which would need to be split apart, the idea of this being to have a balanced system within the lathe speed, when complete the teams will need to concentrate on one car to complete, and this must be able to run along the floor.

Different members took part in this process and all gained some additional experience and knowledge to upgrade their individual skill level.

For this evening, Rob took over the role of looking after the raffle, whilst Steve was looking after one of the lathes.

Report & Photos by Barrie Fisher, edited by Steve Hackett.

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April 2023 – Mary Stevens Easter Fayre & Coffee Morning

The event started at 10.00 and went on till 14.30, although we had to be on-site earlier to set up the tables in the center.

The turned items that had been given to the club as donations from members took up the charity table, it was very full of different types of projects.  Alongside this, we had two further tables which took up the work of six other member turners, in addition to this we had Ian’s wife Kim with her craft cards going under the name of ‘Kimskraft`s’ displaying and selling cards for various occasions. 

We had a steady footfall of people during the day coming and going, but not that many buying even on the charity table, signs of the economic climate at present I think.

Thanks go to all members who turned up on the day to add support and encouragement to the crew who were there for the duration of the event.  Thanks also go to the members who helped set up the equipment and all those that took it down.

At the end of the day with the charity table sales and donations from members present we were able to hand £105 to James from Mary Stevens Hospice.

Report by Barrie Fisher, edited by Steve Hackett