For the evening’s demonstration, we welcomed Rick Dobney on his first visit to the club. Rick demonstrated the making of a lidded ash pot with a fitted metal handle.
The project began with a blank of ash measuring 150mm x 75mm square. After marking the centre points at each end with a brad point, the blank was mounted between centres. Rick covered the essential safety aspects before spinning the lathe up to around 1300rpm.
Using a spindle roughing gouge, he turned the blank to round and then created a square tenon with a parting tool, checking its size with callipers. The blank was then mounted in the chuck, and its roundness confirmed.
Rick marked out the blank and turned the lid from the tailstock end. He carefully shaped the top of the lid, reducing it to a diameter of 65mm so it would later fit snugly into the pot. He reminded everyone of the importance of getting the bevel to rub before making a cut.
A Jacob’s chuck was used to drill a 7.5mm hole, 7mm deep, for the aluminium handle. With the tailstock supporting the workpiece, Rick moved on to shaping the main pot body with a skew chisel, achieving an elegant form. The lid seat was undercut, and the base defined with a parting tool.
After shaping, the piece was sanded to remove tool marks, and a brass brush was used to bring out the grain. Rick then applied Chestnut spirit stains with an airbrush – blue for the base area, blending into purple towards the top and onto the lid – while the lathe was spinning. Once dry, he applied sanding sealer and liming wax, working it across the grain to highlight the texture. After allowing 15 minutes to dry, the excess wax was removed with lemon oil, and the surface was buffed with a paper towel. A coat of Wood wax provided the final sheen.
The lid was parted off and set aside. Rick drilled out the pot body using a 13mm drill in the Jacob’s chuck, then hollowed it with a ring tool at 750–800rpm. The inner surface was sanded using locking forceps to hold the abrasive paper.
To finish the lid, Rick used a homemade Sycamore chuck with a cut slot that allowed it to grip the lid securely. He turned a decorative domed profile, taking care not to cut into the pre-drilled 7.5mm hole for the handle.
For the aluminium handle, Rick turned a 7.5mm tenon and shaped the outer profile using standard woodturning tools (suggesting older tools for working metal). He used MCC cutting compound with graphite grease for lubrication and sanded the aluminium to 1200 grit before polishing it with Auto polish. The aluminium used had a hardness rating of 60.82/60.83 and was sourced on eBay, 20mm in diameter.
Ricks Display Pieces
Club Updates
During the evening, we also welcomed guests from Wolverhampton Art Gallery, who spoke about the wood turned pieces being prepared to exhibit at the gallery later in the year. Steve Hackett is coordinating this effort, though members can submit their items directly with his support.
In addition, the club received £300 from the AWGB, presented to President Roger Cheshire by Barrie Fisher. This grant will go towards upgrading our audiovisual system. The AWGB also expressed their thanks for the club’s efforts during last October’s seminar and for supporting the gallery.
