We start this month with our first demonstrator of the year, Wolfgang Schulze-Zachau, he is also a member of our very own club and is always helpful to anyone who asks. We had a total of 26 members in attendance for the demonstration this evening.

Part One Of The Evening

Wolfgang’s demo was turning a thin-walled goblet from a length of green Beechwood, which had not been down for long and so therefore there will be more moisture in the wood than normal, giving it different properties whilst turning and then whilst it is drying, with water coming out as it is turning. The Wood used was Beech about 100mm in diameter and around 200mm long.

Wolfgang started by turning one end down to a tenon so that it could be mounted within a chuck. The blank was reduced in diameter by means of a bowl gouge being used in the pull-cut orientation with the speed of the lathe set to around 1800 rpm.  The bark is left on at the goblet bowl end so that it would be left with a natural edge to the goblet, this was then faced off to produce a square face, using a spindle gouge.

The bowl part of the goblet is the first part to be hollowed out prior to removing any additional wood for the stem.  The tailstock was left in place as long as possible, after tailstock removal, the hollowing continued until the correct depth was reached.

Waste wood was then removed from the stem side of the project so that the thickness of the goblet will be reduced to a thin layer so the light can be seen through the layer.  It was at this point that Wolfgang went for the wood turners proverbial one last cut and the head of the goblet came away from the main body of the stem, Wolfgang then proceeded to demonstrate how to get around this problem so that there was no waste of wood and we still end up with a goblet. The base of the goblet was turned down to accept the hole in the base of the goblet bowl, making it look acceptable to the eye.

Part Two Of The Evening

Wolfgang stated that he works with a light fitting firm producing lampstands, and went through the process of being a production turner. He follows a plan (supplied by the customer) as accurately as possible for woodturning. The lamp-holder spindle had a hole drilled out, all the way through by use of an auger bit with a screw section as the point prior to this demo.

Wolfgang then demonstrated how he mounted the spindle blank, then how using a spindle gouge he forms the beads and coves along the length of the spindle, this was done with the use of a memory stick with all of the measurements marked along the length.

The base of the lamp holder was next on the lathe and was turned at around 1000 rpm. Wolfgang used a template for marking out sizes and defining the shape of the piece. He stated he has found that the template needs to be thinner, and he would be making another one.

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.

Wolfgang stated that he would be turning professional in about four weeks’ time which would be halfway through March. The club members wished him well with his new career

Once again Roger Sherwood and Arthur were stalwarts of the tea urns, and Steve was looking after the raffle for the evening with many excellent prizes up for grabs.

Thanks must also go out to Rob and Ian for setting up the video and audio equipment, this included using our new camera, which was used for the overhead shots.

The club would like to thank Dean Smitheman for the donation of a large amount of wood (Ash, Silver Birch, Laburnum, and Blackthorn).  All proceeds from this wood are to go towards the club’s charity, Mary Stevens Hospice.

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.

Also, just a reminder that a new events calendar has been released which includes a Saturday all-day event on the 22^nd of April, where members can go along and have a go at various tasks and hopefully sort out any problems that they may have.

Report by Barrie Fisher, edited by Steve Hackett

The subject for the evening was Christmas Decorations.

Projects will be a Christmas tree, a Snowman & a Star Shape German Ring Turning

Wolfgang started by going through the various items that he was to cover through the evening and gave advice on which project would be good for the beginner and the more experienced woodturner, also starting that any new members should take tuition from a more experienced turner so that they can develop their own individual skills to a safe level and then to keep practising.

Project 1 – Christmas tree

He started by turning an approx 50mm square spindle down to a round, during this process, he stated that you needed to listen to the sound of the wood as you can sometimes hear problems prior to something happening on the lathe.

When in a round state a dovetail tenon was cut by means of a parting tool which had been reshaped to form the dovetail shape for the chuck mount.  At this point, the blank was remounted in the chuck in a secure and safe manner so that the tenon was gripped all the way around.

The shape was then looked at and a taper was cut down to a point whilst the tailstock was in position when the point was achieved the waste nub of timber dropped off and the tailstock was now removed.  The shape was cut mainly by means of the spindle roughing gouge and then refined with a skew.  The layers of the tree were then cut and at this point, you could use either a skew or spindle gouge with a fingernail grind applied. 

Wolfgang also demonstrated how he sharpened the fingernail grind with a diamond card to establish an edge again.

The bevel must always be in contact with the blank as that is the direction of the cut that you will require.  During the process, Wolfgang demonstrated using the tools both right and left-handed which is good practice to get into but again this will take practice.  This exercise will help develop your skills for both skew and spindle gouge turning.  Pine is a good wood to use for practice sessions.

Project 2 – Snowman

The blank was again mounted between centres and turned to a round again the wood blank being 50mm square.  A tenon was again produced in the same manner as the tree, at this point, the blank was again remounted in the chuck.

The top of the blank was now cleaned off and made flat, the shape of the snowman was the next thing to be marked up so that the dimensions were clear, the largest section of the wood being at the headstock end and then gradually getting smaller as you get to his head.  Each section is turned as a bead but they need not be a total round, these being produced by rolling a spindle gouge.  For the head, only part of the head is showing as the rest is in his hat.

The item itself was then painted on the lathe so that any overlapping paint could be removed easier.

Project 3 – Star Shape German Ring Turning

The wood blank for this project was a large slice of a Leylandii tree with the grain running lengthways in line with the bed, Wolfgang explained that Leylandii was ok to turn but produced a poor quality finish with lots of tearout. But was the only blank he had available at such short notice and it would do to show the ring-turning technique. He mounted the blank in the spindle orientation, its size was approx. 9in x 3in.  Wolfgang used his sanding disc on the headstock as a drive plate with a pointed live centre in the tailstock pressed up against the blank, it was then cleaned flat and a tenon was produced for when the blank was turned. 

Wolfgang started by showing his template of half a star which would be used on a regular basis to keep checking the shape, this template needed to be accurate.  He found where on the blank the centre of the side wall would be and then proceeded to mark the areas for the other points of the star.

The removal of waste was by means of a spindle gouge, and always developing the straight lines to produce the crispness required and also to cut down on the sanding process.  When he was satisfied with the shape against the template he remounted the blank and carried out the same process on the opposite side.

With the thickness getting less and less a securing tape was added to the back of the blank so that it could be held on to the chuck as the last cuts are trying to get the hoop to come apart from the main core, again you need to listen to what the wood is telling you.

When the last cut had been produced the hooped star came away and it then needed to be cut into strips around the edge to form each individual star.

Wolfgang used a pull saw to cut through the hoop and took one star out which left plenty more, a better way would be to use your bandsaw as he stated.

This is a process which was developed in a region of eastern Germany in the Ore mountains of Erzgebirge.

You will need to be very patient with this process as the majority of waste is in the form of dust instead of shavings.

Using this technique you can achieve amazing results

Thanks go out to Wolfgang for stepping in at very short notice and the evening was well worth the change.

Also, thanks again to Steve for the raffle and also to Ian for stepping in this month, and setting up the video and audio equipment.

Additionally thanks to all who set up the room and also who put it back in a usable manner for the college.

Report by Barrie Fisher, edited by Steve Hackett