Author: Stephen Hackett

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Demo Report May 2022 – Tony Jones

The demonstrator for this evening is Tony Jones. Tonys project for tonight is one of his signature pieces a thin-walled Vortex Bowl, The blank Tony has chosen is a piece of Spalted Sycamore 8” x 3”.

Tony came along with a good selection of his own turned work which was displayed at the back of the room.

The cameras were set up by a new crew this evening (Ian and Greg) who got on well with the process. with Rob assisting in finalising the set-up.

Tony started by turning the blank flat and squared the edges to get a true round-shaped blank to start working with.  The centre was identified by the use of skew and then this was used for the callipers to give the size of the overall diameter for the chuck which Tony stated was 44mm for this project.  This was then turned out ready for the chuck.

During the demonstration, Tony gave out some tips on how to keep wet sycamore workable and to get the best out of it.  At this stage, Tony also asked for questions from the assembled turners either at the break or during the session.

Whilst turning Tony started to get the overall shape of the outside of the vortex bowl that he liked.

Throughout the first half of the evening, Ian received additional training from Rob in using the camera broadcasting technology.

During the first part of the demo, it was hard to hear what Tony was saying due to the dust protection mask that he was wearing but this was sorted during the break with a different type of mask, which increased the understanding for all during the second part.

When he was happy with the outer shape the sanding began starting at 120 grit and working down to 400 grit, this was then sealed and finished with a microcrystalline wax finish.  Again during this sanding process, Ian helped out with the vacuum to clean the dust away.

The blank was now turned around and mounted in expansion mode ready for the centre of the bowl to be turned out.  During this process Tony only took out part of the centre and sanded as he was going down, leaving a lump of wood in the middle to keep the blank stabilised. 

The next part was to remove the central lump of wood to form the bowl shape itself, at this stage the thickness of the bowl was looked at during each stage to arrive at the desired thickness for the project.  Again the centre of the bowl was sanded down in the same manner as before.

At this point Tony started to use Cole Jaws to remove the dovetail chucking point of the bowl, remembering to use a piece of tissue between the aluminium surface and the blank to prevent any marking from showing up on the bowl.  This was then sanded and finished in the same manner as previously.  The bowl was then passed around the assembled turners. 

Tony was thanked for his demonstration by the club.

Thanks go to Steve for the raffle & refreshments and our new tech team of Ian and Greg.

Thanks go out to those who helped out in cleaning the room and getting it back to normal.

Report by Barrie Fisher and edited by Steve Hackett

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Demo Report Feb 2022 – Paul Hannaby

We are back at the college for the second time this year and Rob set up the camera and audio equipment for the zoom broadcast, for members who were unable to attend the college for the demonstration.

We were using the new cables that the club has purchased were used for the first time this evening to enhance the picture display and cut down on the interference for the viewers.

Final after a very long time we were able to have a professional turner demonstration to the club. 

A number of members join the demo via Zoom, whilst we had 24 members in total within the club room.

The demonstrator for this evening is Paul Hannaby.

He will be demonstrating the use of a ring hollowing tool whilst carrying out the development of two projects.

Project one – Natural edge Cherry bowl

Paul explained how he decided where the centres were to be mounted on the log blank.  He was very good in his explanations throughout the evening and answered the questions when requested.

The Cherry wood was mounted on the lathe in spindle orientation, the speed was increased until the lathe started to vibrate and then backed the speed off ready for turning.  The Cherry blank was turned down and a tenon was cut on one end ready to be mounted in gripper jaws.

The blank is cut down into a taper with the edge of the bark still on at the opening part of the bowl,  The lathe was complaining a bit with the number of cuts that were coming off, he explained that this was due to the lathe being at its limit due to that length between the bearings and the overhang of the blank. After the basic shape had been set the cup part needed to be addressed and a straight cut was put directly across the blank.

Next, the centre hole was hollowed out using a spindle gouge, used as a type of drill until the required depth was achieved, this was then opened out to about one inch. Paul also demonstrated the Richard Raffan cut where the tool is used upside down and towards the opposite side. 

At this point, Paul started to demonstrate the use of a ring tool with the tool rest moved further away from the blank so the tool clears the rest whilst removing the waste.  The ring tool is used at about the seven o’clock position within the blank and can be used to remove a good amount of wood.

Paul demonstrated how the ring tool can be sharpened with a diamond file by rubbing against the bevel and moving it in a circular motion.

The top inner edge of the bowl was refined by using a spindle gouge until the required shape was achieved and then the remainder of the waste wood was removed from the inner part of the bowl.  After the hollowing out was completed the outer edge was defined whilst leaving the bark on the rim, the outer shape is now looked at and a ball is produced prior to the base being turned and then cut off.

To make the bowl more stable whilst getting thinner Paul used polystyrene balls which were mounted into the opening and then the tailstock advanced up to hold the ball in place, these helped stop the vibration from the lathe and held the project more secure.  Polystyrene balls can be obtained from Hobbycraft.

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Project two – Goblet with a Barley twist stem

The goblet was made from a Sycamore blank 75mm x 75mm x 200mm, it was started off the same way as the previous project, to get the blank round and have a tenon created on one end for the gripper jaws.

Always working back towards the headstock, as previously a hole was bored down the centre and widened out so as to take the ring tool to hollow out the bowl part of the goblet.  A chamfer was included to the top of the goblet and was taken back to a level area but not to a sharp point.  The outer shape of the goblet is then formed, and as this is being developed the size of the stem needed to be formed and sized (3/8 or 10mm).  As the stem was being formed a length of approximately 100mm was left ready for the twist to be applied. 

Between the bowl of the goblet and the stem a feature was included to differentiate between the two areas both at the top of the stem and the bottom, this was produced by using the skew chisel.  The size of the foot is about the same diameter as the opening of the goblet.

Paul was able to carry on a running commentary as he worked through the projects and passed on a lot of information in addition to answering the questions aimed at him.

Cutting the twist in the stem, Paul used standard engineering files:

6in Rough Cut Round – 8in Rough cut round – 8in 2nd cut

Microplanes can also be used.

No measurement was used, it was estimated by sight, the file was applied at a 45-degree angle to the stem and started to file whilst turning the lathe by hand. when the first twist was cut a second one was then cut between both ready to form the twist, this was produced by using the 6in file and then followed up with the 8in rough file to give greater depth. The file is now placed across the groove at 90 degrees to the stem and removed additional waste wood, the file was then placed at about 22.50 coming back towards the base.

The twist is then finished off by the use of abrasive sheets at about 400rpm on the lathe and additional grits added for a smooth finish, the base was then parted off.

The demonstration went well throughout the evening with all questions answered by Paul. The club would like to thank Paul for an informative and expertly delivered demo.

Report by Barrie Fisher and edited by Steve Hackett

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Demo Report January 2022 – Wolfgang Schulze-Zachau

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

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Mary Stevens Charity Coffee morning December 2021

The day started with a small number of Black Country Woodturners members being in attendance to erect the stall area and the covers due to being in a position outside due to Covid rules.

Apart from the charity table which was the main part of the event we also had a number of members (Mel, Steve, Rob, Ian & Barrie) in addition to a couple of members items but could not be with us in person, to sell their own turned items, which included some Christmas items.

From items that members had sold, we had a 10% donation which went with the charity table amount to hand over.

A big thank you from the committee goes out to all club members who gave their time and effort to produce the donated items for the charity table.

The day itself was very cold which kept a number of people away from the event, but thankfully the rain kept away and we did have a steady stream of people passing through and buying the odd piece.

Ian looked after the charity table along with anyone who was free a the time and in the area of the table.

Ian’s wife Kim was also in attendance selling her Christmas cards table decorations and presentation bags which she had produced herself.

All in attendance also helped to take the equipment down whilst Ian sorted the funds to be handed over.

Report by Barrie Fisher and edited by Steve Hackett

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Demo Report Sept 2021 – Stewart Furini

The demonstrator for this evening is Stewart Furini. He will be carrying out some basic turning and applying various colouring techniques. He will be using a Sycamore blank 8″ x 2″. He began the evening by going through some basic Health and Safety issues to observe whilst woodturning.

Stewart started by finding the centre of the blank and drilling an 8mm hole to accept the screw chuck which was 19mm deep.

He used a draw cut to produce a flat surface with the use of a 3/8 bowl gouge, he then started to cut across the corner to produce a basic bowl shape with a recess for the chuck to be mounted and a foot for the bowl to stand on.  The recess was cut to 4mm deep with a dovetail shape for the chuck, the lathe speed being 600 rpm to start with.  The foot is not as deep as the recess so when the chuck is expanded it is not expanding onto very little material but is more solid.

The bowl was now reverse mounted and the face was flattened but without the centre being hollowed out.  This face is now sanded down to 240 grit ready for spirit stains to take effect.  The dust was removed with a tack cloth to keep it clean.  The surface is now hand sanded with the grain to remove any circular scratches that may be present.

Technique 1

A white colour spirit stain is applied first to half of the bowl surface from Chestnut Products, this was painted on and a hair dryer was used to dry the base colour.  

Airbrush was used to apply the various colours that will be applied in sequence, and the lathe will be running for this, the closer to the wood then the colour is cleaner and more precise.

The first colour applied was blue and produced a ring, followed by Chestnut blue, Purple and then a lighter blue whilst expanding the rings to get an even covering, the stain is showing up cleaner on the white background.

A further set of rings were also produced using Red, Yellow and Orange, it was at this point that black was added for definition on the edging, this would normally be left overnight prior to using a sanding sealer aerosol, Stewart stated that he would not apply a sanding sealer by hand due to the possibility of the stain breaking down.

 Technique 2

Just after half time Stewart started by using an ebonising lacquer to cover the bowl surface black, this was done twice to get the required coverage.

Stewart then produced his homemade box to stop the paint flying from the bowl and onto the walls and ceiling, this was fixed down by use of two magnets which held on to the lathe bed.

The paints used were produced by Chestnut Products with a flow medium by Jo Sonja, this will thin the paint without diminishing the pigment content of the paint.

Yellow will be applied first with the lathe spinning and then the speed will be increased and then the pattern checked, this colour was then applied again to get the pattern spread a bit further.  A Sherice colour was then applied over the top again with the lathe spinning.  The finished colour was a sprayed-out system.

Technique 3

Dabbing and Centrifugal 

The ebonising lacquer was again applied, over the top of the face of the bowl ready for the next lot of paint to be applied.

The next paint to be used was the Jo Sonja Silver, this was applied by the use of a paper towel and dabbed onto the bowl in a non-uniform manner around the edge.  The same technique was used for the next colour Gold.

The next colour to be added was Crimson which when applied was set off spinning to form a starburst, the next colour was Gold and also spun around.

At this point, the centre of the bowl was then taken out to the required depth.

Technique 4

For the next session, Stewart used a Proxon long-necked grinder and a cutter with six blades is used, this was applied to the bowl at approximately 7 and 8 with reference to a clock face.  The lathe is set to 600 rpm to form the texture.  At this point, the textured surface is brushed out with a brass brush to remove the residue.  A Nylon filament rotary brush was then used to smooth the texture of the surface.

A green colour was applied first in a solid block, then splodged on, streaked and then dots so that we have four example areas on the same bowl when applied a purple was used over the top of the green.

Technique 5

For this one, the cutter was used again but with the lathe being switched off and the bowl being turned by hand, the cutter was used across the bowl both back and forth.  This was then brushed and cleaned with the nylon grit wheel.

The airbrush was used again with red colour and is applied from the side at the bottom, Yellow was then used but sprayed on from the top again from the side.

A black was then applied across the top of the ridges by using a dry brush technique.

This would be finished with a sanding sealer aerosol and then a gloss lacquer.

Technique 6

The top surface of the bowl was again turned flat again, this was then taken off the lathe to apply the paint effect.

The paint applied was colours by Montana 94 Acrylic

The yellow paint was sprayed over the complete surface followed by red, then yellow again and finally white.

Whilst the paint is still wet either a newspaper or a paper towel is folded to form a creased edge, this was then applied to the paint and lifted off this removed a certain amount of paint, and this was carried out over the area of the bowl.  This technique was moved around the bowl with a radius.

A lollypop stick was also used with the edge and also the flat part of the stick, other ways of doing this can also be used.

We finished off by giving Stewart a big thank you for the evening’s demonstration, all questions were answered during and after the demo.

Report by Barrie Fisher and edited by Steve Hackett

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Mary Stevens Charity Summer Event September 2021

Today we were at Mary Stevens Park for their open day. The event was open to the public from 10.00 till 16.00 hours.  It is a charity event organised by Mary Stevens Hospice as a fundraiser for their organisation.

The Black Country Woodturners put on a charity table of turned items that were donated by the members, for the purpose of helping the hospice in fundraising.  At the same time, we are able to put our own turnings onto the tables of which 20% of the takings are also donated back to the charity.

After the chaos of setting up the tenting area with three units, we had eight tables with a good mixture of various items for sale during the day.

The charity table was totally full and needed an additional table to display the items donated by the members.

The club had a good turnout of members who all had a good selection of turned items for sale.  We also had a lathe running and was manned by Steve who kept up a stream of spinning tops for the kids free of charge, this kept him out of mischief for the day.  It must be said that he was tired at the end of the day, but it was for a good cause.

During the morning there was a steady stream of people going through the selling area with the charity stall doing very well and clearing a number of items.  During the day we also had a good many people taking our club cards with a number being interested in starting to turn, it’s a case of watching this space for this, we were also asked about the club and how the items were formed and developed.  The weather was very kind to us during the day, with it being sunny which also helped with the turnout of people who attended the event.

Along with the turned items we also had a couple of wives joining us,  Ian’s wife Kim & Steves’s wife Georgina, who had their own craft stalls of hand-crafted items along with us.

A big thank you must go out to all who turned up for the event and helped throughout the day with setting up, selling, and breaking down again.  This help was very much appreciated with us being able to clear the site quickly.

We raised a total of £244.72 from the charity table, and from the club members the sale items we raised £90.00 at 20% commission, this makes a total of £334.72 that was handed over to The Mary Stevens Hospice.

Report by Barrie Fisher and edited by Steve Hackett

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Demo Report August 2021 – Richard Finlay

For this evening’s demonstration and entertainment, we welcome Richard Findley who has his own business known as ‘The Turners Workshop’ and is a production turner for his living. The project will be a Box with Alternative Ivory Insert. The wood will be Walnut.  Size being 80mm x 80mm x150mm

Tools that Richard will use:-

  • Slow speed grinder with a CBN wheel
  • Spindle Roughing Gouge
  • 3/8 & ½ Spindle gouge
  • Beading and Parting Tool
  • Narrow Diamond Parting Tool
  • Negative rake Scrapers, Round & Curved

For those that joined early, they were shown by Richard how he sharpens his chisels and gouges which is via a freehand method. 

The Walnut blank needed to be turned down to approximately 75mm square, it was roughed down to round and had a tenon put onto each end ready for the chucking process.  Richard roughly shaped the blank to help decide where to part off the pieces.  At this point, the sections are parted.

TIP – When checking the size of the tenons with callipers, round the tips of the callipers so that they do not dig into the wood and also do not press too hard when getting the required size.

LID – This is mounted onto the chuck and then hollow out the inner area by using a spindle gouge with the flute at about 10.0’clock on the centre line, do not use an aggressive cut as this will tend to rip the wood out.  The round negative rake scraper to clean the end and also cut a recess which must be square.  When the desired inside is finished it is sanded to a final finish. 

TIP – Use a rule to press into the recess and line it up with the lathe bed, in this way we would have a parallel edge on the lid.

BOX BODY – This is also mounted onto the chuck and the edge is now cut to match up with the lid, this is not the final fit at present, this is done later, therefore he starts with a cut that does not match up at present.

The hollowing is now carried out with a slight undercut produced within the confines of the body and then sanded to a finish.

At this point, Richard gave a good explanation as to why he prefers to use a negative rake scraper and also to keep the angles the same, which in his case is 350.  This was followed by a demonstration of how he sharpens a negative rake scraper.

The tenon where the lid fits into the box has a rounded dome shape applied so that the lid will fit on without having to push down on the straight edge of the box body.

The lid is fitted to the box using the body as a jam chuck, the final shape of the box is then refined, prior to removing additional material from the lid to form a recess to take the alternative ivory.

The box body is now also ready to be parted off from the waste material prior to finishing the base. The remaining blank material is now turned so that the box base can be jam chucked onto it. The box base turned to clean the parting cut. Then sanded to a finish.

Richard demonstrated an ALTERNATIVE IVORY RESIN insert material for the lid. This is a dense material which is ideal to use a negative rake scraper with, we also need to be careful as it can chip.  

The streamers that come off will need to be removed with the lathe off for safety purposes.  This is cut to the required diameter to match the recess within the lid. 

This material is now semi-parted off and then sanded, this needs to have a finer finish than the wood, and an abrasive of up to 1200 grit was used as a final abrasive, a burnishing cream was then applied as a final finish.

The depth of the disc is now measured and can be cut to fit the lid.

The project would be finished with hard wax oil.

Richard gave a good explanation all the way through the demonstration and answered all of the questions that were presented to him.

Richard recommended a book on turning boxes.

REFERENCE – Turned Boxes 50 Designs by Chris Stott.  1-86108 203 7

Yet another very good excellent demo from Richard,  which went down well with the members.

Report by Barrie Fisher and edited by Steve Hackett