This month Blackcountry Woodturners were graced with the return of professional woodturner John Aitken, otherwise known as “The bowler-hatted turner”, who last visited us in June 2018. John is renowned for wearing a bowler hat when woodturning at craft shows, his theory being that “people cannot remember names but they never forget a hat!”

The first part of John’s evening consisted of detailing and demonstrating how he designed a three-tier cake stand for his daughter’s wedding, and the production method he used as 50 were necessary to make for the day.

Having educated us on the whys and wherefores necessary, he went on to demonstrate the making of each of the items required to complete the project, this required both platter (Cross Grain) and spindle turning techniques. John as always detailed, demonstrated and discussed tool control, and finishing methods for each piece.

For the second part of his demonstration, John educated us in the arts of colouring and paint texturing for use on platters or any other surface for that matter.

Showing various methodologies, he used and demonstrated several iridescent paint colours over the top of a black background, he detailed an interesting method stating that he had developed and used to good effect over a number of years, which consisted of a length of string approx. 18 inches long completely immersed into a tub of gold iridescent paint, when removed the laden string was laid in a random pattern across a section of the platter rim face.

 John then laid a sheet of magazine paper(shiny smooth paper) over the top of the string, placing his hand gently on top and compressing the string slightly, John proceeded to pull one end of the string and kept pulling until it came free, the resulting pattern was impressive, the process, if required, could then be repeated over additional areas of the rim.

John’s character, humour and sheer enjoyment of demonstrating his skills was again evident to all in attendance making a truly enjoyable evening for all. We hope we can persuade him to return next year to educate us more in the arts and joys of woodturning.

Black Country Woodturners welcomed back professional Woodturner Robert Till for the evening. Robert last demonstrated at the club in October 2018.

For our evening entertainment, Robert identified that he would be demonstrating how to
make a “spindle Turned” finely shaped candle stick by using the
“Reverse Turn” or “Inside Out” method, and during the
the process he would be showing in detail how the piece would be
constructed highlighting how best to proportion/balance the project
out to the eye as it went along.

He identified that
the project was a “spindle-turned piece using all the standard
basic cuts that Woodturners of all levels would be able to have a go
at, and that the project if made at home could be made as simple or
as detailed that the maker wished by adopting his demonstrated
methodology.

To start off with
Robert detailed how he constructed two pieces of identical square
stock and glued them together but introducing a paper seal between
the two mating glued wooden edges, this technique later allows the
joint to be broken without damage to the timber.

The blank was mounted onto the lathe and Robert detailed how to mark up the blank for initial turning which in this instance would be the inside shape of the candlestick, as when the shape was formed the blank would be split open and turned round 180 degrees then glued back together again to form the internal shape.

For the next 40
minutes or so Robert turned the initial shape where throughout he
demonstrated the cutting stages, tool techniques, and logical step by
step process needed to achieve the first stage shaping process.
Robert then identified how to split the wood in preparation for the
re-gluing process.

Robert then re-mounted a pre-prepared blank that had been stage 2 glued up giving the internal shaped detail, the blank was now ready for the external shape to be applied.

For the main part of the remainder of the evening, Robert demonstrated the step-by-step process of achieving the outer refined shape, going into great detail around the eye line balance and shape proportion, illustrating this clearly by “tweaking” the shape as he went along.

His detailed explanation of the process was clearly enjoyed by those present and created some very lively and probing conversations around techniques, methodology, and finishing processes.

For the final part
of the demonstration, Robert made the base to complement the
candlestick, we were all amazed that he managed to squeeze it all
into two and a half hours and had a cup of tea and biscuits in the
process.

Another wonderful evening’s entertainment was provided by Robert, well enjoyed by all and we look forward to his next visit with us in 2020.

Keith has demonstrated at the club on several occasions and we look forward to each of his visits, this occasion was no different.

The objective of the evening’s demonstration was to show the audience a number of different colouring techniques to enhance a turned project and profile a texturing technique used by him on many occasions using an arbour cutting wheel.

Colour processes would be demonstrated via use of an air brush and several ways of using / applying Jo Sonja iridescent paints to produce various pattern structures and effects.

Keith brought with him a good array of his own finished work highlighting the various finishes that could be achieved by these methods.

He started off by mounting a part finished Olive Ash bowl onto the lathe, a few final cuts were made to the outside to true the piece up and complete the dimensional shape.

He then used the Arbourtech texturing wheel to score groves randomly around the outside and round the top Rim of the bowl, highlighting that he believed the best effects using this technique were random patterns as opposed to formal or repetitive patterns.

The outside was then sanded back to 320 grit in preparation for the first Black colour coat, the part turned inner bowl was then waxed to stop any pain residue on the inside; Keith stating that this was merely a protective coat and would later be turned away.

Black satin paint spray was then applied all over the outside of the piece ensuring that the paint entered all cut channels. Having demonstrated the process, he produced a like piece that he had made earlier which had fully dried and was ready to process further.

Having sanded back the black paint to the outer wood leaving the black groves clearly visible; this effect on its own could be a striking finish, the next objective was to apply a series of chestnut spirit colour stains.

Keith then invited the colour application to be completed by a member of the audience, Ian volunteered then over the next ten minutes under Keith’s guidance, Purple, Red and yellow stain was randomly sprayed across the whole of the outer surface.

Keith then went on to take a few cuts from the inside of the bowl to highlight the colour contrast against the grain in full, this really made the outer pattern stand out and cleaned up a small amount of overspray.

Via audience discussion it was agreed that this project had achieved its objective and no need to apply a finish to the piece, this created time to demonstrate his other finishing methods.

He moved onto the Jo Sonja Paint products which created a good audience participation discussion with a good flow of questions, answers and amusing stories floating across the room.

For the first application demonstration a part finished tea light, mounted on the lathe, was again pre sprayed in satin black paint, providing the ideal sub base for application of the Jo Sonja colours.

Having donned his trusty rubber glove Keith, by using his fingers rubbed a thin covering of the Gold iridescent paint over the whole outer surface, he then chose blue and green and in the same manner put on top of the gold layer randomly placed colour patches onto the surface.

In his own innovative way, he assured that the next bit of the demonstration he had practiced to a fine art and had taken many years to perfect, he was laughing whilst he said it. He then ripped off sheet of cling film and slapped it across the surface applied pressure onto the film and twisted his hand back and forth on completion removing the Clingfilm to reveal an amazingly good blended pattern, he went on to state that when fully dried he would apply of gloss lacquer which would make the colours pop even more.

This provided a great stopping point for tea and the opportunity for members to have a look at the first two items.

In the second part of his demo Keith continued with the Jo Sonja paint theme.

He began by mounting a pre formed 12” platter, centre hollowed with a 3-4” border all round and the piece sprayed black stating that for this piece again dabs of iridescent paint would be placed on the surface but the paint would be spread by blowing compressed air from the air gun, merging the colours together forming a “cloud like” pattern. Again he invited members of the audience to come and have ago at making the final product, when all the paint had been applied a layer of Clingfilm was dabbed over the surface giving the final cloud style impression.

Keith then moved on to demonstrate the application of paint by spinning colours onto the surface of two projects. Both methods would be applied to part finished black sprayed tea lights mounted onto the lathe.

For the first style he applied a rim of gold paint around the inner cut out part where the candle would sit, to stop paint flying over the audience and walls a plastic cake lid was placed over the tea light and chuck area then started the lathe up at quite a fast speed. He let this run for a few seconds then revealed the radiating striped pattern around the outer edge of piece, this gave a striking thin lined pattern that could be repeated in as many colours that you wished but Keith advised that two or three were usually sufficient.

Keith repeated the process on anther tea light but on this occasion, having applied a slightly thicker coat of paint, spun the lathe at a much slower rate, again after a few seconds stopped the lathe to reveal pattern with much more build up around the inner edge and thicker lines shooting off around the surface.

Having had a packed evening of information and fun we just ran out of time, the evenings events coming to a close with a warm thank to Keith for giving us a wonderful last few hours.

Blackcountry Woodturners all-day event.

This was the first all-day event that Blackcountry Woodturners have hosted for the past several years.

The Aims…

The aims of the day were to provide some well-earned entertainment for our current members, provide an opportunity to invite woodturners from other West Midlands Clubs, and with the aid of local media publicise Blackcountry Woodturners to the general public. This gave like-minded people the opportunity to visit and view the day’s events, talk to current members, and see what we as a club are all about.

There was also the opportunity for club members to buy and sell their unwanted/unused second-hand tools, purchase project wood, and bring in some of their own work to display, and refreshments were provided to all who attended during the day.

The club had secured the services of professional Woodturner Paul Hannaby from Gloucestershire, Paul agreed to complete three different types of projects throughout the day, ranging from basic through to advanced woodturning techniques.

The day’s summary…

It started at 8 am with early bird members arriving to set the rooms out for the day’s events, the main body of people began to arrive just after 9 am, the first job of the day was a hot drink, biscuit and general chat. The tool sales started in earnest along with the wood project sales. The first project, bowl turning techniques commenced at 9.45 am. Paul explained how not only to approach such projects but also design considerations, lathe mounting techniques, tool and cutting techniques plus ways to finish the project depending on the use to which it was to be put.

On completion we all took a 15-minute well-earned refreshment break then at 11.30 am Paul began project 2, Box making with texturing and colouring instruction. Paul began by demonstrating a number of market available texturing tools, how to use them and the varying types of effect that each are capable of achieving, he also demonstrated various ways of colour embellishing the patterns to bring out the best effect. Paul then went on to produce a small decorative oriental lidded box.

At 1 pm we had a 40-minute break for lunch, socialising, a raffle draw and more purchasing of tools and wood.

The remainder of the afternoon was taken up with the “Off Centre” platter with a decorative and air-brushed coloured rim.  This was a detailed advanced project well received by all present, with many questions being asked as the project unfolded. Paul explained and showed in detail the techniques, both turning and decorative, to complete the project from start to finish. The challenge now is for us all to go away and give it a go…

The event concluded at around 4.30 pm with everyone going home having enjoyed their day, learned a little or a lot as the case may be and hopefully inspired to have a go at new projects.

A big thank you must go to all the club members who brought in their own pieces of work to make up a fantastic display for all to see, providing project inspiration for us all.

On Thursday last week we had Robert Till as our demonstrator. He has done a demo before, at our old venue, where he showed us how to make a turned bird’s house. This time he demonstrated his rocking bowls. They are mostly made from ash or oak, as the open grain in these timbers allows for the kind of surface decoration he is aiming for.

It all starts out with a blank about 8″ in diameter and 3″ thick. A drill provides a hole for the screw chuck and, once mounted, the out side is squared off, both on the flat underside and the rim. A centre mark is made on the rim to ensure the final bowl has equal curves on top and bottom (although I suspect this could easily be altered for variations of the form), and then the underside is turned into a gentle curve towards that mark. This curve must always allow for a small, but precise tenon.

Robert demonstrated using pull cuts for the shaping, and then putting the handle right down and closing the flute on his bowl gouge to perform a very gentle shear scrape. In this manner he gets a surface that needs very little sanding.

The bowl is then reversed into the chuck, and a similar curve is applied to the top. For the sanding he uses Rhinogrip, and he always makes sure to only ever use any particular spot on the sanding paper once, folding away used pieces as he goes along. His surfaces are sanded to 600 or 1000 grit. He then showed two different methods of finishing the top.

For the first method, he applied a thin film of Chestnut ebonizing lacquer to provide a simple black surface. On top of this is then applied some gilt cream, also from Chestnut, which is rubbed well into the surface and in particular into the grooves left by the annual growth rings. Once the entire surface has been covered, a paper cloth and some finishing oil are used to remove any excess, leaving behind only the cream in the recesses, and thereby dramatically enhancing the figure of the wood. This is left to dry, and the final finish are up to a dozen layers of finishing oil, applied one coat per day (or slower). Once the wood has been saturated with oil, it starts to build up a nice coat on top, which does not need buffing.

The second method of decoration was done with the coloured spirit stains from Chestnut. He first rubbed the entire surface with a purple colour, and then carefully sanded that back until most of the high points were left in natural again, and only the grain recesses showed colour. He then used paper cloth to apply dabs of colour in a pattern to enhance any natural features of the wood, and finally blended them all together with finishing oil.

A very instructive demo aimed at mid-level turners, and well delivered. Our display table was well stocked, and we had 26 members and one visitor in attendance.