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North Wiltshire Woodturners Association |
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April 2008
Club Meeting - April 2nd 2008
This month saw Joe Kerrawn, one of our own members, expertly showing us how to produce a range of light pulls. What a great way to use up those off-cuts which would have otherwise gone into the recycling (or firewood) bin. It's also a great way to practice a little production turning. Here's a shot of Joe in action.
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See the level of concentration here. Shame I didn't actually get a picture of the workpiece itself but from where I was positioned I think that would have needed an MRI scanner rather than a camera.
The theory is simple enough. You simply prepare a square-sectioned blank to whatever size you require then drill a 6mm hole right through the centre, lengthways. Then counterbore the blank by about 10mm with a 10mm drill. This gives a recess for the knot in the string to rest. You then hold the blank between centres. I personally prefer a light pull drive in the headstock end. Here's an example of one available from the Axminster Power Tools Centre. |
You can see how the hole has been drilled through the middle and then counterbored on the left hand side. The counterbored side can then fit on to the light-pull drive and the tailstock end can then be supported with a normal live tailstock. Alternatively, you can simply hold the whole thing in a scroll chuck (as Joe did) and then you have full access to the right-hand end - which makes it easier for finishing. As they say, you pays your money and takes your choice. Now we have a selection of the light-pulls which Joe made during his demo:
The right-hand one, as you can see, has a series of decorative rings burned into it. How did Joe ensure that they were evenly spaced? Well, I thought that was quite a neat trick. It involved one of those home-made tools we often see in the woodturning community and an extremely simply one at that. It was just a thin piece of wood with two nails protruding from it. The position of the nails denoted the distance between each ring. With the workpiece rotating you simply use the "scratch-stick" to scratch two lines on the workpiece. You then, again with the workpiece rotating, move the scratch-stick along slightly so that the left-hand nail is now riding in the right-hand groove. The right-hand nail will now scratch a third line at the correct distance. You can carry on doing this for as many lines as you need. After you have the lines marked you can then burn your decorative rings into the wood using the usual method of a wire with a handle at each end. Be careful where you put the wire afterwards though. It's a great device for setting fire to all those shavings you left on the floor! Many thanks to Joe for taking this one on.
Show 'n' Tell
This month's Show 'n' Tell was on the theme of "An earring holder".
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. . . and now for the "off-topic" pieces (though no less welcome for being off-topic).
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Club Display at North Swindon Library
For several weeks now our club has had a selection of members' work on display at North Swindon Library (click on the link for more information on the library itself). Many thanks to those members who contributed items of their work. Thanks also to the library for being willing to host our work. Here are some pictures of the display for those who haven't been able to visit the library to see the display "in the flesh", as it were.
Club Library
You may wish to note that the Club Library page has now been updated and shows the latest titles we have in stock. In particular Allan has bought a series of Dennis White DVDs which will hopefully interest some of you. I currently have one of them and can thoroughly recommend it. I look forward to having a look at some of the others too.
Yew for Sale
The club has a large quantity of unseasoned yew for sale to club members at approximately a quarter of the market price. There is a large range of planks from 1.25" to 3" thick and logs of various diameters. Please see Ian Hooker or Ian Murray-West who have price lists of what is available.
All-Day Event with Jason Breach - May 3rd 2008 Arrive at 9.00am for a 10.00am start. Click on the Club Diary button for dates and info. Cost is £12.00 which includes our normal £2.00 hall hire fee and, of course, coffee and biscuits will be provided. Please bring along anyone who you think may be interested and those of you who saw Jason perform on our day out at Axminster will know that we'll be in for a good day. Jason will be turning assorted boxes among other items. Note that lunch is not provided. Trip to Axminster Power Tools Centre
Unfortunately we've had to shelve the trip to the Axminster Power Tools Centre due to the fact that only
four members registered an interest in the trip. Maybe we can revisit this another time - but do let a committee member know if you have any ideas of trips or events you'd be interested in.
Back Copies of Making Shavings Back copies of our newsletter Making Shavings are available here.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting is on SATURDAY 3rd May - see details above.
The following meeting we'll be back to our normal Wednesday club night. This will be on June 4th when Ian Shepherd will be introducing us to the mysteries of woodturning design software and Ken Crittle (and others) will be showing us some of the jigs and techniques they use.
Entrance fee is £2.00 on the night and light refreshments will be provided. (Members who have not already done so will be required to pay an annual susbscription - see a committee member or log an Enquiry on this site for further details). The evening runs from 7.30pm to 9.30pm - it's best to arrive in plenty of time to make sure there's a parking space.
Our evening includes a Show 'n' Tell session where we bring a piece of our work to show others and chat about techniques, how we made it etc. If you have nothing to bring with you or you don't have the time, the skills or the inclination to make anything, that's absolutely fine - just bring yourself. Click here for a location map.
Future Meetings
Club meetings have now been scheduled until the end of 2008. Please click on the "Club Diary" button on the left for further details.
Buying and Selling
If any club members would like to advertise anything for sale, or if there's something you'd like to buy, please let the webmaster know (better make it woodturning related - I don't think it would be right to be advertising your old sofa for sale on the club website!).