North Wiltshire Woodturners Association

On Saturday 25th April we welcomed one of Britain's top turners to share a day with us. Mark Baker is the editor of Woodturning magazine - "The World's leading magazine for woodturners". Not only that but he's not a bad woodturner either. We had a fascinating, hilarious and instructive day with Mark and, quite frankly, considering the entrance fee, it would

have been hard to find similar value for money anywhere!

Mark treated us, not to just one or two projects but as many as he could fit in in the time allowed.   

Now hold it up to the light and take a look at it. Pretty clever huh?

Then hold the top part up to the light and you'll see there really is more to it than meets the eye.

Now for a square-edged bowl. Mark still had all his fingers after he'd finished this one - we checked. Tip: If you're thinking about making one of these yourself, make sure you don't start with a circular bowl blank. Causes an awful lot more work!

Then there was this lidded box made from yew. If you look further down the page in the May Show 'n' Tell section you'll see where Pete Kelly got the inspiration from for his lidded box - or was it that Mark got the inspiration for his from Pete? Blowed if I can remember now! Either way, both of 'em are pretty good.

This textured bowl shows just how much the wood can move within a very short time of it being turned (left). The tiny feet are turned as part of the base of the bowl and then the excess wood is simply carved away with an Arbortech (or it can be done by hand of course).

While we're on the subject of bowls, here's another one (left), this time with wings which go in different directions. Great technique. 

And to complete our collection, here's a hollow form which Mark knocked up in a few minutes (would have taken me hours to get it right).  We discussed a range of techniques during the various projects including texturing, colouring and ebonising.

The above collection of pieces are not sanded and finished, as you will see. Instead, Mark concentrated instead on demonstrating the actual techniques involved in designing and turning and applying finishes, rather than spend too much time sanding and polishing.

Now for this month's Show 'N' Tell pieces. I must say, first of all, that Show 'N' Tell now has an added

 First of all, we have this month's trophy winner - a goblet from Clive Alabaster with a finely worked twisted stem. The timber was ash if I remember correctly which, I have to admit, isn't the easiest timber to carve (I'm thinking of the twisted stem).

Here's another offering from Clive - this time a beautifully turned hollow form from yew.

Following on from Clive's goblet, it looks like we have a bit of a theme going here, both with beautifully crafted captive rings and one with a fancy stem.

Now for an off-centre vase inspired by Tony Halcrow's demo a couple of month's ago.

. . . and a couple of off-centre turned ducks, again inspired by Tony Halcrow's off-centre demo.

It really isn't easy to get these off-centre turnings right, so "well done" to the creators of these two. Love the "hard hats" as well!

Finally, a couple of lidded boxes. The one on the left is Pete Kelly's - reminiscent of the one which Mark Baker did on his Saturday demo. The one on the right is, if I remember correctly, by Joe Kerrawn. Once again up to Joe's usual high standard.