Master Class with Gary Rance

Once again the club has surpassed its self in the booking Mr Gary Rance for a full day's master class session. This is just one of the benefits of belonging to a well-run club.

By the time I had arrived the cameras and monitors were working, the club lathe delivered and set up with 30 club members enjoying the tea and biscuits that always starts these proceedings. Mr Gary Rance our demonstrator for the day was already set up and ready to go, Ken White briefly introduced Gary and we where into another professional demonstration.

Gary spent an interesting few minutes telling us how he became a wood turner. He then started with a demonstration on Pummels, beads and coves, all of which was to be the basis of the day's demonstration. Now before I go on any further I feel I must share with you a bit of the history behind the man. Gary has done a bit of turning in his time, when I say a bit of turning I mean things like 2,500 rings at a time and years making Pepper pots all as an employee. So by the time he started on his own he was very skilled.

So to get back to the demo. As you can expect he was very quick at producing the finished article. And as with everything he demonstrated his attention to detail was faultless, he paid particular attention to the fact that we had two cameras feeding two television monitors and checked them all the while to make sure we could see and more importantly understand what he was doing. Pummels, beads and coves may seem boring but I learnt some basic skills that I'm sure will give us novices the confidence to produce these shapes without getting a dig in. Posture, Tool rest, Skew chisel Rouging gouge and Lathe height will be on all our minds next time we are in the workshop.

The next item was an idiot stick; this was a very entertaining piece that got us all going. He went to a lot of trouble giving us details like "it must be a 45.5 degree angle" and so on. One was passed around while he showed us how to make it; we had all had a go by the time he'd finished polishing the finished stick. Unfortunately that's as far as I'm prepared to go with that item other than to say both the stick making and the operation was very entertaining. If you are intrigued by this and need to know more you will need to book Gary Rance for a demonstration and find out. (See our links list)

A spinning top was next on the agenda. The top was made from a solid piece of Corian with an Ebony post through the centre, as you can expect it spun very well.

Gary then proceeded to make a Box. It was decorated with a corian onlay. Corian is an advanced composite of natural minerals and pure acrylic polymer mainly used for Kitchen Worktops, it comes in a wide variety of colours. And an on lay is where a solid piece of material with a hole in it is glued in a pre formed recess. It is then turned as part of the original piece. I very much liked the shape and grain of the finished box. .

A 3" diameter ring was turned next, this showed us various methods of holding items to expose all sides to turn a finish, so tooling and jigs in this demo.

Following on a very impressive letter opener handle was turned from a piece of Ebony to show us how to hold a delicate piece of wood between centres. The finish was good and you could just see the grain through the polish which gave it character.

Now it has to be said that this next item had to be the most impressive part of the day. Gary turned a 150mm high long stemmed goblet. The stem was little over 2mm diameter at the bottom and tapered to just under 2mm at the top. As you can appreciate this was a most delicate item and Gary turned this piece with absolute confidence. In order to show us the removal of the stem material he had four members at a time come out and stand in front of the lathe to see up close exactly how its done. It was turned and polished to a very high standard. The timber used was Amazique, and as promised I've researched this and found it to be from West Africa, it is golden brown and often figured, its used for veneer, flooring and furniture.

A Pomander Po purée was next on the list, this had three parts, the top and base was Laburnum with the body was Bankshia nut, a natural choice for the hollow part as it has holes around it where the seeds form. It seemed so easy to make despite all the fancy coves, and beads etc. All the pieces fitted together perfectly and once threaded together it received a coat of polish. This was passed around the room and was admired by all.

A little beehive box stood on the top of the lathe, Gary made a copy of this using a beading tool specially designed by him. After turning the two parts he fitted them together and using the bead tool he gave it that ribbed look. The effect was very dramatic and realistic. The original had a silver bee on it, which finished it of perfectly.

With 15 minutes or so to go Gary decided to make a Tipy Top. This is a specially designed spinning top that once its spun it flips over and spins on its other end, again with little effort it was turned and with three different permanent marker pens it was coloured as with children's toys. Now this is where it goes to pieces a bit, you can picture the scene cant you. Grown men, some on their knees, trying to catch this spinning top that was rushing around in between all the chair legs. Time and time again of it would go in and out of the chair legs eluding all that tried to catch it. They tried laying a folded table on the floor but it just kept spinning off it. Finally Gary spun it upside down and the crowd dispersed. It was decided that with slight adjustment and better tabletops it would work perfectly. And on that note the demonstration was over.

Now I have deliberately left out the detail/measurements of the items turned today, I think if I included such information it would detract from giving a good record of the demonstration we all witnessed. I think Gary Rance presented us with a well-balanced exhibition of woodturning. His young son Luke very accurately drew diagrams on a Nobo board to explain detail. There was a good display of finished items and during the day various items were passed around, this included another puzzle and two folders showing magazine articles and detailed drawings.

We had 10 items turned for us today and every one was to a very high standard and ready for selling. This did not detract from the purpose of the visit that was to demonstrate the art of woodturning. I think we were all impressed by the skill acquired from all those early years of repetition work Every effort was made to ensure we understood every aspect of the work along with the usual questions and answers as he turned.

A big thank you for the usual behind the scenes team, we had the usual high standard lunch provided for us along with the club lathe transport, tea and biscuits, camera's, television monitors, setting up and cleaning up and of coarse to invite Mr Gary Rance.

And there goes another Master Class.

Boots, April 2004


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