Master Class With Stuart Mortimer
By the time we arrived at Stuart Mortimer's workshop a good number of the other guys had already arrived, an area had been cleared for seating and our two cameras with monitors were already set up and working thanks to John our chairman. Twenty-two of our club members had a good trip up there and after filling in our lunch orders and had enough time to become very envious of this very well equipped workshop we settled down in front of a professional looking lathe made by One Way.His workshop was the envy of us all with five lathes, five chain saws, five paint sprayers and five grinders. I was beginning to wonder if five was a relevant factor in his life? The first item on the agenda was chucks. It would be more than a coincidence to say we were looking at five but I think it was more like seven. They ranged from our size, as in the likes of you and I up to a monster big enough to take a 7" spigot, were talking a heavy bit of kit. The one way lathe was more than capable of handling this and bigger.
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Hollow form with 3 holes
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Next was a natural edge bowl, it was either Ash or Field Maple, 12" long by 8" diameter. The top 1/3 was turned and we stopped for lunch. This was provided by the local pub and was first class in every aspect, piping hot, tasty, good service, and considering there was 22 of us it was served very soon after we arrived and pretty much all at the same time.
By the time we returned and settled in our seats the half turned wet piece of timber on the lathe had cracked around the rim, lesson number one, when turning unseasoned timber, turn it in one go! However it was turned to a lovely shape, again using the light bulb inside to obtain a very thin wall, it was parted off leaving a spigot for a base.
We had a quick demonstration using Skew, Half Skew and a new tool of round bar with a point, this I have to try. If the predictions are as good as expected, then I'll be happy, watch this space as they say. Next was a piece of Ash 2"x 2" 18" long turned to a round. This was used to demonstrate the Arbotech wheel in a small disc cutter for producing Barley twists. Following this a piece of Yew 18" long by 7" diameter was put between centres to demonstrate deep bowl turning with spirals, quite impressive but sadly a patch of super glue caught the skew and a member of the audience found a piece of the spiral in his lap. The principal was explained and we moved on.
Another piece of Yew was mounted on the lathe but this time with the grain across the bed, this was to show a natural edged bowl. The use of the bowl gouge with the side flutes ground right back showed how much easier it is to remove material. Throughout the day we had been shown a good number of specialist tools and grinding techniques. Some will be easy for the likes of us to experiment with, sadly though most are not practical for the hobbyist.
That was the turning for the day but before we packed up we were given a demonstration of paint spraying, again not really in a form for the hobbyist but quite impressive to see what can be done. It may be possible with spray cans but I have no experience as yet. There were the usual questions and answers all day accompanied by the usual adjustments to the camera positions. A good selection of tools were explained along with the grinding details. There was advice on various methods and tips plus the usual light banter to complete a very good master class.
Our host Stuart Mortimer and his wife looked after us very well including morning and afternoon tea/coffee with the usual biscuits and cake. I would imagine Stuart makes a good teacher, It may be worth making some enquiries in that direction. Thanks go to those who organised it all so well for us, there's a lot goes on behind the scenes for these events.
And there goes another good master class.
Apple Pie, November 2004
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