Another Good Club Night
March 2004 Meeting
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Gregory Morton, Professional Woodturner from Claygate, Surrey
The tree that was placed on the bed was Monkey-Puzzle
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He turned down towards the drive some
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then started working on the inside leaving a 2" core for the tailstock.
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He then turned the drive end to take a Vicmarc chuck.
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he showed how to remove the spigot for the chuck
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Now it has to be said that the piece of wood on the bed of the lathe was the largest piece of wood to be introduced to a lathe I have seen live. We guessed at 16 inches diameter x 21 inches long. John sitting next to me said he didn't know how the guy lifted it to between centres as he had carried it into the hall for him and it was heavy. Gregory Moreton who was our demonstrator for the night lifted it with one arm while winding in the tailstock? I guess its all about application, mind you it got everybody's attention, perhaps there's something psychological going on here, Auto suggestion or Audience management? Anyway I digress, back to the plot.
As I said our guest demonstrator was Gregory Moreton a professional turner from Claygate Surrey. The tree that was placed on the bed was Monkey-Puzzle; it's best turned about three weeks from felling. The bark and spiky bits had been removed and Greg kept moving it between centres until it hand turned close on perfect, he then put a steel rod in through the drive and tapped the drive into the end of the wood to grip. I hadn't seen this method of centralising before. His lathe as you can imagine was about 12" over the bed and a heavy-duty bit of kit. It had variable speed that started at almost nothing which I think is all to do with three phase and stuff.
The guys in the front row wondered if they had chosen the right seats tonight and a bit of light banter later he was turning. He used a big roughing out gouge and the shavings just flew off, the camera to his left some six feet away had shavings hanging from it like Christmas decorations. He turned down towards the drive some and then started working on the inside leaving a 2" core for the tailstock. He then turned the drive end to take a Vicmarc chuck. He sawed off the drive spigot and replaced the piece between the chuck and tailstock. The outside was then turned to a finish then he returned to the inside. Monkey-Puzzle in the heart for about a 2" diameter core is not good timber at all. The long grain tears out in short fat pieces so to keep this on the lathe requires a great deal of skill bearing in mind this is green timber. At this point I wondered what was going on in the minds of the front row guys? They seemed somewhat quieter now. It was probably concentration! The rough torn out part around the centre core could be seen on the television monitors so that will give you some idea how soft it is. Yes, I'm sure it was concentration.
The inside was turned enough to show how to finish off leaving a natural edge but it still had that 2-inch core. On another piece previously turned and nearly finished with the 2 inch core removed he used a piece of Grass Tree root to plug the hole left when the soft material was removed from the heart. Tree root is used because it matches the heartwood.
The speed was gradually increased throughout the turning, he had an adjustable lamp on a 30" arm fixed to the lathe and you could see exactly when the correct speed was selected by the lack of movement. 700 RPM was running for the last part of the work.
Through out the evening there was a good number of items past around, one was a bowl with a very distinctive orange smell, this is the first time I had come across orange oil. There was a half-inch bowl gouge with the last two inches bent upwards; this is used very carefully as a parting off tool to remove the centre two-inch core from the bowl. You can imagine what's going on when that tool is on the rest!
Monkey Puzzle Tree is rare so it is very hard to obtain, In any case I think there's only a couple of guys in the club with the skill and the equipment to handle this particular size and timber anyway. The smaller diameter pieces nearer the top of the tree have the very decorative knots that polish nicely and the wood has the added benefit of not cracking as it dries/seasons. He uses Orange oil during the sanding process. Once turned the bowl is left for 2-3 weeks to dry before applying the 3 or 4 coats of Danish oil Danish oil.
Greg's chat was very informative with a bit of humour thrown in once in a while. He kept everybody's attention all the time and made sure we could all see and understand what was going on. I think we are going to see Gregory Moreton again.
We had the usual mid way tea/coffee break and the evening finished with the last raffle from Arthur Ellis, thank you from all the members for many years of providing the prizes and presenting it. The usual collecting my competition piece and chat with the judge, chairs away, sweeping/vacuuming, things back in the lockup and saying goodnight.
And there goes another good club night.
Boots, March 2004