Another Good Club Night - November 2006

This last month has been very busy for me away from the club and to add to that this month's competition drew a complete blank with me. I had absolutely no idea what to do let alone how I was going to find time to do it. I finally went down to the workshop at about 8.30pm on the Monday before the Wednesday club night and just looked around. The project was "A bit of turned fun for Christmas" and at the clubhouse I did remember hearing somebody say "It could be that it was fun turning it". So with that thought in mind I looked around for inspiration.

My first thought was to turn a bowl as I do enjoy turning them, I had a stack of about a dozen blanks looking at me and one being spalted caught my eye. I turned one of these a while back (again for our competition) and when I finished I noticed the black spalting outlining the shape of a Hedgehog which I thought was a good thing to look out for in the future. I thought that when I'm turning the inside mainly, I should look out for specific shapes to appear as it gives the piece character. So I though I'd put this piece on the lathe and perhaps another shape would appear. Yea right, shaped like a Christmas tree I suppose, well I did think it was a long shot but it still went on the lathe, as there was nothing else I could think of.

Cut along story short I turned a flat profiled bowl with my usual cove'd edge to it and yes you've guessed it, there was not an outline of anything to be seen. But looking at the bowl on the bench with its very broad base it was crying out to be raised, three Father Christmas's would look just great and that's what I did. I went down to the workshop on Tuesday also around 8.30pm and made the base and bits. I put the finishing touches to it late on Wednesday only hours before the judging.

So with the delicate piece wrapped up carefully and my box of bits I need I made my way to the clubhouse. I got there before Don, bet you never thought you'd hear me say that. But Robin was already there so we let ourselves in and put the kettle on. As usual the time went quickly and with ten minutes to go we still didn't have a demonstrator. Everything was ready but the demo; some members had heard reports of problems on the Motorway so we guessed it was that. As we spoke John arrived and with many willing helpers his lathe was on a stand and ready with all his kit opened and he and Paul had even managed a cup of coffee just seconds before the start. How's that for efficiency aye.

So it was time for Don to open the meeting, we had the relevant notices and Don passed over for me to introduce John. I asked to do this as we are trying spread the work load for members at an event so everybody gets to enjoy their time there and secondly because I know John pretty well now and it was a priviladge to introduce him.

So our guest for tonight was John Davis from Stockbridge, I said a few words and handed over to him. Well it took off right away because Bill knows him well and there was a bit of banter about which always goes down well. John briefly explained what he intended to do tonight then started working on the pre mounted bowl blank. He stopped once in a while to answer questions or to explain the cut or method, the blank slowly transformed into a lovely flying saucer shaped bowl with texturing underneath, John applied the colouring to this area and we went into the tea/coffee break to let it dry. During the break he was surrounded by inquisitive members asking those all-important questions, Paul was busy to. After the break he worked on the top, once it was shaped and power sanded the colouring was applied. The inside of the bowl was finished and the whole thing was spray finished, it had a good sheen to it which made the bowl look quite stunning. This was received with a round of applause from the audience. To fill in the last few minutes of the demo John quickly did a run through of the project the novices did at our day in his workshop a while back.

During the demo I supplied John with a kitchen roll and some water as he was getting rather warm working up there in the spot light. It may not sound much but there was a lot of explaining and stopping to answer member's questions in between the turning, especially about the colouring and tool work. It's always very useful if members ask the questions, we used to find that they where reluctant to shout out there question, hands up don't always get noticed. It's the banter that helps relax the audience along with, and I'm proud to say this, we are a very friendly club now where I think most members know most of the others and chat to them regularly. So back to John, I think his lathe has caught the attention of some as well and I know at least two of our members have purchased a lathe from him. John comes across as an understanding teacher who is willing to spend time explaining things without making you feel it's a stupid question. (I know what your think Les when you've read that last bit) So with the demo finished I thanked John and the audience applauded well. I mentioned that John has now become a member of our club and that a new list was being made of members interested in his one day workshops, John has also agreed to do a demo at our turn-in in February.

I handed back to Don who read out the competition results and a couple of bits and passed over to Trevor for the raffle, sadly I clean forgot to get any tickets this time #*$". As the numbers where drawn the members helped John with his gear and ours disappeared into the cupboard and the tables and chairs where stacked. As usual it was all over to quick, so there was the last minute arrangements and things to sort, the lights to go out and locking of doors, and there goes another good club night.

Boots- November 2006