Our April demonstrator was Ian Ethell, Ian is the Vice Chairman of Trent Valley Woodturners and his demonstration was a 9 axis honey dipper.

The wood used was Ash with a 6mm offset at each end as described in his handout.

     

The handout indicates the ten steps needed to produce the dipper and Ian had a number of partially turned dippers to show the various stages.

He used a 1″oval skew and a 3/8 spindle gauge with a 40 deg. bevel angle and a thin parting tool for the dipper groves.

     

Due to the small diameter of the wood and using a skew on a square piece of wood the lathe speed used was 3,000 rpm.

The work was checked regularly through the various stages and was sanded with sand paper in a role to cover the shapes.

     

A stand was made from Rowan and a goblet shaped yoke turned to support the dipper.  The Rowan was hot melt glued to a face plate to enable it to be turned due to its oblong shape. The honey dipper was then finished using a food safe hard wax.

The second item Ian turned was a multi axis bottle stopper using Cherry. Tools used were a 1″ skew and a 3/8 spindle gouge with a thin parting tool.

         

There was a textured finish on the top of the stopper which was made using a home-made tool.  The offset was achieved by moving the wood in the chuck jaws by 2.5mm, then returning it to the centre line to part it off.

Ian also displayed a selection of his finished work.

Competition

The April competition was the first of the year and was a candlestick for our novice turners and any recently completed item of their choice from our more experienced turners.

     

Novice Turner Results;

1st   Tony Hodson

2nd   Richard Bufton

3rd   Vic Gorman

Experienced Turner Results;

1st   Brian Ford

2nd   Jon Tetley

3rd   Ellis Saveker & James Newton

Thank you to all those who entered the competition.

Our next meeting is Thursday 30th May when our demonstrator will be Paul Bellamy.

Looking forward to seeing you all then.