The demonstrator for our April meeting was Robert Till who gave us an informative and entertaining demonstration using wet wood.

   

He told us what to look out for when drying the wood and methods to try and prevent the item from cracking.

     

After rough turning the initial shape of the wood you can weigh your rough turning and mark it with the date and weight or use a water meter to check the water content. He then demonstrated the use of PVA to cover the outer surface, leaving the inside free for the water to evaporate from, alternatively if PVA is not available you can cover the item in cling film or pack it into a bag with wood shavings.

 

   

Once happy that the wood has dried out sufficiently you can re-mount it and finish turning, a light source inside can be used to indicate a constant thickness.  Robert did point out however there is no guarantee the item would still not move or crack.

Competition.

We also held our first competition of the year, which was extremely well supported.

Novices – Candlestick

Intermediate and Experienced Turners – any item recently turned

Competition Results Novices;

1st – Phil Kendall

2nd – David Waring

3rd – Rachel Cecil and Adrian Vaughan

 

Competition Results Intermediate and Experienced;

Joint 1st – Brian Ford  and Roy Hadley

2nd – Peter Dennis

3rd – John Tetley

   

Thank you to all those who took part, our topic for novices next month is a goblet with intermediate and experienced turner to bring a new item from their workshop.

We would also like to thank all those who brought in items for us to sell at our forthcoming shows.

Our next meeting is Thursday May 25th when our demonstrator will be Richard Finley.