Wood Turning

The Woodturning group will start this year with the wonderful news that our new lathe will be installed very early in February, if not earlier.
The Vicmark lathe has been sighted and we are waiting for a few of the extras to arrive before installation, plus the opening of the Shed of course. The lathe will be able to spin up to 600mm in diameter.
The possibility of turning up some very large bowls is now a reality. Having run induction courses over the last couple of years, these will continue. It is now time to expand and introduce bowl turning as an extra course enabling members to achieve their Yellow dot.
More information will be available as soon as we create the program when the shed reopens. The course will firstly entail an extension of spindle turning, which will include eccentric turning, pen turning, vases, rolling pins with Celtic knots, laminated spindle turning and any jobs the men wish to do. This will then lead up to bowl turning. Everything from the normal bowl to the biscuit and dip bowl, fruit bowl, square edge bowls, natural edge bowls and all other styles that we can think of.With men achieving their yellow dot, we will then look at laminated bowls, and if possible we will try to start segmented turning, both normal and open segmented styles. The woodturning guys will have to use their woodworking skills to make jigs for this part of the program.
This is where the fun really starts, a lot of preparation is needed to achieve this style of turning, but I am sure there are a few hearty souls willing to have a go. Selecting the different timbers to be used, determining the width and height of the vase/bowl/whatever can take some time. Designing the pattern of the bowl can be demanding but with a few hours prep it will lead to some magnificent bowls, vases, table lights, etc. Just a thought for anyone contemplating doing woodturning:
EVERY EXPERT WAS ONCE A BEGINNER AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE GREAT TO START, BUT YOU HAVE TO START TO BE GREAT.
Hopefully I have aroused some interest in woodturning. If you wish to do either course (learners and advanced) please put your name, membership number, email and phone number on the clipboard at the office. When we have the numbers we will start either course. Only one course will be run at a time.