Feb 2018 Meeting

 

The February meeting of the CraobhEo 2017/18 year took place on the 8th Feb. in St Gerald’s College Castlebar.

Pat O’Malley was our demonstrator for the evening.

Pat decided to turn a laburnum natural edge bowl with an African blackwood foot.

A blank had already been prepared with a recess drilled to receive spigot jaws. Pat set the scene by explaining how to set out a natural edge blank, matching up sides and ends before either drilling for a spigot chuck or screwing to a faceplate.

He mounted the blank on the lathe and turned the outside to shape. A spigot was turned at the bottom about 4 mm deep and 40 mm wide for the foot. The shoulder must be flat and about 60 mm wide (depending on size of foot).

Next the African blackwood blank is mounted, shaped and a spigot turned to hold in chuck. Once mounted on the chuck, a recess is turned to receive the bowl making sure the fit is snug and no gap on the shoulder. A vee shape is then turned in the foot to the same contour as the bowl on the upper side and then opened out on the other side. Any reshaping of the bowl can take place if necessary at this stage. The foot can then be remounted and the bottom finished.

Finally the bowl is remounted and the inside hollowed out ensuring the walls are same thickness all round.

A second demo of a decorative bud vase was planned but time did not allow this to be completed. However, Pat went through the steps for the lamination. Prepare a block of wood (dark) about 160 mm long and desired size say 45 – 50 mm square. For the inner wood to be exposed, the diagonal of the square less 6 to 8 mm will be the width of the blank with the laminated veneers glued up. Three veneers of about 2 mm each are used for each face, that is 4 by 3 or a set for each side.

To illustrate the idea, Pat exposed the veneers on the blank he had prepared. The rest is drilling for the insert and final shaping.

A discussion took place on the next project for the chapter to undertake, more on this in future. Discussion on the CraobhEo centre which needs refurbishment also took place and ideas on this to be put forward.

The March meeting will again take place in St Gerald’s College on Thurs 8th March 2018.

A special word of thanks to St Gerald’s College for letting use their facility which was greatly appreciated.

 

 Monthly Chapter Competition Winners

Winner (Joint) –   Michael Ruane, Pat O’Malley

Second              –   Dickie Barrett

Third                  –   Padraig Grealish