October 2021 Meeting
The October meeting of the CraobhEo 2021/22 year took place on the 14th October in the CraobhEo Centre in Aghamore. This was our first get together following the Covid break.
Willie Creighton was our demonstrator for the evening.
Willie started by demonstrating some basic woodturning skills as we had some beginners and guests present. He showed how to use the skew chisel to make a pummel cut, roughing gauge to make a peeling cut and parting tool to cut in. Then he spent some time on coves, beads and ogee cuts. Plenty of tips as he went along like moving the body to make the cut and reminding us that the smaller the diameter of the piece, the faster the lathe has to spin.
The demonstration for the evening was a swirl bowl for which Willie is renowned. This is a laminated piece so he came with a partially glued up blank to explain the lamination process. He explained how to set out and cut the blank which he normally prefers to be about 8″ in diameter. Use contrasting woods, here it was mahogany with a maple insert. The blank is cut for the first time and clamping this first insert is straightforward. The inserts are about 3 – 4 mm thick and this thickness must be removed from the blank when doing the cut for the second insert. Use Titebond Original and take care when gluing up.
A fully glued up blank was then mounted on the lathe using a faceplate. Accuracy is important when marking the centre of the bowl for faceplate as this will affect the design. You must square a line from both sides to get the real centre. At this point a rim or/and a foot could be added to the blank following truing up on the lathe if required.
Remove waste from bottom of bowl and turn a spigot for remounting later. Mark the centre of the spigot to help remove it at the end. A discussion took place on spigot size and type and merits of both. Decide on the outside shape and turn using push cuts. Pick up bevel with each pass, 3/8″ bowl gouge used here. Sand and finish outside using 80 mm to 320 mm grits, with wet sanding for higher grits. Outside done.
Remount using chuck and spigot and hollow out inside. Work your way down gradually, design begins to appear as you go deeper. Hollow out until design is to your liking. Keep chisel horizontal for finishing cuts. Finally, Willie demonstrated how to remove the spigot using a jam chuck.
It was wonderful to be back together again (socially distanced) and all thoroughly enjoyed this demo. Thank you Willie for being first up and always willing to demonstrate when needed.
Competition
Competition piece for November is a three legged stool.
Winner – Tom Jordan
Second – Richard Barrett
Third – Padraig Grealis