Old News – 2024
October 2024
In October we welcomed back Wolfgang Schulze-Zachau who last visited us in June of 2023. That was just after he had been accepted onto the Register of Professional Turners and while the TV show “Britain’s Best Woodworker 2023” was being aired, in which he finished as runner-up.
The subject for the demonstration was a German ring turning of a star. The ‘star’ was formed as a ring around the central axis of the lathe and then sliced into segments to make multiple copies – a process which took a lot of planning and imagination! After the turning was over, Wolfgang then gave us a ‘behind-the-scenes’ tour of the making of “Britain’s Best Woodturner”.
September 2024
In September Mick Hanbury joined us for both an evening demonstration and an all day demonstration on Thursday 12th September. Both demonstrations featured decorative turning including excellent tool handling skills and techniques. On the Wednesday evening the subject was a textured shield / wall hanging. The all day session on the Thursday featured an eternal ring on a stand from one piece of wood, a trinket box and, by audience demand, an extremely thin walled goblet.
“What a great day, I really enjoyed Mick’s demonstration, one of the best I’ve seen.”
“Was excellent, enjoyable and fun while giving loads of info.”
“Fully agree. That demo takes some beating. Yes, one of the best, if not the best. Tool control and overall presentation, excellent.”
“Magic day. One of, if not the best, day demos we have had.”
Just some of the comments on the club’s WhatsApp channel after Mick’s all-day demo
Frampton update
Despite the slightly dodgy looking weather* the club had a good day at Frampton Country Fayre this year. The final totals are still being calculated, but it looks like being one of our highest sales – all good news for this year’s charity, Cotswold RDA (and we may have managed to find them an experienced horse loving volunteer too!).
Wood sales went well and the tombola was it’s usual reliable source of small donations though the lack of early prize winners did have us worying that the winning tickets hadn’t been put into the drum. A quick audit proved this was wrong, people had just been unlucky and the chances of winning were increasing all the time…
(* It was dry all day until 20 minutes from the end when everything got soaked. Thankfully Mike’s big van meant we could just pile the tent into it loose and try to get it dried later in the week.)
May 2024
May saw another new demonstrator for GAW, Peter came to us from Herefordshire where he was the Membership and Programme secretary of the Herefordshire woodturners. He has recently been approved by the AWGB as a Tutor.
Peter started turning wood as a creative pastime in the mid-90s whilst living and working in the field of International Development in East Africa and South Asia. His motivation at the time .. he has always loved working with wood, and woodturning provided an ideal way to de-stress after an intense day of meetings and travel. Directing a razor sharp tool into a chunk of irregular wood rotating at speed requires ALL of your attention !!
April 2024
The last meeting was the club AGM, followed by a fascinating talk by stroud based clock case restorer Will Cook. He let us into a few of the secrets of making a clock case appear ‘old’ by avoiding modern tools and techniques and going back to what was ‘the art of the possible’ from several centuries ago.
New Charity – Cotswold RDA
At the AGM it was decided that our charity for 2024/5 will be Cotswold Riding for the Disabled who operate from their facilities on Cheltenham Racecourse.
Cotswold RDA provides a safe and friendly environment for people of all ages living with a disability. Riding with them not only improves physical and mental well-being but, enhances quality of life.
They are one of the largest RDA groups in the country, with excellent facilities including indoor and outdoor arenas, 10 stables and grazing, all of which needs funding.
March 2024
The March club meeting saw Robert Till RPT join us from Staffordshire. Robert was last with us in May 2019 and is obviously in demand on the demonstration circuit – we were the second of seventeen bookings he has so far this year stretching from the Kennet to the Scottish borders. He demonstrated an invloute candlestick for us and overcame the dificulty of getting square stock to start with by buying it as four sides planed pine from Wickes. A lot cheaper and easier than trying to get a piece of Oak square with a thicknesser and, after a spray with ebonising laquer, no one would know what the base wood was anyway. The demonstration was well attended and enjoyed by all levels of turner.
Network Crafts
Are you interested in woodturning but don’t have access to a lathe or anywhere to put one?
Do you already turn but would like some company while you do so?
GAW are aware of a facility in Gloucester which may be able to help.
Network Crafts are located alongside Fairshares at the Chequers Bridge Community Centre off Barton St, Gloucester. They have a variety of woodworking equipment available for use, including several lathes. All use is on a self-supervised basis, and they are unable to provide training, so we would recommend that any member thinking of using this facility first attends at least one GAW training session to learn the basics of woodturning, including Health and Safety (of everyone, not just yourself !). While the GAW is not endorsing this facility, it does look like a good opportunity to access tooling which you may not otherwise be able to access, and several members already make use of it. If you are interested in learning more then please contact Network Craft’s membership co-ordinator David Walesby (or call him on 01452 713888) – or have a chat to him at a club meeting.
February 2024
The last club meeting saw Kate Kitchen make her debut at the GAW. She talked about her journey into woodturning and how she runs the different aspects of her business. The demonstration was of how to turn small animals / objects with a sheep and a chicken being joined by an egg (for Easter). We finally got proof that the chicken came before the egg!
Background image by Ivan Ilijas from Pixabay