Below are contributions from members during the Coronavirus Crisis for your perusal and inspiration.
Perhaps you might be tempted to add something of your own, a comment or some humour.

Contributions are in chronological order with the newest at the top.

(Thu 30th Jul)  Alan Brooks has managed to transform some of his purchases from the wood sale within a few days. (click for larger)

(Tue 28th Jul)  Peter Orr has been mixing wood turning with some carving :-
As well as being a member of Christchurch Woodturners, I am also a member of Alan Leagas’s Wood Craft Club at Arnewood, Sway (previously Lymington Wood Carvers). The majority of the club are wood carvers while just a few of us are turners. There had been a gentle humorous urging that the turners should try some carving. My personal view was that carving took forever whereas turning got much quicker results. However, during the lockdown, I made a conscious effort to combine both disciplines. So I chose subjects that could be turned in the early phase and then carved to complete the project.
Hence the birth of the ice cream cone complete with chocolate flake.

I followed that with the basic turning of a bun, leaving enough depth to carve a burger. I actually parted the bun about 2/3rd the way up allowing me to carve burger and cheese slice on the lower portion and lettuce and tomato on the top.

I painted both projects with acrylic paint and applied acrylic varnish to cheese and burger and then the tomato. I used a Dremel to remove wood quicker and then knives and chisels for more finesse.   Hope you enjoy this insight to carving from a wood turner.
We are always looking for new members at Alan’s and are gradually reopening with temperatures monitored and distancing adhered to.
Please contact me (Peter Orr) on 07736 328121 if you are interested.

(Mon 27th Jul)  John Knowlton has completed a lockdown 'hollow form' project of beech & window wood comprising of a total of 302 individual pieces! (Click for a closer view)

(Sun 26th Jul)  Andy Ogilvie was fascinated with the peculiar grain he found on a pine plank.

(Mon 29th Jun)  Paul & Greta Reeves have written :
We hope that you have all tidied up your workshops and are ready for your next quest!
How about having a go at turning an Acorn Box with either a push/pop on lid (or for those of you with thread chasers) a screw-on.
30mm to 50mm suggested size, with or without the stalk.


Then attach a picture to < HERE > to put up on this website.
It's just a bit of fun; no competition or judging involved.

(Tue 23rd Jun) John Bolt has submitted 3 more owls :

(Tue 16th Jun) Rick Patrick writes :
The Club had received a commission request for 4 Belaying Pins for somebody's flag staff, complete with yard arm & gaff.  With no one forward to volunteer their services after a few days, I agreed to have a go with some fruit wood I had in stock. I subsequently found (what I believed to be) a Jarrah plank, which if it was good enough for harbour piers and groynes, being left out in all weathers on a flag staff should be no problem.
I've had a few undistinguished attempts at copying turned pieces in the past so I knew how difficult it can be to get 4 identical pins.
Unfortunately, with the first one I turned, I crabbed the tool rest into the top of the handle so it became a little more oval ended than the rest but apart from that, I was pleased with the end result.
Each 'peg' was 25mm (±0.5) at the handle end with a slight taper to the bottom.
There was a similar slight taper with the handles themselves. I left them finished with 800 grit abrasive so that he could treat them with what he wanted.
I had an interesting dilemma in getting the commission to my punter.
We agreed to hand them over in the car park of Christchurch's Sainsburys in those days of heightened Covid precautions.
I parked and watched for the car he had described and when it came, I opened up my boot and laid the 'merchandise' out on the boot floor before retiring several yards away.  The punter duly inspected the goods, gave a nod of approval, gathered them up, put them into his rucksack and left an envelope on the floor.  I had waited for him to get out of the way, quickly picked up the envelope, shut the boot lid and drove off.
I started to think whether there was CCTV in that part of the car park; I wondered what the Drug Squad would have made of it.
I had a few sleepless nights waiting for a knock on my front door in the early hours of the morning!

(Thu 11th Jun) Vic Russell writes :
The question of whether you should take the tension off your Bandsaw Blades after use comes up from time to time. It just has on Facebook so I did a quick search. And found the following.
ALWAYS DE-TENSION YOUR BANDS
When you are done cutting for the day, take the tension off your blade. Band saw blades, when warmed up from cutting, always stretch; and upon cooling shrink by tens of thousandths of an inch each cooling period. Therefore, blades, when left on the saw over tension themselves and leave the memory of the two wheels in the steel of the band, which will cause cracking in the gullet. When you leave the band on your saw under tension, not only do you distort the crown and flatten out the tires (which makes them very hard), but you also place undue stress on your bearings and shafts. Believe it or not; you can, and will damage your wheel geometry sooner or later and considerably shorten bearing life. You are also crushing your tires or V-belts.

It’s from here so I guess they should know!?
https://www.suffolkmachinery.com/index.html
Look under links, six rules of sawing then scroll down.

As a point of interest, I’ve always taken the tension off the blade after use as it’s easily done on my bandsaw. I hope the information has been useful whether or not you follow it!

(Tue 26th May) Vic Russell writes :
For those that didn’t get round to turning a miniature, you don’t have to use small tools to turn them. It can be done with full size tools although I did use a detail bit I made some time ago. The rest was done with a 3/8 spindle gouge.

(Sat 23rd May)  Paul Reeves has written :
The wood store hasn't been this empty for years !

(Sat 23rd May)  Mark Codling has written :
Hi.  Hope you are all okay in this stressful time ...
I’ve been quite busy. I got a load of beach, ash and oak recently and like to turn green wood for Treen. I’d rather the bowls are used than sat on a shelf (also I hate sanding)
Got to get that pole lathe sorted as I feel it’s slightly cheating turning Treen on a powered lathe ...
Some had split but I think they improve with a bit of copper wire (very Japanese in spirit).

(Mon 18th May) Vic Russell writes :
"I don’t have any wall space for these types of tools so I used to keep stuff like this under the lathe. They used to get covered in shavings and dust though so I finally ended up putting them in a plastic tray. The tray soon got filled though and I’d “lose” stuff at the bottom. I then remembered I had a tote tray that was bigger so I transferred all the tools over. I still lost stuff though so then thought of adding a piece of ply with some holes drilled in it for the tools to sit upright and this is working out well."

(Mon 11th May) John Bolt has submitted a home-made Sphere-turning jig made from Corian,
with 3 examples of the finished work (all 80mm diameter) :

(Thu 7th May)  Paul Reeves has written :
Below is a photo of a Prisoner of War turned apple with tiny cups, plates and goblets etc. Turned in about 1946-7 and given to my grandparents as a thank you for their kindness. They arranged for several prisoners to leave the camp at Weekley and visit families in the Kettering , Northants area on Sundays so that they could attend church and then go for lunch and tea.  My Father corresponded with and visited one man's family from near Stuttgart until he died in 2004.  All the turning was probably done with a sharp nail and the wood held in a hand drill. A two man operation! They are made from boxwood (maybe from the Duke of Buccleugh's estate nearby as some of the men worked on the estate growing food etc.)

(Wed 6th May) David Game has submitted something for the kitchen and something to wave on Thursday Nights to support the NHS.

 

(Thu 30th Apr) 'Problems with my lathe' by Rick Patrick:
 I had found the speed control lever on my Axminster SL900 lathe was becoming progressively more difficult to move.
While searching Google for suggestions, I came across an Axminster 1998 publication stating that, "The motor and drive shafts should be periodically checked for build up of wood dust. We recommend that you remove the belt cover every six months in order to vacuum dust from the area and to lubricate the pulley system ... after removing the belt."

Whoops! I've owned this lathe for over 10 years after buying it from another Member. I would be most surprised if the belt cover had ever been removed in the past 14 years!

"Stop the machine on the slowest speed. Unplug power supply cable. Remove belt cover. Move speed selection lever to fast position. Remove the belt from the headstock shaft pulley, then slip the belt from the motor pulley. This pulley will now close together. If you wish to lubricate the headstock shaft pulley, now is the best time to do it. All that is required is to spray a PTFE dry lubricant BETWEEN the pulley halves. Move speed selection lever to “slow” position and spray the headstock shaft between the pulley and headstock casing."

Whoops again! That dust encrusted drive shaft had obviously absorbed moisture over the years and had corroded the metal shaft such that the speed selector had now become stuck rigid it in its fast position.
No alternative but to unscrew various circlips & grub screws and 'persuade' the individual halves of the pulleys off their slightly rusty shafts with a combination of a handmade U-shaped wedge of hardwood & an extractor.
Once I had worked out that the right hand pulley of the headstock was affixed to the shifting lever bracket so wouldn't comply with my misplaced encouragement of aforesaid wedge, the spindles swiftly became clean & smooth with some wire wool and elbow grease.
Assembly was a straight retrace of the above (although I managed to miss a grub screw and had to back step when the speed control would only move towards faster).

"To fit a new belt you will need to prise open the motor pulley, either with your finger tips or with a pair of medium flat bladed screwdrivers held on opposite sides of the pulley."
Having easily got the belt over the headstock pulleys in their 'fast' position, I found the spring on the motor shaft too strong for my fingertips, so opted for the screwdrivers. I just needed the pulleys a little more apart so just wiggled the screwdriver to move down towards the shaft when there was a 'ding' from a stressed & now broken pulley.

Oh bugg  err, bother!
Fortunately, Axminster were able to supply a new pulley set via mail order so 3 days later I was back in business.
Some points to take away :
● There is a hole in the motor shaft for oil;
● Probably better to put the belt on the motor pulleys first as once in the right position, the belt will be better able to prise open those pulleys before passing over the headstock pulley set;
● I used a thin & wide wedge of boxwood to prise open pulleys after my mishap with the screwdriver;
● Align the grub hole of the speed selector shaft with the speed number '6' for getting the speed selecting lever in the right position of '1' SLOW and so misses impeding the on/off cover;

(Thu 30th Apr) Alan Brooks has attached a couple of images of small bowls made from originally discarded wood: A shallow Oak dish and bowl from an Ash branch.   Also tried a winged bowl from a piece of Cherry.

(Wed 29th Apr) John Bolt has submitted 2 pens made with kits from Stiles & Bates and with acrylic infills.

(Fri 17th Apr) John Bolt has written :
Examples of offset spindle turning .
Hope you all are staying well.
(Tue 21st Apr) Ian Wright commented :
I like the 'im & 'er - very novel. 
Regards the wine goblet - if, after a few, your glass looks like this, it's time to stop drinking!

 

(Sat 11th Apr)  Paul Reeves has written :
This morning's project was Hornbeam, some spalted, and a bit of spalted silver birch. Two nice natural edge vase blanks as well.
Now it's just the sawdust to tidy up.

(Sat 11th Apr) A top tip from Terry Miles :

A tip from my good friend Vic Russell: if you need something soft to secure an odd shaped piece while sanding or finishing, a squash training ball is just the job. They can be had for a couple of pounds from eBay, provided you don't mind the three week wait from China.

(Thu 9th Apr)  Paul Reeves has written :
This lawn edger was broken at work a few days ago so I brought it home for the blade to be fitted with a new shaft. The ash used for the original handle was very brittle and soft so I found a nice solid piece of ash for the replacement. The shaft is 30" long and turned without a steady. Finished with a coat of hard wax oil.

(Thu 9th Apr) John Bolt has added a new cocobola mini helmet to his collection.

Paul Reeves wrote on Saturday, 4th April :
We were going to be stuck in all weekend with nothing much to do so we have been cutting down trees today. Three self-sets that were 20' high growing in the border next to where Greta parks the TT.  I meant to take them out when they were 5' high!!!!   2 beech and an ash.
Also the big dead oak with the seat round it is no longer vertical with some to be milled tomorrow. I don't think it would have been too long before it fell over anyway. Let's hope that the Duster will haul it out of the hole.


(Looks like fresh supplies for the Club Wood Sale in a year or two)

Vic Russell writes :
 "Not Woodturning I know but as some may be aware, there’s a fad on FaceBook at the moment for making Squirrel tables from scraps of wood!
  This is my attempt."

(I remember watching TV programmes with squirrels working with tight ropes, hoop jumping and pulling sticks out of a maze to release some food. How's Vic's picnic table going to test them.  Oh --- hang on a minute.  How high is this table off the ground?)

For info :
Below is a graph illustrating the time we spend looking at exponential graphs (Terry Miles)

Beware... 
Your webmaster has just received the following attachment in an email sent to the CSW's Coronavirus email address and slipped through my anti-virus software!
Please view at least 2 metres from the screen, stay at home & stay safe.



As we started making our own Pizza’s a while back, I bought a Pizza Peel for getting them into and out of the oven. The metal blade was ok but the rectangular section wooden handle was useless so I turned this today. A simple job for what is fast becoming an essential kitchen tool!


Some Members might remember the laminated stool that I made for my granddaughter and entered into the 'spindle and faceplate' turned competition.  I had some offcuts left over from the legs and made a handle from them.
The keyless chuck was only £6 or so from China but works really well.


This bowl was rough turned from a chunk of Plane last June and finished last week with a decorative band using a mix of beading, pyrography and spirit pens to achieve the result.  Additionally, I've clearly got more time on my hands than I care to admit so have a go at this Horizontal Crossword with answers all relevant to woodturning.  Regards, Andy Ogilvie.  < CROSSWORD >
(Send completed crossword back to the Webmaster and I'll keep a score of who has succeeded or give you a clue if you went wrong)


More podlets from John Bolt in black, white & natural.

Following Paul's demo on offset spindle turning, I enclose pictures of a candle holder which I started a year or so ago and just completed as a rounded triangular spindle type.


I also made a rabbit box this month in time for Easter.  David Game.
(Nice to see how you did it - RP)


I turned this on my sphere jig the other day.
5” diameter in sycamore and a couple of other hardwoods, one possibly walnut.
Lego Carpenter for scale!
...  also in the picture, a new cup chuck I made to fit my OneWay live centre to support the ball when sanding.

 Vic.