How to stop your finishes going off

Here’s a tip from one of our members If you find your finishes such as danish oil, finishing oil etc. are going off before you have chance to use them all, buy an aerosol can of nitrogen gas (commonly used for wine making) and put a squirt of the gas in the can before you […]

Beer Pump Handles for Hillside Brewery

The club attended the Fire and Wood summer event in May at our local Dean Heritage Centre and one of our members got talking to the Director of a local brewery. The brewery thought it would be a good idea if the woodturning club could make some beer pump handles. Paul Williamson, the Director of Hillside Brewery […]

Spalted Beech vessel

This piece started as a project at the Forest of Dean Woodturners club night in August 2014. It originally weighted 64lbs and when finished tipped the scales at 4.5lbs, with a final size of 20” x 14.5”.

A History of Woodturning

The earliest hints of the Art of Woodturning probably lie in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, to be found in the tombs of the Pharaohs. There, pictographs depicting a primitive bow-driven hand drill can be seen. Though this is not actually a lathe, it is the first indication of the use of the bow as a […]

Improving the cut of the Hamlet Big Brother hollowing tool

By Paul Hannaby Using the Hamlet Siragas hollowing tool (I have the Big Brother version) with the standard grind can  give a tendency for the cutter to become clogged and there can also be a tendency for the tool to "chatter", especially when the cutter is well extended over the toolrest. What follows are my […]

Colouring vessels

By Keith Fenton                  Suggested Sequence Select timber for the project (Wet wood takes a stain better? Personal choice would be Silver Birch, Sycamore or Ash with as many knots, burrs, branch wood insertions as possible). Turn the item to a finished condition as dry as possible. (Leave […]