Ryedale Woodturners
This website is being updated from August 2022. This is an archive page.
David Lowe
Thursday 3 January 2019
Snainton Village Hall
Dave started off the new year for us with a clock making demonstration, adding a little fluting and limewaxing, and finishing with some gold leaf decoration techniques. Though we don't see much of Dave as a club member any more, as he is usually travelling to or from other demonstrations around the country, we were grateful to him for taking this early year slot, and for giving the club a generous discount on his standard fee.
Three part limed oak clock
Dave's main project for the night was a clock on a pedestal, which gave him the opportunity to show us how to apply some fluting on the stem. He used oak for the project. He started by shaping the stem from a spindle blank.
A Paul Howard jig held a Makita router in place on the lathe, ready to put 24 grooves in the base. Dave used the indexer on the club's Nova lathe, but if a lathe does not have one built in, Paul Howard also makes an indexing disc.
Each groove overlapped the previous one. There was a little slippage with the flutes - Dave hadn't checked the board he clamped to the lathe bed for flatness - but not enough to cause any worries. He gave the flutes a light sanding.
Being oak, this is a suitable piece for limewaxing. Dave brushed out the grain with a stiff brush, then applied some Chestnut liming wax. Lance asked about the reaction of lime with oak. Dave inspected the ingedients - probably no real lime in the wax!
Dave suggested limewax adds a little something to oak or ash pieces, with very little extra cost or effort involved. Light woods seem to be in fashion at the moment, so the lime wax is a good finish to have in mind.
The stem complete, Dave turned a base from a small bowl blank. He sanded it, using a Makita cordless angle drill that he finds very useful for the job. He then lime eaxed it taking care to avoid the area where the glue would attach the stem.
A disc for the clock to sit in, recessed slightly to hide the white plastic rim around the insert. Sanded and waxed. A hole was carefully drilled, at a slight angle, to take the stem, and the three pieces were pressed and glued together, resulting in a limewaxed oak clock.
To finish, Dave demonstrated the use of gold leaf as decoration - actually metal leaf in this case, but the same principles apply. He turned a bow with a flat top, applied some foil adhesive, and brushed on the foil, which peels away from a double waxed paper backing.
This should have half an hour to settle, but Dave bravely turned away the centre to create a bowl with a metal foil border around it. A spray with laquer finally heps to protect the somewhat fragile decoration.
A couple of pieces by club member Lance Gerrard
Spheres
Hand made tools, including illuminated hollowing glasses