Ian Ethell

Thursday 4 April 2024

Snainton Village Hall

We welcomed Ian Ethell from the East Midlands, though staying in York at the time, visiting Ryedale Woodturners for the first time.

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Offset honey dripper with stand

Ian passed round some handouts showing a plan for the different stages of the project. A copy is available on this website. The idea was originally created as a small project that only costs a few pence, for one of Trent Valley Woodturners' club competitions. It starts with a 30 x 30 x 200mm blank. (IS it a honey dipper or a honey dripper? You choose.)

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Centres were marked in the usual way at each end (cross of diagonal corner to corner), then two offest centres 6mm either side of these were marked - on the same diagonal at both ends. These were numbered 1 2 3 to help get the right pairings, using the plan, as the work progressed. As Ian makes quite a few of these, he had made a 3 point bradawl for the job. Ian had a set of eight models of the different stages in progress, which he displayed on his exhibits table.

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Ian marked out the blank roughly with a felt tip pen, using a honey dripper already made as a template. Normally he would use a story stick - a piece of plywood marked out with the various measurements, but he had left this at home. Accuracy is not too important for this project.

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Ian started on the handle, actually noted as stage 2 on the plan, as he had abandoned an earlier stage 1 as not necessary. . The blank is offset at this stage using centre 3 at both ends. He turned it to shape with an oval skew chisel. This creates a sort of banana shape for the handle.

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The next stage was to fix the blank between the true centres (No.2 position), and turn the dripper end. The area was marked out with V cuts using the long end of a skew, then taken down to round with a peeling cut, using the skew flat. A slight roll of the skew turned the required barrel shape - easier with an oval skew than a flat skew. It is important to get the shape before making the indents/blades - they may break off if done first and then shaped.

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Moving down the dripper, the next stage was to turn the shaft - this one is on centre two at the headstock and 1 at the tail. Ian used a spindle gouge to take away the material down to the shaft diameter. Following this three ribs were turned, each on different axes, again using a spindle gouge. The possibility of potential breakage increases from this stage onwards.

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Some waste was removed from the dripper end with a skew. This was followed by yet another change in axis, to turn the end of the handle. It is important to leave enough in the centre at the tilstock end to support the change of axis for the final stage. With the handle end shaped, the piece was parted off at the tailstock end, and then the waste on the handle was removed by hand with a chisel. A little light sanding at each end, and the honey dripper was finished and passed around for inspection.

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To make a stand for the honey dripper, Ian started by making a small cupped holder. He turned this from a small spindle, flat rather than square, held in some pin jaws on a chuck. The cup was turned used a 3/8" spindle gouge, and then the stem profiled with the same tool, ending in a short dowel to attach it to a base.

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A thin length of ash, bevelled around the edges, was squeezed in place between centres and an old Longworth chuck, glued to the base using hot melt glue - just a few dabs around the edges. A small dish was turned out of the base at one end using a spindle gouge.

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And that was the final product made. A honey dripper turned on 9 axes, with a small stand. Ian just managed to finish for about 9:50, and the demonstration was well received by the audience. Another good club night by all accounts.

With many thanks to Jonathan for taking photos in my absence.