Ryedale Woodturners
Woodturning news 2025
ANNUAL CLUB COMPETITION
AND SOCIAL EVENING
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 4 December 2025 7:00 - 9:30pm
Posted on 7 December 2025 Our annual club competition took place on this, our last club meeting of the year. There were 36 entries, in three categories (Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced), with judging by votes cast from all 48 members and guests who attended. An excellent buffet was organised by Phil, a Yorkshire picture quiz by Geoff (questions and answers available if interested), a crossword by Geoff, a guess-the-pieces challenge (1127!) for two segmented vases created by Martyn, and a Chairman's Challenge to make a needle case. Unfortunately the photos taken on the night did not come out well, so there are none to share here.
Competition winners and more information can be found in the 7 December issue of the club newsletter.
EXHIBITION AND SALE
Hill Institute, Thornton le Dale, 29 - 30 November 2025
Posted on 26 October 2025 A two-day exhibition and sale of woodturning saw lots of people, and their dogs, come and have a look, talk to us, and buy some of our work, despite a very rainy Saturday and very cold Sunday. One of our best sales since we started running them in 2016.
HANDS ON EVENING
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 13 November 2025
Posted on 26 October 2025 We held a Hands On evening on Thursday 13 November, at Snainton Village Hall, 7:00 - 9:30. An enjoyable and productive evening with 15 learner turners and 7 tutors. Another event from our club training programme, with tutors giving their time free, and only a small fee of £3 charged to cover the cost of the Hall rental. These events are for members only, but at £25 per year membership fee, I think even attending on one evening makes the annual fee well worth while - and there is so much more that comes with belonging to the club. Enrolments for the New Year are on Thursday 8 January, when we will run an Open Evening and enrolment for 2026.
RICHARD FINDLEY DEMONSTRATION
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 6 November 2025
Posted on 9 November 2025 Richard presented us with a masterclass on the techniques and thought processes behind turning a classic bowl. As he said, this looks very simple, but most things that look simple have a lot of detail and experience behind them. An excellent evening, full of information about wood, tools and techniques, enjoyed by all on our large screen in the Hall.
HANDS ON DAY
Broughton, Tuesday 21 October 2025
Posted on 26 October 2025 Another of our hands on days was held on Tuesday 21 October, at John Lund's workshop in Broughton, near Malton. An enjoyable and productive day with 9 learner turners and 6 tutors. Our next training session is on the evening of 13 November 2025 at Snainton Village Hall. Note this is not an Open Evening and booking is required to ensure a place is available.
STEVE FEARNLEY DEMONSTRATION
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 2 October 2025
Posted on 6 October 2025 Steve went through the processes involved in turning and assembling some wooden ornaments. THis involved careful sizing of components such as eyes and feet, and a glue joint technique for a pair of ears. He also talked a little about what items sell well at the club sales, and what doesn't. Also ideas for displaying work were presented, with thanks to Geoff Walker for setting up a display with shelving, tripods, hooks and racks. A video of the demonstration is available on YouTube. A write-up with photos is available on this site.
EXHIBITION AND SALE
Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September 2025
Hill Institute, Thornton le Dale
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
We welcomed hundreds of people (and dogs!) to our exhibition and sale on a cool but fine day, sold 120 items, and had some very pleasant conversations with people from all over the country. Our next sale is on the weekend of 29 and 30 November, once again at the Hill Institute in Thornton le Dale.
IAN ETHELL DEMONSTRATION
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 4 September 2025
Posted on 10 September 2025 Ian took us through the processes involved in making an unusual off-centre bud vase, and a thin square dish. Very precise tooling was involved, and some careful planning and thinking ahead. He presented us with detailed diagrams showing how to make the pieces, available to members on request. A video of the demonstration is available, to members only.
OPEN EVENING
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 7 August 2025
Posted on 24 August A successful open evening saw over 60 people in attendance at the Village Hall, informed and entertained by 6 demonstrations on lathes, pyrography and sharpening systems. The club shop was in operation, and sold a large quantity of timber, second hand tools and woodworking products. And refreshments were provided of course.
THORNTON LE DALE SHOW
Wednesday 6 August 2025
Posted on 24 August A lovely warm and sunny day once again for the Show, with large numbers of people visiting (estimated between 12000 and 15000) and many of them coming in to our marquee. We also had entries in the woodworking category of the Handicrafts cometition section, a clean sweep for club members.
MARTYN WELLER DEMONSTRATION
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 3 July 2025
Posted on 27 July Martyn took us through the thought processes in designing a vase inspired by the classic Grecian urn, including the use of the golden ratio: 1.618…(or (1+√5)/2 to be exact). As Keats said in Ode on a Grecian Urn, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”. As Martyn said in response to Geoff’s question "What’s a Greek Urn?", "about 30 bob a week" (Morecambe and Wise). There are calipers available for measuring in the golden ratio, or you can make your own – have a look at YouTube. During the demonstration Martyn covered a number of turning techniques and offered handy tips generated from experience – including picking up fallen items, stopping shavings getting in drinks, and how to take "half a smidgeon" from the inside of a vase. He finished the vase at home – see the photo here. A video recording of the evening is available on YouTube . All delivered with Martyn’s usual brand of humour, clarity and precision. As John summarised at the end – we have a wealth of skill and experience in the club, it was good to see an example of this on display during the evening.
FINISHING PRODUCTS DEMONSTRATION
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 26 June 2025
Posted on 2 July Nathaneal Griffiths guided us through a range of finishing products, explaining clearly why you would use them, in what order to apply them, and how to prepare for them. He started with cellulose sanding sealer on a piece of ash with the grain emphasised using a liming wax brush, followed by ivory lacquer as a base for rainbow wax, finishing with burnishing cream. A convincing demonstration of Air Purge Spray showed how it would preserve finishes for longer once opened. He also used melamine, friction polish and cut and polish. He finished off demonstration the buffing system with three wheels and three different wax compounds.
HELEN BAILEY DEMONSTRATION
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 5 June 2025
Posted on 25 May 2025. Updated 8 June Helen talked us through how to turn a thin wall bowl, down to about 2 mm thick or less. Working an inch at a time, and using Pat Carroll scissors calipers to test the thickness, the bowl held in O'Donnell jaws which give greater access to the foot of the bowl. After the break she talked about options for piercing, from Dremel, Foredom and Presto pneumatic drill. She used the Foredom, working at around 35000 rpm. Using the Presto spins 10 times faster, but creates burn marks inside the pierced holes.
Helen asked that we didn't post a video on YouTube, but there is a write-up with photos avaiablel of her piercing demonstration.'
TRAINING DAY, BROUGHTON
Sunday 1 June 2025, 10am - 4pm
Posted on 8 June 2025. 10 trainees and 6 tutors met at John's in Broughton for another successful and enjoyable day's turning. A mix of abilities and choice of project filled the day. With many thanks to John for his hospitality.
CHRIS PARKER DEMONSTRATION
Snainton Village Hall, Thursday 1 May 2025
Posted on 6 April. Updated 25 May 2025. Chris brought us a lively performance of turning, texturing and airbrushing. This took us on a journey through different tools and techniques. Very impressive was a quick-change of jaws on his chuck – this was an Easywood chuck (from Axminster). If you would like one, they are £470. They have an ingeniously simple 5-second method of locking and unlocking the jaws just by pressing a rod into a small hole.
Chris presented some “alternative” techniques to us, some of which were not for the faint hearted: an Arbortech used against a turning bowl to create a spiral pattern, smoke churning out of dimples made in a “whimsical goblet” using a micromotor running at 50,000 rpm with a Kutzall burr, an 8” square blank held against an abrasive disc while a chucking point was put on – with an adapted tool to get in alongside the tailstock centre.
EXHIBITION AND SALE
Hill Institute, Thornton le Dale. Saturday 26 - Sunday 27 April 2025 10am - 4pm
Posted on 1 March 2025. Updated 30 April 2025. A lovely warm and sunny weekend saw lots of people visitng the village, and visiting us to look at our woodturning. A successful event, with over 100 items sold, and hundreds of kind words from the many visitors we saw.
Dan Fearnley demonstration
Thursday 3 April 2025, 7.00 - 9.30pm
Posted on 10 February 2025. Updated 6 April 2025 Dan Fearnley, another first-time demonstrator at our club, and presenting his first demonstration, talked us through how he makes children's stools, often for christenings or birthdays, usually with pyrographed inscriptions and a decorative picture on the seat. He took us through how to repeat a pattern on the legs, with the use of templates and calipers, how to create a flat seat, how to drill holes for the legs at 10 degree angles, how to transfer a design to the wood from paper, and how to colour the design once the outlines were pyrographed - preventing any bleed along the grain from the inks used. Reasons for design and tool choices were given throughout the demonstration. A very successful first outing for Dan, and we hope to see more in years to come. A video of the demonstration is available on YouTube. There is also a write-up with photos on this website
Training Day, Ebberston
Monday 17 March 2025, 10am - 4pm
Posted on 10 February 2025. Updated 25 March 2025 12 trainees and 6 tutors met at Andy's in Ebberston for another successful and enjoyable day's turning. It was good to welcome two new members (Richard and Micky) and a new tutor, Dan. Also good to visit the Grey Whippet for a pint of Guinness on St Patrick's Day! Regarding our next training opportunity, we are working on organising a day at John Lund’s workshop in Broughton, probably Sunday 1 June, 10am – 4pm. Further details to follow.
Dan Smith demonstration
Thursday 6 March 2025, 7.00 - 9.30pm
Posted on 10 February 2025. Updated 25 March 2025 Dan Smith, a first-time demonstrator at our club, talked us through how to make a bird feeder, centred around a glass strawberry Kilner jar (Phil Coe found some on sale in Yorkshire Trading), with three pieces. This allowed him to demonstrate standard bowl turning techniques, and talk about chucking points - recess or spigot - how to drill on the lathe with the aid of a toolrest post guide, and how to glue and hold pieces during creation. He also discussed the reasons for various design choices developed along his journey with this project. A video of the demonstration is available on YouTube.
Paul Hannaby demonstration
Thursday 6 February 2025, 7.00 - 9.30pm
Posted on 5 January 2025. Updated 10 February 2025 A successful evening, with a very good turnout (46), three new members, and a few old members re-enrolling, taking our current total to 72.
A fascinating look at thread chasing, and turning a needle case with a screw thread lid. Paul took us through the basic tools, the techniques involved and the design steps leading to the final product. Paul used a piece of box, ideal for thread chasing as it is hard with very tight, even grain. On turning to round he revealed some bark remaining and a crack, but by judicious positioning of the wood he was able to minimize the potential problems: acting in the moment with skills learnt through experience over many years. Steady away, trial and improvement proved the way to success, carefully edging towards the correct sizes and fit.
OPEN EVENING and 2025 ENROLMENT
Thursday 2 January 2025 7:00 - 9:30pm
Posted on 5 January 2025 An enjoyable and successful evening, with almost 50 people in attendance, despite the bitterly cold and threatening weather. We are off to a good start for 2025. Enrolment is of course still possible - at the next meeting, or by BACS. Contact the Club secretary for details, or have a look at the latest news bulletin. There is also a write-up and more photos from the evening in this bulletin.
Review of 2025
A short video reviewing the activities of the club throughout 2025 is available on YouTube.
Have a look at Ryedale Woodturners Review of 2025.