WEEK COMMENCING 14 JUNE 2020

Hi again

Phew, what a week! You might know that we’ve had to postpone the Woodturning Weekender for this year, for obvious reasons, and I’ve been dealing with the admin relating to that. Not easy! If you have a ticket for this event but haven’t yet told me of your intentions, please do so SOON!
All is not lost though, we are taking the Weekender on-line instead, over the same weekend, 1-2 August. There will be live demos, a chance to chat to other turners, and the pub quiz as well. If you’ve been put off in the past by the travelling or cost of staying over, this could be a great way to experience the fun of a Weekender without having to leave your chair. To get all the news about it sign up for the bulletins here – first one comes out on Sunday, so don’t hang around!
Shall we do some questions?

Do you remember last week and the unanswered question about the piece of yew that refused the shine (sounds like it could be a children’s story!)?
I had a number of suggestions sent in, thank you, Chestnuteers!
  • With yew that has been drying for a very long time,sometimes the end grain wood has dried out and started to become difficult to get a good finish right off the tool. It’s as if it’s lost something that’s part of the wood’s natural structure. Sanding to just 400 isn’t enough. It’s got to be sanded to 1000 plus before it starts to become glossy.
  • Was there perhaps hint of white in the yew? If its grown on chalk then a lot of turners won’t use it, maybe that’s what is giving the problems, could any chalk in the wood be causing a reaction of some kind?
  • If the item was being buffed with our Buffing System, might they have been too enthusiastic with the white wax (Compound 2), that will leave a ‘greasy’ surface that is not easily polished to a shine
I don’t know for sure if any of these are the definitive answer, but if it provides some extra information then it’s been worthwhile.
Here’s one that sent us into a bit of a fluster. ‘Is Tung Oil toxic’ we were asked, ‘as my dog has just been drinking it and is now being sick’. Well, it’s certainly a completely natural product with no solvents or particular nasties in it, but safe to drink? All of the data we have concerns ‘Health and Safety at Work’ and that deals with exposure to fumes, fire risks and storage etc. Drinking the stuff isn’t normal practice.
We reckoned that there probably wouldn’t be any long term effects, but better to be safe than sorry and a trip to the vet was recommended. We checked the next day and we’re really pleased to say that everything was fine, the dog had been checked over, given charcoal to line his stomach and was all good the next day. The lesson here is that dogs aren’t always as intelligent as we think they are, so make sure there are no open jars or tins or other containers available for them to sample! I’d expect the smell of some products to deter them, but some of them aren’t that unpleasant.

Finally for this week, a quick question about our Buffing System. A customer had bought the standard kit with the 8 inch wheels and wanted to get the 4 inch versions. These are great for small items and the insides of shallow dishes/bowls. The question was, would they fit the mandrel he already had?
Of course they will! We wouldn’t expect anyone to have to buy another mandrel! All of the items in our Buffing System are interchangeable, using an M8 thread as standard. We were rewarded with an order from this kind person within minutes. Thank you!

And we’re at the end already. As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed the Newsletter; if so, remember to tell any of your friends who might be interested. There will be another one along next week!
I’m hoping to join Stewart Furini for his live demo about airbrushing on Sunday afternoon (just find him on YouTube) and hopefully I’ll see you there. Whilst you’re on YouTube have a quick look at Nathanael Griffiths,  a young turner with a passion for segmented work. Worth subscribing too, it’s great to see the art of turning being perpetuated.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our Woodturning Weekender Bulletins if you want to find out the latest.  If I don’t see you on Sunday I’ll see you back here next Friday.

Cheers

Terry