This month’s meeting of the Nova Woodturner’s Guild was another fun and informative gathering for approximately 40 members. We were treated to an instructional segment on spindle turning and a ’show and tell’ of some great work by the Guild members.

Dave Wilkins conducted the spindle turning instruction, demonstrating the use of the skew and spindle gouge.

Working with just a scrap piece of wood, he turned it round and demonstrated the proper use of these two woodturning tools. Working with the skew he showed how the peeling cut can be used to remove a lot of material quickly and how the planing cut is used to smooth. He spoke of the ideal position of the skew on the wood, where using the middle of the blade is preferred. He validated this by showing us the riving action caused by using the heel of the blade and how using the toe easily causes a ‘catch’, the bane of the skew.

We were shown how to properly execute a bead by using the three motions of the skew – traversing the skew along the wood, raising the skew in an arc and sliding your body to the side. These have to be in sequence in order to create an appealing bead. Dave also touched on creating a pommel with the skew as well as creating coves with the spindle gouge.

There was quite an array of projects brought in by the membership tonight. There were wooden balls turned from a variety of woods, a parting tool made from a bandsaw blade, rattles and the special tools created to turn them, a large maple bowl, a spalted maple vase, a spruce burl tray, a cherry salad bowl, fishing lures and a hollow form.

Here are some photos:

The evening finished with a draw for pieces of wood that included cherry and a large block of elm.

This was another great evening, chatting with old friends and new. Looking forward to next month’s meeting.

You can find more NWG meeting related articles here if you are interested.

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