Woodbury Woodturners Club
Encouraging, developing and promoting the art and science of woodturning
Learn MoreNovember AGM, Craft Fair and Annual Dinner Wednesday 17th December 2025
Hi All
Firstly my apologies to Thomas Smith, who I wrongly said was Thomas Swift and had won second place in the Intermediate Class - I stand corrected
So the AGM saw a review of the year with consensual agreement that we would keep affiliated membership to AWGB. That we would keep holding a couple of all day meetings with visiting woodturners demonstrating, and that Shelia joined the committee whilst Michael Merritt was given Honorary lifetime membership.
I hope i have that correct and is a very simple synopsis of the well attended club meeting
Congratulations on Richard Stupples for winning the wood identification quiz, and he has promised to replace the piece of wood with something different for next year
For those that are wanting a head start on next year
The programme is currently
15/01/2026 = Club night where Richard Stupples will be demonstrating making a picture frame
19/02/2026 = Club night with open competition
19/03/2026 = Club night
16/04/2026 = Club night
May 2nd 2026 = All day demonstration
21/05/2026 = Club night with competition "Relative to Nature with a partially natural edge"
18/06/2026 = Club night - evening demonstration
27th June 2026 = The Summer Barbecue
16/07/2026 = Club night
July 25th 2026 = All day demonstration
August 21st 2026 = Set up for annul show
22nd August 2026 = Annual Show, with competitions for Open class, Bowl or platter, money box and goblet or chalice
17/09/2026 = Club Night with Presentation Awards
15/10/2026 = Club night with competition "Matching Pair"
19/11/2025 = Club night = AGM
November 28th 2026 = Woodbury Christmas Fair
17/12/2026 = Club night with competition "Hanging Christmas Ornament"
Moving on to the Christmas Craft Fair, I'm just going to put some photos in this next section just to illustrate a little of what was on offer and hopefully spark some imagination
Lastly a big thank you to Richard Pegler who not only organised the craft fair but also organised the Christmas dinner that 18 people attended.
Hopefully that will be done again next year and more encouraged to attend as its nice to have time to socialise.
Please don't forget Thursday 18th December for the last club night of the year and the competition of a "toy with wheels" as well as mince pies, non alcoholic mulled wine and carols from the local coral societies.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all
October Club Night Friday 14th November 2025
John Rockey came and delivered a third session on decorating turned pieces
Starting with a tea light holder,
John then proceeded to add a texture using the "Sorby Spiraling Tool" (other makes are likely available)
applying a gentle flame to remove the loose fibres following texturing ( this can be done with a stiff brush) John then added a colour using Chestnut iridescent paint which unlike J Songa doesnt require a dark back ground to be added prior to use.. There are other types available and for those using general acrylic paints there is a medium which can be added to produce a similar effect
Having cleaned up the edges and then using a flexi shaft engraving tool proceeded to apply a random pattern of holes which then were coloured.
John kindly sent round one of his previously made pieces rather than passing round the current piece of work to allow everyone to see how the work would be finished
John then proceeded to demonstrate obtaining patterns and effects just by punching holes (leather punches) in masking tape and
painting through to provide patterns on the sanded surface
Again John was kind enough to circulate a finished piece to show the effects
John then proceeded to pattern a teal light holder with a burr in the rotary flexishaft
this was more to illustrate that it was not a laid out formal design but just a random weave of holes however the key to the success is to ensure that a light pencil line guides the artisan around the piece to ensure that the two ends meet rather than drifting away. if you look closely you can see the sheen of the pencil line above John's thumb
John then proceeded with demonstrating the spiral tool to produce a "lemon peel effect" on a tea light holder
by holding the tool absolutely square to the work the spiraling tool then added
a stippled texture
The one comment John was clear about, the session was about encouraging you as a member to explore the possibilities and ways to produce an alternative finish to the more traditional finishes such as wax and varnish
The last part of the evening was the club competition with a theme on a turned animal
Beginners Class
1st to Kevin Sessions
2nd to Mike Evershed
3rd Joint to Jamie Salvador-Swords and Roy Stevenson
Intermediate Class
1st to Rosemary Walsh
2nd to Thomas Swift
3rd to John Lacey
Advanced class
1st to Trevor Druett
2nd to Richard Pegler
3rd to Roger Upchurch
September meetings Thursday 16th October 2025
Firstly Dave Appleby came to demonstrate on the 18th September
Initially Dave demonstrated how to make a simple screw chuck
Where he superglued the screw into the turned piece once completed.
Dave then went on to demonstrate turning an apple using the screw chuck to mount the piece of wood
Then Dave progressed to demonstrating a dinner plate, explaining how he used the woods grain orientation (1/4 sawn Oak) to ensure that the grain did not cause the plate to warp after it had been made.
We also had the presentations from the August Annual Show awards, and I do apologise but the photos were not very good so Im sorry I decided due to the size and length of this report to exclude them and leave you with the one photo for the winning entries to the three classes
Anyone who received an award is welcome to email me and I'll send over the photos of them I took on the evening.
we then had our autumn outing to Westpoint, I know not all of you get involved with this however there is a good club presence and it proves popular with the visitor to Westpoint so feels worth mentioning to encourage other members involvement.
Then on the 27th We had Phil Irons visit for an all day demonstration
Phil initially circulated this along with the additive he had used to colour the 2 part epoxy glue to fill the cracks.
He advised that due to colour fade over time then his primary focus when working on pieces was his form
We discussed chucking and use of the hard rubber rings to ensure tools could work to the edge and not damage the edge or the support
Phil then proceeded to demonstrate the process of preparing a piece for filling.
We were encouraged to raise questions as we were shown thing rather than leaving them to a Q&A at the end
We
preferably leaving the epoxy to set once the filling had been completed
Phil then worked on a vessel that had already cured and took us through the finishing stages
using a scraper set on the angle with a negative rake to finish cut the piece
and discussed what happened to alot of his work
After lunch Phil proceeded to demonstrate hollow forms with the grain and across the grain
taking a couple of pieces of box elder he had been given by a tree surgeon, firstly the one with the grain
using the shielded cutter to control the depth of cut
Phil then went on to turn the other piece of Box Elder across the grain
using a long handled scraper rather than the cutter as the grain went across the vessel width
Phil then went back and finished the piece that he had demonstrated filling the cracks in
So to our next meeting October 17th When John Rockey Demonstrates Colouring and texturing techniques
August Annual Show Friday 29th August 2025
Congratulation Trevor Druett for best in show
And the visitors choice was John Welton
In case your wondering why this has been redone, I was advised Id assigned a photo to the wrong competitor
September we have two visiting wood turners
Dave Appleby is coming on the evening of the 16th September
and Phil Irons is coming for an all day demonstration on the 27th September
We are also at Westpoint for the 3 days, 25th to 27th September
And whilst I talk about the club meetings, we are starting to look at next years competitions, what would you like, your answers to any committee member but Stephen Long is the member who will be bringing it together, but its your club and if you don't tell us what you like to make then you get the committees choices.
August was our Annual Show
Congratulations to all for their entries
The results were
The Bowl or Platter
Beginner
1st to Kevin Sessions
2nd to Charles Woods
3rd to Ian Fraser-Roe
Intermediate
1st place and the Kevin Morgan Trophy to Thomas Smith
2nd place to Rosemary Walsh
3rd place to Paul Reeder
Advanced
1st place to Roger Hutton
2nd place to Trevor Druett
3rd place to Stephen Long
The Open Class
Beginner
1st place and the Bill Bolt Trophy to Mike Evershed
2nd place to Kevin Sessions
3rd place to Ian Fraser-Roe
Intermediate
1st place to Thomas Smith
2nd place to John Welton
3rd place to Rosemary Walsh
Advanced
1st place to Roger Upchurch
2nd place to Trevor Druett
3rd place to Stephen Long
The Three Leg Stool
Beginner
1st place to Roy Stevenson
Intermediate
1st place to Rosemary Walsh
2nd place to Paul Reeder
3rd place to Richard Burston
Advanced
1st place to Peter Johnson
2nd place to Richard Pegler
3rd place to Keith Wilson
A Coloured Item
Beginner
1st place to Ian Fraser-Roe
2nd place to Charles Woods
3rd place to Mike Evershed
Intermediate
1st place to Thomas Smith
2nd place to Richard Burston
3rd place to Paul Reeder
Advanced
1st place to Trevor Druett
2nd place to Carl Haslem
3rd place to John Rockey
and just a couple of images of the entries
July Club night report Thursday 31st July 2025
The Summer Barbecue. I have to extend a big thank you to those on the committee who worked hard to provide a successful evening with a special mention to Mike Gall for both providing the barbecue equipment and doing the cooking, anyway I digress, if you weren't there sorry you missed it and if you were I'm pleased that you enjoyed it
So to the main topic of the evening
Graham Drury provided us with a video demonstration of how to make wooden animals
Graham started with a dachshund
Showing us first how the legs were drilled
and a jig made to provide consistant productivity
The body was then turned and graham uses a finger chuck just to enable the finish on the ends of the body
from there our attention was to the legs and Graham here turned all four legs from one piece of wood
The neck was then turned and inserted
and the head made to fit
now i cheated here and used the drilling of the tail to illustrate the neck, that's because photos taken on an electronic image don't come out that well and I didn't like the image taken to illustrate the project. so the last bit is the tail which is drilled at the angle by using the jig shown. I don't know if the jig also had another purpose but if you compare the neck photo with the original image of the dachshund at the start of the report then you can see the end result of achieving the tail at an angle.
Whilst we were having a coffee we were treated to a slide show of some of the animals that Graham had made which were also on the table to look at
At the same time we were also shown a reversible chuck for making the shell of a snail
This brilliant piece of engineering could also be used to turn the eyes in an owls head as an alternative use to the making of the snail shell.
After coffee then we were shown how to make a giraffe
Again the body was predrilled
This time with wedges in the jig to provide both a splay outward and forward / backward depending on if it was a front or back leg
having turned the body and all parts are fitted by dowels rather than straight socket into the hole, the legs are then turned in pairs front and back.
note the hole in the top of the leg for the dowel once the pair were made then the hip end was shaped on a drum sander to fit the body of the giraffe
same with the neck
then the head was fitted to the neck, and
then we moved onto the ears and horns and again each piece was turned and match paired and fitted to the head.
The tail was carved and the animal was decorated to finish
June Club Night report Thursday 26th June 2025
Jason Breach came and demonstrated on Thursday 19th June
Jason is well known for his boxes however tonight he chose to demonstrate something different
Jason chose to demonstrate an off centre bowl rather a box
starting with a blank, two holes were drilled , suitable for a screw chuck, 20mm apart, with one being in the centre
The bowl is trued on the centre hole initially to just give a finish to the rim. which is then painted with blackboard paint - for those interested Rustins blackboard paint is the recommended
The blank is then recentred to the offset hole and the bowl has then been shaped to allow the chucking foot to be cut and the bowl formed leaving the "wing"
once the underside of the wing is cut and the chuck foot set the bowl is taken out and reversed allowing the bowls rim to be cut - note to those following this step by step, its useful for the tailstock marks to be left in at this stage to be able to recentre the bowl later
so then its about getting the top and bottom of the bowl to match to give the continuity of the bowl shape through the piece
Checking both the evenness of the rim and how the two sections line up through the wing
A light sand to finish off the process of creating the rim.
then hollowing the bowl
getting the bowl walls uniformly cut to follow the outside and giving them a finish sand
Once the bowl is shaped and finished then it is cup chucked, Jason used mdf layered to create a cup chuck which had a plywood base as the original mdf one didn't stay stable very long
the tailstock brought back up into place and the chuck foot removed - note the electrical tape holding the bowl in place
and finished - nice trick there , using some of the shavings in the folded sand paper to dissipate some of the heat as well as give the sandpaper a more natural curve
the bowl was reversed again and a small wedge held the bowl at an angle to allow the rim to be recut, this wedge was set against the small wing so as not to stress the wood
A good attendance on the evening with over 46 people in attendance
