12 May 2009

This evening we were visited by Mick Giles and Ken Briffet both from the Forest of Bere club in Hampshire. The evening commenced, after the introductions, with us being given "quiz" sheets listing short phrases or sayings and the object of the exercise was to match each phrase with one of the turned items which Ken and Mick had brought with them.

As most of us started to puzzle over the "quiz" items Mick continued the evening with a very interesting demonstration of turning matched pairs of objects.

Mick used a fairly simple jig which housed the two blanks which would become his matched pair of objects. He showed us how to take appropriate measurements as he shaped one side of the timber. Once the first side had been turned to the required shape, the blanks were reversed in the jig so that the virgin side of each was available for the attention of his gouge. In no time at all the second side had acquired the same shape as the first side. Next the now turned blanks were removed from the jig and each suitably trimmed with a saw to reveal two perfectly match items which Mick then went on to show could become a variety decorative  of items. 

After a short break for tea and more puzzling over the quiz sheet, Ken proceeded to decrypt the phrases and match them with the items on the table.

Ken explained that many of the items on the table had been competition objects for their club and that they usually try to set the competition so that the items stretch the imaginations of the members as well as their woodturning skills. The item I found most interesting (and one I did manage to guess correctly ☺) was the one that went with the phrase "freezing point". The turned item was three small connected boxes which when flipped on their side spelled out 0°C , very clever! Many of the items were in similar vein and hence one had to think "outside of the box" to see the connection between the phrase and the item.

In summary a Mick and Ken gave us a very interesting evening and I'm sure we'll have our thinking caps on shortly when we try to set the competition items for 2010.

More examples of matched pairs and full details on the jig can be found here.

We thank Wightlink for sponsoring Mick and Ken's trip to the island to give this demonstration.