Ryedale Woodturners

Margaret Garrard

Thursday 4 November 2022

Snainton Village Hall

Margaret travelled down from the Dales for a welcome return visit, to show us the technique of therming, making a small "square" pot.

Margaret explained that therming is a technique often used by production turners for making batches of spindles, for stairs or chairs. Tonight she would concentrate on making some small square pots. The jig was made from two ply circles, held together by bolts with wingnuts, and is designed to hold four pieces at a time.

After the first pass the four pots had one side profiled. The jig would then be removed from the lathe, and each pot turned 90 degrees before clamping back down and turning the second side. Margaret had developed a system of blocks and wedges to help position the pots. She didn't turn all four sides, as this would essentially have been repeating the same process four times, and she didn't wish to bore us through repetition.

Margaret found that coating the surfaces of the discs with a type of router mat improved the grip for the pots in the jig. Any number of pieces can be fixed into a jig at the same time - for exaple five pieces would produce a pentagonal shaped object. Spindle turners might load up 30 - 40 at a time.

Margaret had made a template out of card to check the profie she wanted. She regularly stopped the lathe, checked, decided on any areas that needed further development, and restarted, until four blanks had one side turned.

With one side turned, Margaret switched to one she had done all four sides of in preparation. Mounted on the lathe, to turn the neck and drill a hole down the centre. This was then hollowed out, following the outside contour reasonaby closely. Firstly with a spindle gouge, then with the Simon Hope hollowing tool. Although the inside would not be seen, great care was taken to get the curves right and leave no ridges.

Some pots made do just have a straight cylindrical hole drilled in them. Hollowing out a contoured cavity makes the piece lighter, and to some extent is done because it can be done - a turning challenge. The one on the left here is just drilled, the one on the right is hollowed.

Once the pot is made, various decorative techniques can be applied. Margaret did not do this on the night, but she did bring along some examples to show the possibilities. The one is a mixture of rotary tool etching and pyrography.

Margaret finished the evening by making a lid for her pot. A relatively simple idea, but great care was taken to make it fit comfortably - not a Russian fit (popof), and also for it to be in proportion. A good exercise in turning coves and beads. We finished a little late, just after 10 pm. Discussion amongst committee members suggests we should aim for 9:45 pm cut-off at the latest, and should try and limit the tea-break to 15 minutes. It seems to have expanded in recent months, which is good in that people are talking to each other, but not good for demonstrators trying to get through their material.

More photos from the evening

Margaret's exhibits

Therming after one stage

Therming after two stages

Texturing

Texturing and pyrography

Pot in progress