Keith Harte

Thursday 4 July 2024

Snainton Village Hall

We welcomed club member Keith Harte for a demonstration, really more a presentation, about spinning and turning wood and metal related to spinning.

Background

Keith started with a brief resume of his woodturning journey, mentioning some of the items he has made along the way: a Saturn box (inspired by a Dick Veitch demonstration at the club in July 2017), tea-light holders, scoops, inlaid bowl, involuted candlesticks (inspired by Sue Harker), segmented bowls, basket-weave stool, and many other items, including numerous ring holders which have been on sale at our club sales.

He has also made "many, many" yarn bowls, having made one for his wife, who showed it to her circle of wool-minded friends, who then all wanted one. The one in the picture here is the original. Keith has told us before, (at a show and tell) about the various techniques he tried to cut the slot out of the bowl, ending up with a preferred method of using a router.

Gradually Keith's turning exploits moved increasingly towards spinning, spinning related items and repair of spinning wheels. This included purchasing a metal lathe so he could make and repair the metal parts required in spinning. Keith had a complete spinning wheel on show, which won our club competition 1st prize back in 2019. He has also made a 32 inch diameter "great wheel" out of cherry, which is pictured below.

Two photos taken in Keith's workshop, showing the backboard used in turning the wheel, and then the finished product.

For the woodturning element of Keith's demonstration, he focussed on turning a bobbin. A relatively simple looking object, in fact turned out in their thousands every day at bobbin mills such as one in the Lake District that is now a working museum - Stott's Park, not far from Newby Bridge. Keith showed a short video about Stott's Park Bobbin Mill.

The intention in turning a bobbin was to show and talk about some generic skills which could be applied to other turning projects. Drilling holes was a key element. The bobbin shown here is in three parts - two ends and a spindle.

A small block was mounted on the lathe and turned to round, to the dimensions of the bobbin ends. A hole was drilled in the centre - started off using a centring-bit, then followed through with a standard bit. Accurcay in centring can be very important to smooth flow on the spinning wheel. Once the ends are rounded and parted off, they can be held in a wooden chuck without marking them. Keith has a set of various sized split rings available to hold differing diameters.

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Drilling anything of length will cause a problem, particularly in endgrain. The drill bit is likely to flex, and follow the grain rather than the centre of the wood. It is almost certainly not going to emerge in the centre of the blank at the headstock end - Keith showed an example where it had actually gone through the side. Starting off with a centre drill bit - a short stubby bit with a tapered or cone-shaped end. These create a guide hole for the ordinary bit to follow through.

Keith showed a video of him working on his metalwork lathe, though still actually turning wood. Digital control allows presets to create exact copies of pieces. He also talked about a few of the other pieces that go together to make a spinning wheel. Some photos are shared below.