Club Meeting: 8 Aug 2018
Report by: Earl Culham

The term project for the guild members is to produce an item from a 125mm cube. Terry proceeded to show those in attendance how to make a winged lidded box from a 125mm cube of matai, which one of the hawk eyed observers caused Terry to admit that his cube was in fact only 122.5mm. That is not a bad observation from about 3m away, but it was typical of the fine repartee that took place during a most informative and entertaining demonstration.

As is usual with Terry’s demonstrations there were lots of tips and helpful hints e.g.

• Turn the cube cross grain
• Make sure that when centering the cube for a screw chuck, that you get the exact centre. Terry use a Stanley knife to mark the centre, then a centre punch finishing with a smack on the handle of a Phillips screw driver on the centre spot to ensure that when you drill the screw chuck hole the drill does not wander due to the grain
• Sharp tools are essential, when the chisel starts to feel dull; a couple of quick swipes on the CBN wheel will bring it back to sharp again.
• Use finger nail ground bowl gouges. Terry’s preference is to grind the tip so that the wings are swept back. Use 35deg and 55deg gouges.
• Hold the chisel handle in a lowered position, rub the bevel and then raise the handle until it begins to cut cleanly.
• Use negative rake scrapers; they are much more forgiving than the traditional grind.
• Keep your eye out for any early 20th century paino’s left on the side of the road for the inorganic collections. If you spot one, grab the black keys, they will be ebony. Great for making small finials. You might spot the odd ebony ornament on Trademe as well.
• Be careful how thin you make the wings, they may need support with bracing and hot melt glue, depending on the thinness and the sort of timber you use.

Terry finished the winged lidded box by adding some embellishment with his famous $10 texture tool which of course doesn’t cost $10, but adds $10 value to your work each time it is used. Well, that is what Terry reckons and he would be right!