Phyllis Farnham

At the MARCH meeting in the Rhodes Maintenance Workshop, Pat Irwin and John Stevens gave a fascinating presentation on the "Restoration of Cannons". The Woodworkers Group has decided to tackle the woodwork involved in the restoration of the wheels as their Community Project for 2009.

To monitor progress and to get involved, visit the Cannon webpage

Pat Irwin and the cannon	Pat gives the background history
John Stevens gives technical details of the wheel	Shoulders to the wheel!

On Saturday 28 March, Grahamstown Woodworkers had a display at the Hobbies Fair at the Masonic Hall. Some photos from this successful occasion are shown below. Thanks to the Members who contributed.

Andy Hatting demonstrating the Jet lathe	David Forsyth does his turn!
Catherine Forsyth demonstrates scroll sawing	Ernie Farnham's miniature fairground

Billy de Klerk's bowls	Chris Terry's bagpipes
Display by Rob Moss	Some of Mike Brown's collection of Stanley planes

Andy Hatting's display	Mike Brown's display
Koekoe Jonker's magnificent miniatures	Another example of Koekoe's work

At the APRIL meeting, Ashwin Ramhith, one of the top woodturners in the country, demonstrated the secrets of turning a square platter. We are honoured to have Ashwin as a member of our group and are grateful to him for his readiness to contribute to our programme.

The first platter	Decorative burning
Cutting off the protecting sections on the second platter	The completed second platter

At the MAY meeting, Arnold Rudolph, a professional furniture restorer from Port Alfred and a former Chairman of the Lower Albany Woodworkers Guild, spoke about The Secrets of Furniture Restoration. There was a large turnout, lots of questions, and Arnold used an item of furniture brought by Andrew Tracey, to illustrate some of the techniques needed.

Arnold Rudolph	Question time chaired by Andrew Stevens
Part of the large and appreciative audience	The table (before)

On Saturday 6 June there was a disappointing turnout from Grahamstown members at a joint meeting with the Lower Albany Guild. There were discussions of help needed by the Museum and there were demonstrations of blacksmithing by Barry Hartley, and of beekeeping and honey preparation by Brian Moxham. The meeting ended with a braai.

Blacksmith Barry Hartley heating the iron	Striking while the iron is hot
Beekeeper Brian Moxham collecting honey	Vic Keeton - a major driving force behind the Museum

For those wishing to visit the Museum (which is the biggest agricultural museum in South Africa), it is open from 9am to 4pm on Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri, and from 9am to 12 noon on Weds, Sat and Sunday, or by arrangement with the Curator, Allan Town, 079-987-9507.

The main June meeting was a demonstration of the safe use and maintenance of CHAINSAWS by Waldo Nel of ALLCUT POWER PRODUCTS, Port Elizabeth, agents for Stihl chainsaws and other cutting tools (E-mail sales@allcut.co.za), and arranged for us by Richard Boshoff of the Tool Warehouse, Industrial Area, Grahamstown, who stocks these products (E-mail rentit@telkomsa.net).

Notes on chainsaws

Waldo Nel explaining the fuelling of chainsaws	One of the Stihl range
Safety clothing is available	A plank sawing jig
A Stihl helmet with ear protection	Waldo attacking the workshop rafters!

The topic for the JULY meeting was Improving the Standard of Your Woodworking with members bringing along examples for a panel of experts (Andy Hatting, Andrew Stevens and Chris Terry) to comment upon. There was also a woodworking quiz won by Steve Craigie and Brett Trollope. They received vouchers as prizes. Some of the items brought for comment are shown below. The panellists took great care to be constructive and encouraging and Andy Hatting gave advice about entering items in the woodworking section of the Bathurst Show. Most of the items discussed could have been improved with more careful finishing and a practical session on finishing is planned for a future topic.

General view of items under discussion	More items
Andy Hatting explaining what is looked for at the Bathurst Show	Andrew Stevens discussing a tray
Chris and Andrew discuss a basket made by a promising young member	A novel lamp and lampshade
Andrew comments on an imbuia lamp turned by Chris	A small table being examined
A larger composite table	Andy looks at some novel boxes

The AUGUST meeting was a demonstration by Rene Schalker of Woodcarving.

Rene Schalker	What can be done!
Preparing the design	Transferring to wood (Jellatong)
The tools	The basic cut

The September meeting was a demonstration of SCROLL SAWING by Godfrey Howes from Port Alfred. Godfrey demonstrated the cutting out of a figure from a nativity scene. He also donated several books on scroll sawing for the use of members.

The Hegner scroll saw	Godfrey Howes
Godfrey watched closely by members	Close up of fine cutting
Brian Harvey at the controls	The nativity figure

The October meeting was a demonstration of the making of corner cupboards, by Johnny Wagenaar at his workshop.

Frame assembled	Preparing doors
Fitting doors	More than one pair of hands needed

At the final (November) meeting of the year, Brian Harvey and Shaun MacTaggart (from SuperJoist in Kenton) gave a demonstration and slide presntation on building a timber frame house. This followed a brief AGM at which the existing committee was re-elected for 2010, with powers to co-opt.

Shaun laying out a frame	Brian at work on assembly
More nailing	Cutting more pieces

Some of the pictures from the slide show are given below.

Brian's first house	The new house under construction
Another view	Current progress

The GWG is grateful to:
Shaun MacTaggart (SuperJoist, Kenton, 083-267-8493, mactaggart@xsinet.co.za) for sharing his expertise
and to D & A Timbers, Grahamstown, for donating timber for the frame.

Meetings will resume in February 2010 and a visit to Brian's house is planned for March.

BACK TO HOME PAGE

---

Page last modified on 20 FEBRUARY 2012