Grahamstown Woodworkers
Highlights from 2011


The first meeting of the year was in February in the Rhodes Maintenance Workshop. Andy Hatting and Chris Terry spoke and demonstrated how to get the best out of bandsaws and radial-arm saws.






The March meeting was at the workshop of John Stewart at Kirkby House, Kingswood College

John gave a detailed talk and demonstration of the precision construction of a non-traditional rocking (or sliding?) chair and also described some of the projects that learners do under his supervision in their enrichment periods.


The finished chair

Nearing completion

Work in progress

Precision measurement and construction

Templates and jigs used all along the way

The final touch - a sliding footstool

John's website is http://www.beautifulwoodcreations.co.za


The April meeting was at the workshop of Mike Palmer on his farm Strowan.

Mike spoke about the restoration of furniture containing drawers


The view from Mike Palmer's workshop door

Inside the picturesque workshop

More tools

Mike and a chest-of-drawers

Repacing the runners

The drawer ready to fit

Mike recommended the following books:

Care & Repair of Furniture by Albert Jackson & David Day (ISBN 1-56158-096-1)

Repairing and Restoring Antique Furniture by John Rodd (ISBN 0-7153-0684-7)

Good Wood Finishes by Albert Jackson & David Day (ISBN 1-55870-440-X)

The Wood Finisher by Bruce Johnson (ISBN 0-345-37297-2)

Refinishing Old Furniture by George Wagoner (ISBN 0-8306-3496-7)

Upholstery Basics - Tafelberg - (ISBN 0-624-03775-4)

Cape Antique Furniture by Michael Baraitser & Anton Oberholzer (ISBN 1-86872-939-7)

Cape Country Furniture by same authors (ISBN 0-86977-109-4)

Cottage Furniture in South Africa. Text: John Kench, Restoration consultant: Ralph Mothes (ISBN 0-86977-351-8)


The May meeting was hosted by D & A TIMBERS at their premises in Bathurst Street. A large turnout of members saw demonstrations of the latest products by Ryobi and by Torkcraft.


A large and expectant turnout

Spray painting by Torkcraft

Torkcraft router lathe

A selection of the range of Ryobi power tools

Visit the Ryobi website.

Visit the Torkcraft website.

The meeting in JUNE was a "Show and Tell" session. The photos below (mainly by Andy Hatting) can only give a hint of the information provided and the discussions that followed.

Chris Terry spoke on his round table, made from imbuia decorated with maple.


The base

The pedestal

Many jigs were made and used

The top

Koekoe Jonker demonstrated some of the techniques used in making miniature furniture.


Koekoe Jonker

The board on which furniture is assembled

Marking out a chair leg

Turned headboard for a bed

Part of his range of 1/12th scale furniture

A magnificent chest-of-drawers

For more examples of Koekoe's work see the GALLERY and the article on miniature furniture.

Steve Craigie spoke on lathe accessories and ball-turning


Steve Craigie

The modified tail stock

Ball turning device

Turned ends to a brass rod

Joe Marr spoke on dowelling jigs and roused a lot of discussion of the merits of dowelling compared to biscuit jointing.


Joe Marr

The jig

Another view

End-to-end joining

Andrew Stevens spoke on pepper mills referring to Piet Smith's visit (see Highlights of 2010) and the mechanisms supplied through him.


Andrew Stevens

Some pepper mills

Rob Moss spoke on avoiding snipe on your planer/jointer. The secret lies in adjusting the height of the outfeed table so that the rotation of the cutters does not "throw" the timber more than 2 mm forward.

The diagrams below are from Fine Woodworking May/June 1997, page 50.


Rob Moss


Mike Brown spoke on marking gauges and suggested replacing the pin on an inexpensive gauge with a pencil.


Mike Brown

A selection of marking gauges

Tuesday AUGUST 9th was a public holiday (Women's Day), so the meeting was moved to WEDNESDAY 10th AUGUST.

The topic was "Using Computers to add to your Woodwork".

James Fourie demonstrated the use of Google Sketchup software (free download) for design of projects;

Chris Terry desribed the resources that the Group has in the form of DVDs of Fine Woodworking and American Woodworker articles and Taunton Press woodworking books;

Mike Brown did a guided tour through our website (www.ru.ac.za/woodwork) and asked members to provide additional input.

The SEPTEMBER meeting was a visit to the workshop of African Musical Instruments off Cobden Street, where Chris Carver gave members and visitors a fascinating talk on on the various woods and techniques used in making a variety of musical instruments. We then moved through to their vast workshop and saw demonstrations of the coopering and turning of wooden drums before being treated to a demonstration of their computer-controlled router system. Chris has generously invited members who have projects that might be assisted by use of this state-of-the-art equipment to contact him. The machine reverses the often quoted ratio of perspiration to inspiration!



African Musical Instruments

Part of the Showroom

A selection of drums

Chris Carver

Some of the woods used

Coopering a drum

Turning the drum on a router lathe

The finished drum

The computer-controlled router system

The router

Some of the products

The OCTOBER meeting was a visit to the workshop of the Department of Drama at Rhodes University, where Willie Coombs gave a very interesting talk on the many challenges that his job as Stage Manager and Set Builder presents. He has to be able to convert ideas into appearances of reality using materials of all kinds and relies particularly on his woodworking skills. He displayed a large variety of stage props from previous productions and one of his students, Melanie, described the construction of a prop for her Masters project on drinking water.


The starting point - a set model

Show posters from the past

Willie Coombs and a stage piano

A prop stove

Melanie and her water project

Front view of the "skull"

Side view

Puppet head

A dress of paper

Stage rifles

General smaller props and Willie's creations

More views

More views

A novel spice rack

The final meeting of the year and the AGM were held on TUESDAY NOVEMBER 8 at Rob Moss's farm. Twenty-one members attended with several guests.

At the AGM, the following committee members were elected:

Rob Moss, Chris Terry, Andrew Stevens, Billy de Klerk, Patty Zipp, Peter Breetzke, Wouter Holleman and Mike Brown.

Andy Hatting had asked to step down from the committee and was thanked for his contributions and for providing access to the Rhodes Maintenance Workshop as a meeting venue. Members provided some suggestions for the 2012 Programme. Suggestions are needed for purchase of shared equipment.

After the AGM, David Barker spoke briefly about Hospice and thanked the Group for its contributions (toys, books, clothing and cash). The local Hospice branches care for over 300 critically ill patients. Please visit the Hospice Shop in Bathurst Street, opposite Pennypinchers, which is a wonderful source of second-hand books and other goods.

There was then a lucky draw for some "early Christmas gifts" for contributors organised by Patty Zipp, plus some sneezewood poles donated by Rob Moss.

For those needing their regular "sawdust fix", Andrew Stevens demonstrated the turning of a large platter on Rob's new Jet lathe.

The meeting ended with a braai and many thanks to the Moss family for their hospitality.


The Moss farm venue

Toys for Hospice

Books for Hospice

Andrew Stevens on the Jet lathe

Braai scenes

Braai scenes

Braai scenes

Braai scenes

The Toys for Hospice project brought much joy to recipients. David Barker wrote thanking those who had contributed


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Page last modified on 15 February 2012
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