WCWA demo ...

Last Wednesday evening I was asked, at short notice, to do a demo for the Western Cape Woodturners Association.

Here are a few pics of the demo. Thanks to Gigi for taking all the photos.

I chose to do something I have been thinking about for some time. Taking two identical blanks and turning two very different basic designs. One design that one may call basic or functional, typically something that a beginner might turn, maximising the 'volume' of the blank. The other design that one might call elegant or artistic, typically something that a more eperienced turner might turn, giving more attention to the aesthetics of the object being turned. It has more gracious lines, a smaller foot, and less stability.

It was really a demo aimed at beginner turners to encourage them to think about the variety of design possibilities from any individual blank, not be scared of removing lots of wood if that is what the design calls for (wood is not generally a precious resource). It also showed that one must not allow the size of the spiggot held in the chuck to dictate the size of the foot of the final piece and often then, its other proportions as well.


Attentive audience













"Visualise the line"

"Extend the line, in your mind's eye, into the spiggot held by the chuck"










Thys expanded, "and if you aren't able to visualise the line then you can do it this way" ...

a stepwise approach










As always there were lots of questions about the particular grind I was using on my gouge ...

a typical 'Elsworth grind' in this case










And if I had bothered to hollow the piece ...

this is how I would have reverse mounted it on the lathe to turn the very small foot










Two very dissimilar shapes from identical cylindrical blanks












Now two very dissimilar shapes from disc shaped blanks

The first, a very practical shape that one might use for turning a 'sand container' for a zen garden for instance








Then a more elegant shape that one may use to serve after dinner mints!













The zen garden shape ... in my right hand












and the after dinner mints shape ... in my left hand














Here are a number of other pics of club members ...
(all names from left to right)


Mike Bester, Ken Pilkington and Phillip Antrobus













Mike Bester, Thys Carstens (behind), Ken Pilkington, Peter Nicolle (behind), Philip Antrobus











Mike Bester, Thys Carstens (behind), Ken Pilkington, Peter Nicolle (behind), Philip Antrobus, Bert Parker (behind), Dave Nathan, Hugh Scholtz, Steve Bull (far behind), Darryl Bailey (far behind), Derek Westley (near right)









Mike Bester, Thys Carstens (behind), Ken Pilkington, Peter Nicolle (behind), Philip Antrobus, Bert Parker (behind), Dave Nathan, Hugh Scholtz, Steve Bull (far behind), Darryl Bailey (far behind), Derek Westley (middle), Gordon Bowers (front), Sulayman Peck (far right)







Philip Antrobus, Bert Parker (behind), Dave Nathan, Hugh Scholtz, Steve Bull (far behind), Darryl Bailey (far behind), Derek Westley (middle), Gordon Bowers (front), Sulayman Peck (middle right), Jimmy Stevenson, David Burch









As above













Thys Carstens (behind), Mike Bester (feet out of the shavings) , Peter Nicolle (behind), Ken Pilkington, Bert Parker (behind), Eric Thornton (ear!)










Peter Nicolle (looking), Mike Bester (feet out of the shavings) , Ken Pilkington, Bert Parker (behind), Eric Thornton (ear!)











Thys Carstens (behind), Mike Bester (feet out of the shavings) , Peter Nicolle (behind), Ken Pilkington, Bert Parker (behind), Eric Thornton (ear!)










Philip Antrobus (just), Dave Nathan, Sulayman Peck (behind), Derek Westley, Maxwell Mojakisane (behind), Gordon Bowers











Nico Bantjes (behind), John Derrick













Nico Bantjes













David Burch, Jimmy Stevenson













Gordon Bowers, David Burch, Jimmy Stevenson













Thys Carstens (behind), Mike Bester (feet out of the shavings) , Peter Nicolle (behind), Ken Pilkington, Bert Parker (behind), Eric Thornton (glasses!)










??, Bernie Swanepoel (far behind), ?? (middle), ?? (far behind), Sulayman Peck, Nico Bantjes

Some pieces by Gert Ferreira ...

Here are a few beautiful turnings by another good friend of mine Gert Ferreira.

Carl these are also for the AW Article.

Gert will provide me with the dimensions and some annotations soon.











Gert enjoys working with any type of wood that has got holes or cracks in it. He takes it as a challenge to see what the end result will be and how far he can push himself in respect of design possibilities. Gert also believes that by keeping the holes and cracks as natural as possible it brings out the beauty of the tree and contributes to the appreciation of Mother Nature even more.


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Wild olive - Olea europea ssp africana

Height 135mm (5.3 Inch) Width 370mm (14,5 Inch)








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Wild olive - Olea europea ssp africana

Height 135mm (5.3 Inch)
Width 370mm (14,5 Inch)








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Wild olive - Olea europea ssp africana

Height 135mm (5.3 Inch)
Width 370mm (14,5 Inch)








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Wild olive - Olea europea ssp africana

Height 230mm (9,05 inch)
Width 235mm (9,25 inch)













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Camphor - Cinnamomum camphora
with hard pear (Olinia ventosa) lid

Height 250mm (9,84 inch)
Width 160mm (6,29 inch)












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Camphor - Cinnamomum camphora
with hard pear (Olinia ventosa) lid

Height 250mm (9,84 inch)
Width 160mm (6,29 inch)












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Wild olive - Olea europea ssp africana

Height 90mm (3,45 Inch)
Width 170mm (6,69 Inch)









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Wild olive - Olea europea ssp africana

Height 90mm (3,45 Inch)
Width 170mm (6,69 Inch)








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Norfolk Island Pine - Araucaria heterophylla

Height xxxmm (x,xx Inch)
Width xxxmm (x,xx Inch)

Talk by Sir Nicholas Stern ...

On Thursday last, as the provincial representative on the National Climate Change Committee, I was lucky enough to attend a talk at the DBSA, Midrand, by Sir Nicholas Stern

A really interesting talk and very interesting discussion with the audience afterwards








Passing through Johannesburg International Airport (O.R. Tambo Airport) was the evidence of last weekend's Cape Argus Cycle Race - boxes and boxes of bicycles transported free by SAA on the new cut rate airline Mango

This year just over 30 000 cyclists from around the globe participated in the world's largest timed cycle race, including familiar names and faces like Nicholas Laidler, Francois Pienaar and tandem partner, Lucas Radebe, as well as Tour de France greats, Greg LeMond, Jan Ullrich and Steven Rooks.

Got the T-Shirt ...

But still need to learn how to park!

Using the tyre to figure out where the pillar is -
Not recommended!

PS: Wish it was my t-shirt

Some Woodturnings from Izak and Beyers Cronje ...

Here are a couple of pictures of woodturnings created by my good friends, the father and son team Izak and Beyers Cronje.


Izak is very much one of the founding fathers of artistic woodturning in South Africa. He lives in Cape Town and is an active member of Western Cape Woodturning Association. He is extremely talented and shares his knowledge very generously. He provides immense encouragement to the whole turning fraternity in South Africa

Izak is a wonderfully animated auctioneer and each year 'performs' the AWSA conference auction, wringing blood out of a stone, in the nicest possible way, to benefit the chosen charity









Beyers lives with his family in Graaf Reinet.

Beyers is also an immensly talented turner, definitely following in his father's footsteps. Beyers specializes in turning real 'character' pieces from indigenous hardwoods.

Unfortunately Beyers could only get me a single picture of his wonderful work - the third last picture in the series below

3/5/07 - I have just added a further picture of a piece by Beyers that he exhibited at the 2007 AWSA Conference

and two further pieces on 8/5/07.

AWSA Conference Auction, Johannesburg, 2005

Onthou Beyers! "Ek gaan nou duuuu...r betaal!"






Izak is also the driving force behind Waterfront Woodturners, an outlet at the Cape Town Waterfront shared by 8 local woodturners including of course Izak, Beyers and myself

This was a wonderful piece that Izak finished in April 2003.
We called it his 'pregnant lady' from the way that everyone who handled it fondled it's georgeous curvaceous form.











Carl I have uploaded more than one pic of each of Izak's recent pieces below so that you can choose which exposure you prefer to download and use.


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Cape Beech Dish – Rapanea melanophloeos – Slightly spalted

150mm (h) x 180mm (w)

The spalting must be controlled or else the wood deteriorates very quickly.

If the spalted wood is worked at the right time the figuring of the wood is still very pronounced as seen from the photo.


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Stinkwood Platter – Ocotea bullata – with gold leaf

53mm (h) x 295mm (w)

Legend has it that when the tree grows near a steam of water it absorbs some alluvial gold. Hence, the belief that the yellow swirls in the wood of older trees shows the gold. This story inspired me to add the truth of the legend.


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Stinkwood Vase – Ocotea bullata

120mm (h) x 120mm (w)

This wood was salvaged from a pile of off-cuts from a furniture manufacturer. It dates to circa1950 and lends itself to retain the signs of age in the partly natural edge










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Red(Pink) Ivory Vase – Berchemia zeyheri – 170mm (h) x 140mm (w)

A gift from a friend who salvaged it from a pile of firewood

It is the first time I tried to turn red ivory, this size, end grain. Hard work but well worth it; the natural edge was lightly scorched and other natural blemishes were retained as much as possible








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White Alder Platter - Platylophus trifoliatus

515mm (diam)

The wood is relatively soft and varies in colour from almost white to dark brown and has a pleasant sweet fragrance. This evergreen tree has a sprawling habit; massive old stumps produce a number of coppice shoots which grow into sizeable stems.

The centerpiece insert is Kamassi, Gonioma kamassi, a very valuable timber, similar to boxwood, used for precision instruments and now hardly ever harvested in the state controlled forests


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Wild Olive vase - Olea europaea ssp. africana

xxxmm (h) x mm (w)














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Parasitic Growth – Mistletoe – Viscum rotundifolium

115mm (h) x 170mm (diam)

Yellow through orange to red sticky fruits adhere to the bills and feathers of birds and are deposited on their nesting trees, or rubbed off on trees when they clean their beaks. The mistletoe then germinates and grows on a branch taking its food from the host. The mistletoe can grow up to one meter (3 feet) in diameter. In the case of heavy infestation it can kill the host


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Here is a photograph of the blank for the piece above just after it was harvested

Here is what Beyers says about the interesting mistletoe turning above,

"The piece is from the growth caused by misltoe growing on a host plant in this case it is mesquite. My wife found the growth while riding her horse for endurance fitness training.

When you have a unique piece of wood you ask yourself what do you want to make. You play around with designs on your sketch pad and finally decide on a design.

For this piece of wood I wanted to turn a hollow form very close to a sphericl shape but the best laid plans of mice and men, and the wood decided that the design and what it wanted to be were two different things, therefor a natural edged bowl."


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Stinkwood - Ocotea bulata

105mm (h) x 65mm (diam)

This is a piece displayed by Beyers at the 2007 AWSA Conference











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Red Ivory Platter – Berchemia zeyheri

35mm (h) x 127mm (diam)









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Stinkwood - Ocotea bulata

50mm (h) x 70mm (diam)