Gerry Marlow Demonstration

A day with Gerry Marlow
A day with Gerry Marlow

West Pennine Woodturners were please to present a demonstration day with Gerry Marlow on Saturday 21st March 2015.  The event was quite well attended and got off to an early start.  Gerry didn't bother to do too much talking about himself but got straight to work on the first of 5 pieces that he managed to demo.

He passed on quite a few money saving tips (always welcome at our club) with things like his home made eccentric chuck with counter-balance (see left), and a great method for holding a workpiece when doing multi-centre turning.

He demonstrated good technique and enough interaction with the audience to keep us interested.  

All in all a great day of entertainment. The club would like to thank Gerry Marlow for the demonstration and also thank all those who attended for their support.

Off cente bowl with routed and scorched section.
Off cente bowl with routed and scorched section.

This is the first piece that Gerry made. A piece of mahogany about 4" x 7" x 2".  He first marked out the size of the bowl and then with the piece clamped to the lathe bed he routed a random pattern across one section. He then scorched the routed area and brushed away any fluffing with a small wire brush.  He turned the small off centre bowl by using his home made eccentric chuck (see above). A clever bit of kit and saves a fortune on a commercially available one. After turning the simple bowl he finished the piece with a coat of oil. It is a very nice small item and not too difficult to make.

Multi Centre Bowl
Multi Centre Bowl

Gerry's second piece is a multi centre bowl. He used a piece of Beech with an Elm veneer dyed red on one surface.  He partially turned the bottom of the bowl on a faceplate and then he used his trusty home made eccentric chuck to hold the piece whilst he turned the three small bowls in the top surface. Power sanding this piece was quite a challenge because of the overlapping hollows but he managed to demonstrate it very well. 

The next piece Gerry wanted to show us was an example of what is known as "Ring Turning". I think, like me half the audience thought he was going to turn a simple ring but not so. He was going to make a ring with a particular profile and then slice the ring up to produce lots of identical shaped pieces, in this case, Christmas trees. A very clever process that starts with a disk of wood in to which he had glued a template into a slot (see left). From each side of the piece he then turned down to the template to create the profile he wanted. When the disk is then cut in half you have two mirror image pieces that he glued back to back to create the finished shape. It was then just a case of slicing it up.

The disk and template.
The disk and template.
Back to back pieces
Back to back pieces
Ready to slice.
Ready to slice.
multi axis candle stick
multi axis candle stick

A multi axis candle stick was the next piece that Gerry demonstrated for us all.  He started with a piece of Beech about 10" x 3" and turned it to a cylinder between centres and put a spigot on one end.  A tip he gave us about the spigot was that it should be like a bead rather than a dovetail so it is easier to re-position the piece off centre and still maintain a good grip. He even demonstrated how to make your own candle cup out of alluminium by doing some metal spinning. A very effective piece when finished. 

A party piece
A party piece

As a final piece just to fill the end of the day Gerry showed us some fine spindle turning. He turned a piece called a "Trembleur" which is something that French apprentice woodturners would have to complete to improve technique and skills. This one is only about 14" tall but still a challenge for most turners. Some bright spark in the audience mentioned putting a captive ring on the bottom of the piece and so Gerry obliged.