Colin's Wood Turning Course

Wood turning had been on our wish list of skill learning for a long time, but as cabinet makers we always had priorities to our wish list, from refining our dovetail making skills to learning about all different types of finishing always kept us away from buying a lathe and getting to know the joy of the turning. 

I must thank Kate for her endless enthusiasm for making wooden bowls that motivated us to purchase the facilities and contact our recent favourite wood turner Colin Norgate whom we met at Sussex Guild in our home town Horsham. 

It is a beautiful road to get to Colin's studio and he welcomed us warmly to the wood turning course.

After a cup of tea and a jolly conversation about his exciting woodworking background and stories he took us through health and safety and explained that those that we were thinking of chisels were actually called Gauges.

We chose the wood and drew the size of the desired bowl with campus on to the timber. 

Kate and I successfully attached our timber on to the Chuck, Colin explained how the machine runs and a little bit about the history of his machine itself, masterpiece of English engineering,The VB36 Master Bowlturner Lathe. https://vb36.com/

Kate and I had a bit of challenge with the gauge and ways of holding at first it but soon we rolled our bowls like a natural, Colin explained to us about the safe section and how we should do all of our cutting and sanding within that section which i have demonstrated here for you. 

Turning like anything else is practice practice to achieve a stunning result how ever getting tips going to courses,  advices and joining the clubs will certainly help as we always say, the fun of progressing is all about sharing and community.

After a day of turning we were very happy with the result and certainly miss Colin and his wise generous advices, we highly recommend taking his courses as its very friendly and efficient.