So the conversation went something like this…
John Piper: "Mike – I need you to go in the competition"
Me: "What competition?"
John Piper: "Manawatu woodturning competition"
Me: "I dunno – I’m still learning"
John Piper: "Well you need to go – and by the way you are the experienced turner in the team."
So, to say I was apprehensive is understating the situation…
Mike, Michael and Jennifer
The day arrived and after an early start and a long drive we arrived in time to frantically setup before heading off to see what wood was for sale (yep think we got the priorities right).
The first event was an hour to complete a Spinning Top – we were given 3 pieces of wood pre-drilled, and an A4 set of instructions, and away we went. I started roughing out the Top, and after a couple of mins, I had Jennifer hanging over my shoulder saying “Go Faster… GO FASTER...” In fact that seemed to be the mantra for the day. Michael completed the handle, and Jennifer the toggle for the cord. A quick decoration (had to borrow a wire for burning the lines), sanding and oiling and we managed to get it completed on time.
In the spin-off, our top went the longest.
Unfortunately this wasn’t one of the judging criteria (we are not really sure what the criteria were)…. But anyway we came third!
The 2nd competition was to complete a Hollowed Pencil holder, compete with decoration in 1 & ¾ hours.
None of our team had ever done any hollow form turning….. So we sent Michael along to the demonstration to see how it was done….
“It's easy” he said…. “You just use a forstner bit to drill it out, then sand and decorate...”
It may be easy with a full powered lathe and a large forstner bit, but the little Hafco travel lathe might have been a bit underpowered, especially when we borrowed Paul Dudding’s brand new (just purchased 10 mins before) 74mm forstner bit (Thanks Paul).
So with about ½ hour to go, we decided to try using a hollowing tool, so I grabbed the one I had borrowed from John Piper. It certainly was easier, and we managed to get it hollowed out and off the Lathe with about 15 mins to go.
Up stepped Jennifer, and the Burnmaster we borrowed from John Piper.
Freehand, she drew a beautiful poppy on the side of the Pencil Holder with a swift sure hand. Absolutely stunning work.
After a quick Oil, it was off to the Judging Table.
Judges' comments: Not bad, bit rough on the inside, but a fair effort – good decoration but would have liked to see something on the back of the holder….
I’m happy with that.
My thanks to my team-mates Michael Duggan and Jennifer Perry - I appreciated your humour and support in what turned out to be an excellent day.
Also thanks to John and Paul for lending equipment, and thanks to all the GWW members that dropped in to give us advice and good wishes as we were panicking trying to get the tasks done.
Would we do it again? DEFINITELY!
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