Excellent couple of days ...

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TobyB

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Just spent a very interesting and pleasant couple of days outside Stratford doing a Hollowing course with Phil Irons. HIGHLY recommended!

Course was 1:1 as I was the only one there. Long days - 8.30 until about 6.00 - so a lot of teaching/talking/turning time.

I'm not a complete novice, but in no way particularly skilled ... I can make things like bowls (both small and larger salad/fruit), simple boxes, table lamps, stools, tables and the like to a standard nowhere near "gallery" or "pro", but about as good as many craft shop/stall offerings (I think), and certainly better than quite a few I've seen. I'm not trying to boast about my (certainly limited) abilities, but trying to set things in context ...

We spent a few hours looking at a variety of logs (species, size, state, etc) in a timber yard, chainsawed off some bits after selecting interesting and suitable bits and took them back for working on ... that was very useful in itself ... will investigate local sources more confidently now ...

We mounted and roughed down the 300 x 170 mm chunks of wood into cylinders with a basic hollow-form shape, initially between centres, then with a spigot held in a chuck. Nothing completely new to me here ... but what a lot to learn ... choice of tools, choice and set-up of lathe components (often quite subtle, and no dogma, black'n'white or commercial concerns apparent). How to use a bowl gouge to achieve a lot of this ... I thought I had the basics at least from practice, trial'n'(lots of)errors, reading (and re-reading) lots of books like Rowley, Rathan and O'Donnell ... but two or three significantly new (to me) grips/posture/cuts/movements to learn ... need LOTS of practice, but could get me out of all sorts of problems and deficiencies I have with my current skills.

Moved on to hollowing - initially with the Pro-edge, then with a scraper tool on a new piece - I already had played around with the Pro-edge and the McNaughton scrapers - we compared the latter with Phil's own, trying alternative tips and handles in combinations ... learned (as a lot of you already know) that there's a lot of tool hold/control, and more (equally?) important is overall strategy to hollowing to wood that makes a huge difference between a smooth even wall-thickness vessel and a lumpy ploughed-field of hills and valleys, or a piece of scrap when you've gone through the side or holed the bottom! I should have brought my own bowl gouges too - as working with your own tools and with Phil's (and vice versa) was helpful ... it'd be rubbish to find on a course you could do things just fine and then go home and be rubbish because your kit is all different. Not the case this time with the hollowing tools.

Lots of very careful observation from Phil, constantly watching and listening when you are left to get on, a fair bit of standing over you, and often better, standing behind you and either guiding/checking your movements, or briefly taking more control and letting you see and feel how it should go from the position of you actually doing it rather than observing another (I'm neither short nor thin, but Phil is big enough to reach around/see over me) - this worked really well. And there is no room or leeway for sloppy or wrong behaviour - if you aren't doing it safely, properly or completely you'll know it, and be "guided" to do it properly ... usually gently, although I did get my wrist deservedly slapped both verbally and literally.

This has been a great couple of days. I've had my brain and hands/body working flat out to absorb all I can as Phil is trying to hand over 20+ years of experience in a couple of days. LOTS to practice and remember now! And lots more to learn for sure. Good friendly atmosphere with Mike providing excellent supplies of good coffee and Billy the dog being amusing, as well as a fully-equipped warm comfortable workshop in a peaceful spot, nice "toys" to work on/with, and I've come home with a couple of reasonable pieces that are at least partly my work (but with Phil's significant input at critical moments) representing what I've learned, and how much more I need too put into practice in my own workshop.

If you think you know some basics, but want to challenge yourself, advance your skills, and have your sights raised from the moon towards the stars - treat yourself, or get someone to treat you maybe?
 
None of us could fail to learn something new under tuition however skilled or unskilled we are. Sounds like Phil is a good tutor and managed to get a lot of skill and info across to you. Look forward to seeing some masterpieces now from you

Pete
 
Great review Toby :D
Seems like you had a great couple of days.
I've been tempted meself but could only do the one day,which he doesn't do.
When i recently bought my Pro forme we went down to get it and he spent over an hour showing me how to use it in the shop,which as you say is very well equipped and cosy.Must admit iw ould be nervous showing all the bad habits i've taught meself :lol:
 
Very interesting to read.

With so many offering courses and teaching, it would be useful to hear more reviews on teachers and their courses to gain an insight to the course content.

Thanks again for taking the time - and hopefully encourage more to report back

Colin
 
Woodspoiler wrote
With so many offering courses and teaching, it would be useful to hear more reviews on teachers and their courses to gain an insight to the course content.
I think that would be a good idea Colin.
Perhaps we could have it in Chas's sticky section,if Chas don't mind, if we get enough reporting back,so they don't all get lost.I think there was a recent one with Nick Arnull. :?:
Might be worthwhile also if the reviewer said how things on the course might be done better to help the teacher in the future,a sort of likes and dislikes. :?:
 
I think the thread(?) on various instructors and courses would be fun as well as informative. I spent a couple of days last winter in Calgary with Jimmy Clewes and 8 others and would do it again in a minute. What a great,talented,unassuming, genuine guy, and we are hoping to get him back,perhaps next year for a two day at the very least.I am signed up already.DK



BL150 owner. :lol:
 
dennisk":1yjg1vqi said:
I think the thread(?) on various instructors and courses would be fun as well as informative. I spent a couple of days last winter in Calgary with Jimmy Clewes and 8 others and would do it again in a minute. What a great,talented,unassuming, genuine guy, and we are hoping to get him back,perhaps next year for a two day at the very least.I am signed up already.DK



BL150 owner. :lol:

Woo , What is a BL150 owner ? sounds interesting :mrgreen:
 
Some pictures of my work from this course ...

These are 3 pieces resulting from my 2 days with Phil ...
5360251182_7fc6e07422.jpg


The first was a piece of wych elm, turned wet and hollowed with the pro-forme tool with a wall thickness of about 4 mm. Finished with polyurethane sealer, wiped to give a silk surface.
5360251250_6a17654c1a.jpg


The second was a piece of wet maple turned and then hollowed with my McNaughton scraper tools and finished gloss with the same sealer.
5360251300_3cdc99cfe0.jpg


The third was a dry cedar of lebanon log that I turned yesterday to practice what I had learnt - shaped with a bowl gouge and hollowed with the proforme to a 4 mm wall thickness. Finished with lemon oil. It, and my workshop, smell great!
5359637513_9172c2e27f.jpg


These are definitely the best hollow forms I've done - smooth curves on the outside, thin even walls on the inside ... I had some good teaching!
 
The bread bin and toaster ... that was another course!

The tall thin cedar one is 22 cm high if that helps further with scale ... thought keeping some familiar-ish elements in the first picture would help.

Went on a course there for a variety of reasons. Had met Phil on his stand at the Harrogate show a few times, and at a demo he did at Snainton wood shop. I liked his approach to turning ... thoughtful about why he did things or didn't, rather than a dogmatic "I do it like this" or "I was taught to do it like" ... and not on a self-promotional showman tack either. Or trying to flog stuff directly or enthusing about the latest trick bit of kit. Similar impressions when chatting. Interested in ideas like form, rather than showy, gimmicky or technically-wonderful-but-perhaps-pointless techniques or tools.

And a reasonably priced, open-ended plan to tuition also swung it ... I had the time off and he was around ... and "delivered" ... I got a lot more out of those 2 days than I did out of 5 days at David Savage's workshop (not turning, but tuition).
 
Hi Toby,

A very interesting post. Lucky chap! Very impressive results too.
I particularly like the first piece. Could you elaborate a little on how you finished it? I`m not familiar with polyurethane sealer.

Ian
 
Hi Ian

I wasn't familiar with it either - it's Woodoc 20 - looks like a varnish in the tin - applied with a brush - 3 coats and then burnishing cream gave the gloss finish, or applied, left for 10 minutes until tack and then gently wiped off the excess left the silk finish.
 
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