Review: John Morgan Demo – Sunday 15th January 2023

John started his demonstration with a number of short projects that could be attempted by less experienced turners. During the first part of the demo, John motivated us to support Tools with a Mission (TWAM) a charity that John supports by coordinating the collection of tools in Mid-Wales and Shropshire. Here’s a reminder:

TWAM collect tools which after repair and refurbishment are packed into kits and sent to parts of Africa. Men and women, on completion of training in a trade by a local charity, are given an appropriate kit of tools to enable them to set up their business. The tools required are those used by various trades: carpenters, plumbers, brick layers, car bike repairers, electricians, and including small power tools, garden tools and sewing machines. The TWAM website gives lists of tools in each trade kit. If you have any unused tools then pass them on to John and he will make sure they go to good use.

The first demo projects included a tool handle and a resin cheese knife (using a knife kit), both spindle work.

Then John show us how to turn a cheeseboard (face grain) which could take a marble insert.

John then turned two bowls in preparation for a later gilding tutorial. John explained some methods for mounting blanks, gouge techniques for bowl turning and tools for hollowing. The first bowl was gilded using imitation variegated gold flakes.