We
had about 40 people at our October event in Tony Farrell’s wonderful workshop
on Saturday, 25th October last.
Our guest turner was the popular and gregarious Liam O’Neill whose name
is for many years almost synonymous with woodturning in Ireland. Liam didn’t disappoint.
He
started the demonstration with a simple bowl.
There was scarcely a member present who hasn’t made several bowls of
different sizes and shapes over the years but by the time Liam was finished
everybody present agreed that they had learned something. Our guest is, perhaps, one of the best
demonstrators in Ireland today. During
the whole day he never took up a tool without explaining why he had shaped into
what it was and telling us why he was using it.
He never presented a tool to the wood without explaining at what angle
he was doing it, from what he position he was starting and where he expected to
finish the cut. Because Tony has a
superb dust extraction system Liam was able to go right through the finishing
process; he introduced the products he was using and outlined their benefits
and shortcomings, including how to overcome the latter.
Interspersed
with interesting slide-shows of some of Liam’s “big” projects, including
building a concrete lathe and chainsaw turning, he went on to demonstrate a
beautifully designed bowl with a wide rim that was undercut and then on to his
piéce de résistance, a lovely box, made from redwood burr with an ebony lip on both
the main box and the cover.
It
was a most satisfactory day and all members present, including some visitors
from our neighbouring Kerry Chapter, went home well satisfied with their day.
It
would be remiss of me not to mention the scrumptious lunch Tony, Alice and
their team of helpers served up. The
lunch alone was worth more than the cost of the workshop. Tony is famous for his cooked leg of ham and
he didn’t disappoint. The dessert could
be chosen from a wide variety of home-cooked goodies and I’m afraid many diets
were set aside and doctors’ orders for some of us widely ignored. Thank you Tony, Alice and team. Have you guessed yet why some of us NEVER
miss a workshop in Waterfall?
In
anticipation of Liam’s box – he had done a similar one at the National Seminar
in Sligo – the competition for the month was a box. The winners were: Beginners: 1st - Pat Dromey, 2nd - Christy Fitzgerald
and 3rd - Rita Murphy.
Intermediate: 1st - Jim O'Donovan
and 2nd - Hugh Garrett. Advanced: 1st - Peter Manning, 2nd - Ger Hennessy and 3rd - Dave Lee.
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| Chapter Chairman, John Ahern, shares the joke as he introduces Liam O'Neill |
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| Liam makes his point. |
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| Finished cherry bowl. |
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| Competition winners for October. |
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| Peter Manning with his winning box. |
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| Liam's box in redwood burr and ebony. |
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| The cake with the I.W.G. emblem. |
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| Some of the desserts served at the workshop. |
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| I.W.G. President, Willie Creighton (front row, second from left) , came all the way from Mayo to be with us. |
