Copyright © 2019 Burnham-
Meeting Reviews
January 2018 -
February 2017 -
April 2016 -
January 2016 -
April 2017 - Chris Foweraker
We’ve probably all had a go at turning fruit. Tonight Chris showed us how to turn apples and pears properly.
Pear out of beech …
Top Tip 1 -
Chris uses a friction chuck (described below) to complete the turning of fruit. This has a hole right through into which a round ended stick can be inserted both to help centralise the fruit when inserted and also to free the fruit when finished.
The top three quarters of the pear was completed including sanding etc whilst supported by the headstock and tailstock in the conventional way and then inserted into the friction chuck so that indent in the bottom could be turned and the bottom quarter sanded and finished.
With the pear removed drill a hole at a slight angle in the top of the pear to take either a homemade stalk out of, say, laburnum or a dried actual stalk from a pear. With the bottom drilled centrally insert a clove to finish off the pear.
Friction chuck …
Chris makes several sizes of friction chuck to suit different sizes of fruit. The same size could be used for both apples and pears but Chris suggested that smaller sized apples were more attractive. Oak, ash and beech are suitable materials out of which to make a friction chuck.
The steps to making the friction chuck were …
- Turn the blank to round using a spindle roughing gouge
- Turn a spigot to suit the chuck
- Remove and reverse the piece into the chuck
- Square off what will be the open end and mark the required size of opening
- Use a forstner bit to drill part through (c500rpm) i.e to sufficient depth to take the top part of a piece of fruit
Top Tip 2 -
- Hollow out using a bowl gouge on the bottom wing to ensure a cut and not a scrape creating about a 5 to 7.5 degree taper
- Complete the hole through using a drill appropriate for the diameter of the dowel to be used
Top Tip 3 -
Apple out of beech …
- Round off down to size to fit the friction chuck to be used
- Mark a 2/5th line to indicate the maximum diameter point
- Sand and blend each end into the main body and then put sanding sealer (cellulose sanding sealer diluted 50/50) on each protruding end -
wiping surplus off immediately - Repeat for the other end
Top Tip 4 -
- Drill end holes as for the pear and then support the apple at both ends into the end holes and apply sealer to the rest of the body
- Finally, insert stalk and clove
Thanks to Chris for this straightforward and methodical explanation of the fruit making process. I certainly will now be able to enhance the appearance of my next batch of apples and pears.
David Langan