An Audience with Gary Rance - 10 July 2010
Introduction
Gary started the day by giving a brief history of his woodturning career. Unlike any demonstrator who has visited the club before, he has made his living entirely as a professional wood turner, whereas many other turners have come to woodturning following a change of career. He started as an apprentice with a small woodturning company at the age of sixteen and after 18 months was put on piece work, turning mainly peppermills; it was as a result of this that he became one of the fastest and most accurate production turners in the UK. In 1987 he became self employed and since then has built up a base of approximately 345 customers, some of whom supply companies such as Harrods and Liberty’s.
Before turning his first project Gary demonstrated basic cutting techniques. First he demonstrated a square pummel and a round pummel, using a skew chisel he has designed himself. Unlike the usual skews you see it is made from a round bar which he says gives you much greater control on the tool rest. Next he used a roughing out gouge to turn the timber to a cylinder and to demonstrate a planing cut. Then he showed the planing cut done with the skew chisel; his tip for this is to always move your body and not the tool and don’t stop the cut part way through, even if it’s not cutting in the right place. He also says you should hold the tool with your hand on top of it, not underneath, to avoid injury from a kickback. He went on to demonstrate beads and v cuts with the skew chisel and coves with a ⅜” spindle gouge. (See photo at right - click for larger view)
Knowing Gary’s reputation for fast turning we were expecting him to turn several projects during the day and we were not disappointed. Once he had demonstrated the basic cuts he went on to turn eight different projects then finished by giving a brief demonstration of tool sharpening.
This was a memorable day; the projects were excellent and Gary’s turning was very fast and accurate. In addition to this Gary’s lively patter and interaction with the audience kept us entertained all day. I heard many people comment on what an excellent day it had been.
Please Note:
Because of the number of items Gary turned, I have not been able to go into quite as much detail in my report as I would normally do but I hope you will still find the information useful and informative. To read about each individual item please click on the links above.
If you fancy trying one of Gary’s items he sells diagrams with full measurements via his web site - these sold like ‘hot cakes’ during the day.
Lorrie Flannery
SWC club member
SWC club member
