I like to arrive early at demonstrations. I like to get there and wind down for a time to get my head in the right space and go over the demo details.

Berkshire Woodturners is a club that is not far away from my workshop. It should take about an hour or a little less to get there. Leaving at 5pm (in case of traffic issues on the M3) my sat-nav gave me an eta of 6pm(ish).

Approaching a roundabout, just 5 miles from the destination, there was an incident involving a lorry and a motorcyclist that held the traffic back whilst emergency services coordinated the scene.

To advise the club I may be late, I called Malcolm the chairman a couple of times. Thankfully though, the traffic started to move at about 6.45pm. I was relieved to see that the motorcyclist appeared to be alive and being tended to by paramedics.

I arrived at the venue and unloaded a touch before 7pm and set-up in time to start the demo at 7.30. Phew!

The demo for the club was a contemporary ring box consisting of three parts at sizes commonly found in offcut boxes in most turner’s workshops.

It is a great project with plenty of creative opportunities.

That last time I demoed for Berkshire was in 2018 and it was a pleasure to return to see them in the flesh rather than via the internet.

The club is very proactive and streams their in-house demonstrations out from the community centre. This enables members not able to come or to share the evening with another club. They have also updated their camera set-up to superb HD quality cameras and screens.

Questions and Interaction

Questions and input from an audience is a great way for everyone to get as much from a demonstration as possible. It adds extra content to the presentation aside from the spiel from the demonstrator. I was very happy to have been asked lots of questions throughout the evening.

The Demo

The demo went quite well in the first half. The only problem was the hollowing tool I was using was dull. The ash lid of the box was hard as nails, too. I resorted to a scraper and showed how it is possible to hollow effectively with it.

During the break, the club judged their competition and gave a critique of the entries. Well done to the winner.

The second half had to run quicker than planned, but everything went to plan and I finished bang on time for clearing up.

I like to make sure that the pieces I turn in demonstrations are completed from start to finish. This means I need an extractor so I take with me a Record Power CamVac. They are brilliant.

The lid of the piece was coloured using Ruby and Black from the Intrinsic Colour Collection and then finished with Gold Embellishing Wax. It is a good combination and different to the usual dark brown and black I use.

A photo of the finished box is just above. The club has also received an illustrated .pdf worksheet of the process demonstrated.

It’s not too often that demonstrators have photos of them at work, so I am always grateful when pictures are taken. Thank you to Berkshire Turners for allowing me to use these.