With the temperatures rising across the country, the weather was set to be absolutely stunning for my trip down to Yandles for a couple of days demonstrations of the Hampshire Sheen brand of finishes and general turning.

I visit Yandles regularly, or at least I did before COVID! It is one of my favourite places to demonstrate – particularly in their enormous saw mill. The company has been going for donkey’s years and includes a superb selection of timber, turning blanks and an enormous shop of all manner of tools and machines. There is also a gift shop, cafe and craft shop there, too.

Arriving on the afternoon of Thursday 14th to get set-up, I was provided with a Record Power Coronet lathe and a good space in their tool shop.

Nestled amongst machines from Laguna, Charnwood and Record Power, it was a relief to have a breeze blowing over the top of the shelves.

Fleur de Lis Inn

Frustratingly, I was unable to book into my usual haunt for a Yandles trip, The White Hart despite booking months ago, so I settled for the Fleur de Lis pub in a neighbouring village, just a 5 minute drive away.

A nicely laid out 15th century inn, it had recently been taken over by a new manager. The bar area was airy and light whilst the beer garden was a pleasant sun trap!

The room I had was a triple, spanning the width of the building meaning I could have a through draft during the two balmy nights I was staying there.

Friday 15th July

Although not officially part of the open day, I demonstrated in the shop on the Friday. There were a good number of customers looking around and I spent a long time with a newcomer giving him some impartial advice on most things to do with turning.

Saturday 16th

Saturday was the polar opposite of Friday with 70 craft stalls pitching up in the front car park as if by magic first thing in the morning.

Emma Cook was there demonstrating next to saw mill to seated audiences during the day. In this room, a schedule of demos was underway. Aside from Emma, there were bandsaw demos by Record Power and Larry Chant.

There were also a number of other turning demonstrations going on from clubs and other turners.

Radha Sivyer from Channel 4’s Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker programmes was demonstrating for Arbortech in the wood yard and Planet Tools were outside the shop demonstrating in full sunshine!

On this day too, there were turning taster sessions bookable for visitors, and carving sessions hosted by Stephen Stokes.

In the shop where I was, the queue for the checkouts were long and warm – this was a warmer day for sure.

With a steady stream of customers stopping to watch what I was up to in the shop, I was kept busy until 1pm when I had to up-sticks and move my stuff to where Emma had been demonstrating.

Finishing Masterclass

Over in the main demo room, I was to present a finishing masterclass at 2pm.

Despite the heat, there was a full house as I set about my demo using some of the Hampshire Sheen range of finishes.

Wow, it was warm!

During my demonstrations, I like to include as much turning as possible, so some bowl turning technique was included rather than just finishing! Although I run a business making and distributing finishes, demonstrating them can be somewhat repetitive!

(Thank you to Becky at Yandles for these photos)

Here are three of the pieces turned over the weekend. They have all been finished using a combination of the Intrinsic Colour Collection, Embellishing Waxes, PreThinned Cellulose Sanding Sealer and Gloss Finishing Wax.

Thank you to all of the visitors to Yandles last weekend for their interest and questions during the demonstrations I presented. I’ll look forward to when I can return to do it all again!

Bowl Turning Remote Demo

On Tuesday 2nd August ’22, I am presenting a live demonstration course for beginners and intermediates to help improve their bowl turning.

Click HERE to book now.