Masterclass with Michael Fortune

Earlier this year Carolyn Ellis and Allan Waugh spent six weeks at the Centre for Fine Woodworking in Nelson New Zealand.

Collaborating with the master craftsman Michael Fortune would have to be inspiration in itself - but to have the dedicated staff and fellow students to work with as well, must lift your own work to another level.

There were five participants sharing a large old home, located up a steep and narrow road, but only ten minutes’ walk down to the town centre. It was very comfortable, with views out to the coast. The roomies consisted of two Australians (Tim and Will), two New Zealanders (Carolyn and Allan), and a Canadian (Shawn) each taking turns to do the cooking or eating out.

Not too hard to take for six weeks.

Fire in the workshop

Kevin Luff had been working with a remarkable piece of red gum that has been carbon dated at more than 4,000

years old and had been buried in a peat bog for a lot of that time. Whilst final trimming this timber on the CNC machine about 8.30am in the morning, he noticed a fire in the vacuum extraction pipe which had burned through a small section. Once he had put this out using a new fire extinguisher, he vacuumed and cleaned the complete extraction system and emptied all the bags.

He left the workshop at about 3.00pm that afternoon, when at about 3.45pm a worker doing a late shift in the adjacent unit heard the fire alarm go off. Looking through the window he could not see any anything but could smell smoke. So, taking the fire extinguisher from his unit he kicked the door in!  The fire in the exhaust system had restarted and was by now burning the full length of the ductwork above the CNC machine and dropping molten plastic onto the floor.

Again, the fire was put out and when Kevin returned to a smoke covered workshop there were still embers smouldering on the floor, so it was cleaned once again and give a good hose down.

I am sure that we all know how dangerous dust can be, with just a small spark, but even after a good clean and vacuum to remove all the dust and fire extinguisher powder (trust me it goes everywhere!) and even 6-7hrs after the original fire, it just starts up again!

A very lucky escape for Kevin should act as a timely reminder for the rest of us not to become complacent around our workshop!