QEST Scholarship - Working with Clive Burr

Clive Burr is, and has been for many years, a very important and valuable mentor and friend. He often helps me refine how I might make a complex piece, and is especially supportive when it comes to the often hidden engineering that goes into constructing large scale pieces in silver. So it was an obvious choice to spend a brilliant week in his workshop as part of my QESDT Scholarship learning more about how to use machines, no hammers involved! My brain was suitably expanded by all this precision engineering, as was my comfort zone. Clive designed a whole series of projects for me, each resulting in a useful tool, which taught me the basics of all the processes involved in using a lathe. I ended up with a pile of extra tools to bring home, from turned wooden blocking tools (for hammering into) to a brass precision holder for separating the tops from boxes in a pillar drill.

Turning brass on Clive’s lathe