We’ve recently had some building work done and so I had a load of pallets available to try and do something with. As a general rule I don’t like reclaiming wood as it’s invariably full of junk (sand, nails, knots, etc) but there was so much of it I couldn’t just leave it. In the …
I recently went on a French polishing course and I took a few notes while I was there. What follows below are the notes I took typed up neatly so that I don’t forget everything. Some of it might be a bit disjointed but there are some gems in there and it’s in roughly the …
A few months ago my parents bought a children’s map of the world for my daughter. They had the map laminated which is great as it means it won’t succumb to sticky fingers. Unfortunately though it means it’s developed quite a spring while it’s been rolled up in the tube. In order to hang this map …
January was a busy month in the workshop. I did more turning than I have done in a long time and, for the first time, I really enjoyed it because I knew what I was doing. There is fun to be had learning to do something new but I believe more fun is had honing …
Since I now had a chuck and therefore access to the end of the wood I wanted to create a hollow form. I looked at the piece of wood I had mounted in the chuck and felt that perhaps it was a little long (25cm) considering my lack of experience and skill. I thought it …
I didn’t get much turning done in June for one reason or another. At the start of the month I thought the tools were getting a little dull. After turning a spindle I decided that there was no point in continuing without first sharpening the tools. My skill level seemed to be going backwards despite …
May saw the turning of yet more spindles of varying quality. I think that with hindsight the tools were starting to become fairly blunt which was slowing down my progress. the first piece I produced was more beads. I was starting to become pretty fed up with turning beads by the end of this piece …
April was the first full month where I could turn and therefore it saw me do a great deal more turning than I managed in March. I started the month with the intention of leaning to produce a good bead and I think I got close to being able to do that. The first piece …
March 2006 marks the start of my woodturning hobby – a hobby that I think will stand the test of time. Before getting to the actual turning I should recount what happened at the start of the month since the turning only occupies the last few days. Some aspects of this entry actually occurred before …
I wrote this article in early 2006 when I first started woodturning. For about a year I was completely focused on turning and I thought nothing could drag me away from it. I had visions of becoming a turner full time. Sadly life got in the way, we had to move house and the lathe …