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Turned Miniature Eisteddfod Chair
Having had the honour to be commissioned again to make a miniature chair for Cymdeithas Ceredigion‘s 2016 Eisteddfod I decided to put my all into making a turned miniature chair. Since turning is my main medium for working with wood it made sense to explore this method to make the chair. I’ve made chairs for Cymdeithas Ceredigion before, both a full size chair and two miniature chairs, however I used more traditional methods for these chairs. (The 2015 miniature chair, described here and here, was made out of Laburnum and the 2014 was made of Elm.) I had a prototype turned chair floating around the workshop which I’d made a…
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Cankered Ash
Cankered Ash is a beautiful wood. Ash is so often beautiful anyway but Cankered Ash is wonderful. It has all the sorts of things I really enjoy with wood. It is unpredictable and moves after it has been turned – even if it is turned quite dry but especially if it is turned fresh. There must be a lot of stresses in it. It often has a particularly good colour and sheen to it, rich and deep. And, of course, it also has holes in it! Quite why they are appealing I don’t know but it isn’t only me. It seems that the more holes there are in a piece…
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The Smallest Lathe
This is a Scheppach (dmt450) 5 speed bench mounted wood turning lathe. This lathe was the first lathe I used seriously. And I did use it seriously considering it was a small inexpensive lathe. It was bolted well to the bench and within months I was turning bowls up to the maximum diameter of 10″ (150mm). And these weren’t always round bowls either. I had already been making furniture for several years so I knew how much I liked the natural edge and the beauty of the wood in its fullness, not cut into a straight line for my ease of use. I was very impressed with this lathe. It…
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Commissions 1
Commissions offer a different challenge to my everyday work. I love to have different commissions. Sometimes I am given commissions to turn bowls from wood that someone’s home and that is always a pleasure as it has so much personal meaning to the people involved. Wood always has a history but if that history is linked to the people who are able to keep the wood and possibly even pass it down through the generations that is so special. It is also through being given commissions to turn something from people’s own wood that I have come across some of the most beautiful wood I have had the pleasure to…
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Ornamental Bowls.
Ornamental bowls show the individual character of each piece of wood. Ornamental bowls are a delight to turn and they can be turned from fresh (green) wood or seasoned wood. They offer the widest scope in showing the wood to its greatest advantage. Many ornamental bowls can easily be used as fruit bowls or trinket bowls. Each ornamental bowl is different even when using the same wood. Each species of tree, each part of the tree, whether branch, trunk, root or crotch wood (where the trunk branches out), all have different characteristics, different figuring – and different problems. I use only local wood. The furthest I have fetched a tree…
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Wood Finish 2. Oil.
Which wood finish to chose is the most difficult aspect of wood turning, in my opinion. Oil, however, is the natural choice for a food safe wood finish. But which oil? Robin Wood, an experienced wood turner I would instinctively trust, is totally in favour of Linseed oil (Flaxseed oil) which can be bought for culinary use. However, other people say that it isn’t an ideal wood finish. I used it on the inside of a corner cupboard I made years ago and the smell lingered for years. I definitely wouldn’t use it for within an enclosed space again. Some say Jojoba is ideal as it is actually a liquid…
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Wood Finish 1. Polish
Deciding what wood finish to use can be a bit of a minefield. There are a lot of different things to take into consideration. The wood finish that brings out the figuring, refraction of the light, etc. best is a polish but this tends to be quite shiny which isn’t to everyone’s taste. It is also not very waterproof or very tough. However, if it is scratched it is easy to re-polish. Varnish is the toughest wood finish which is why it is used for yachts but this is a coating on the surface of the wood rather than going into it and if it gets scratched the whole finish…
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My Milling Band Saw
I have two different types of saws that I use for converting tree trunks into planks, a milling attachment for a powerful chainsaw and this large band saw. Hopefully I shall make some videos in the future showing them working. For very large trunks, or if they are somewhere other than home I use the milling chainsaw which I’ll describe in another blog. If the wood is small enough and at home I have the band-saw. This was originally designed for sawing metal but has been adapted now to saw wood. Most milling band-saws do the moving through the wood and are portable, which has its advantages. With this one…
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Ceredigion Craft Makers
When I first started turning wood I was caring for my partner’s mother who had dementia. This meant that my time was committed so, no craft fairs, craft groups or co-operatives who rent a shop where I would have to be able to donate my time on a regular basis. So all my work was sold through shops and galleries. I am no longer caring for someone so I am now free to sell in whatever way I choose and a couple of months ago I joined Ceredigion Craft Makers. It is a mixed group promoting and selling various quality crafts in different venues within the county throughout the year.…
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Wood Turning -My First Experience
Guest Blog I had a happy few days visiting Roni a couple of weeks ago in beautiful West Wales. We have been friends for years. Rather rashly, she offered to show me wood turning and so how to make a bowl. I say rashly because I am not a practical sort of person. DIY is a form of torture to me and making something from scratch is a concept I have never understood, let alone embraced! The first thing that Roni said was that lathe safety is paramount when wood turning. The lathe turns the blank at a 800 revolutions per minute (0r more!) and the wood is taken off…