• Uncategorized,  wood craft,  wood turning

    Caring for your wood.

     Wood finish. What I use and how you can maintain it. My primary purpose of putting a wood finish is to seal the pores to keep it clean. But which particular finish depends on the purpose the wood will be used. I prefer oils and waxes which will sink into the wood rather than varnishes and paints which sit on the surface. I also prefer a satin finish rather than gloss. Food safe finish. The finish I use on all the plates and bowls I make primarily for everyday food use is flaxseed/linseed oil. This is a traditional ‘drying’ oil used for wood, either on its own as an oil or combined…

  • wood turning

    Wood Turning -Setting Up My Workshop 1

    My Wood Turning Workshop Starts to Take Shape   Some months ago I was visiting Roni and, as usual, could not wait to do a bit more wood turning. There I was turning a rather nice, if I do say so myself, mushroom when Roni asked why I did not set up my own workshop at home? I had thought about it before and dismissed it on a couple of grounds. Firstly there was the cost. Wood turning is not a cheap thing to set up. There is a lot of necessary kit.  A lathe for a start, have you seen how much those things cost!? Then there is extraction…

  • About Wales,  Background to wood and its history,  Uncategorized,  wood craft,  wood turning

    Marketing Woodturning

    I have been woodturning for ten years now. In fact I even did a little before that, about fifteen years ago. However, most of this time I have also been a carer so not only was my time limited but also I never knew if I would have to drop everything else for a while if the person I was looking after needed more help. I therefore deliberately kept a low profile with the woodturning. I put my work into local shops and galleries and left them to sell on my behalf. I am grateful for this service. I do not begrudge shops their commission, I am a firm believer…

  • wood craft,  wood turning

    Turning Mushrooms

    Phil came to stay last weekend. Having taken to wood turning like a duck to water when he first tried, naturally he wanted to have a go again. (I, of course, expect everyone who tries their hand at turning to love it but suprisingly not everyone does.) When I asked Phil what he’d like to turn he said “mushrooms and earrings”. I was delighted at this. Something a bit different – where he could choose the design as they weren’t something I’d been making for ten years unlike the bowls. Years ago I’d made mushroom shaped nightlights and boxes where the top was the cap of the mushroom but I’d…

  • About Wales,  Lathes and machines

    A Special Bandsaw

    My bandsaw is like no other. I was so lucky to get it and appreciate it every time I use it. It is thanks to Huw that I have it. He spotted it when it had been dismantled from its old job and saw the potential and restored it for me. Everyone who uses a bandsaw is admiring or even slightly envious when they see it. This bandsaw is the machine I would find hardest to replace if anything went wrong with it.   So what is so special about the bandsaw? What makes it so usable to me is the size of the table and the throat. The throat…

  • About Wales,  wood craft,  wood turning

    Commissions 2

    Commissions come in all shapes and sizes. I enjoy the challenge of making replacement turnings for people. Most of my work is free form – I can choose what shape I want. Bowls, pots, vases, tea light holders. they are all things that give me the chance to look at a piece of wood and make the best I can from that particular piece of wood. If there is a rotten bit in the wood I can change the shape, it doesn’t matter. So it is good having the occasional challenge of turning something exactly like another piece. Since  the original was turned by someone else there is also the…

  • Uncategorized

    Learning through Experience

    Learning through experience, both good and bad, is certainly the main way I’ve learned most of my woodturning. I was shown the very basics, bought a couple of books and a video. However, it was experience which moved me along and improved my work. Good experiences of achieving a goal, the lightbulb experience when something suddenly clicked into place but also the experience of getting things disastrously wrong. Wood turning really is a case of hand/eye co-ordination. The shape of a bowl is made by free hand movements of the tool against the wood. (This is different from metal work on a lathe where the tool is set up and…

  • wood craft

    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…

  • wood turning

    Lathe Safety

    As someone who has worked on lathes for many years thinking about lathe safety is second nature to me. I know I’ll be off work for a long time with a broken finger and I’d never be so good with only one eye. Also, I heard of a young woman who was killed when her hair got caught in a lathe. You can read the full story here . It was interesting introducing the lathe safety to someone and verbalising what I instinctively practice. So, when I was showing Phil how to turn his first bowls I made sure that he was aware of the basic lathe safety rules. For anyone…

  • wood turning

    A Spring in my Step

    A spring in my step is the best way to describe how I’m feeling today but before I say why I need to give a little background to the story. One day totally out of the blue someone I hardly knew turned up. He is a mechanic by trade but was helping clear a totally neglected field of overgrown gorse bushes. The back of his pick-up was full of gorse – the biggest I’ve ever seen. I have plenty of what I consider to be overgrown gorse in the hedge in my field. The largest stems are a bit over an inch, maybe 30mm. These ones were up to 4…