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Viceroy Short-bed Lathe
This Viceroy short bed lathe is a wonderful lathe. I can turn up to 16″ over the bed and if I wanted and needed I could also turn larger pieces on the outside. However since I have another, larger lathe I’ve never set this up for outboard turning. This lathe has been converted to variable speed running from zero to about 1400 rpm. This is great as the belts for the different speeds are harder to change on this lathe than my little Scheppach. So I have an inverter mounted on the wall and a three phase motor. There was a three phase originally on the lathe but unfortunately not…
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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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Santes Dwynwen
Santes Dwynwen is the patron saint of lovers here in Wales and the day Santes Dwynwen is celebrated is the 25th of January so I thought I’d share her story. Santes Dwynwen was the beautiful daughter of a Welsh King Brychan Brycheiniog who lived in the fifth century. Brychan had lots of children it seems (possibly 24), many of whom became saints (bit of a popular pass-time back then, it seems). Dwynwen fell in love with Maelon and he with her but it was not to be. Exactly what the problem was is a little unclear and history becomes legend. Probably her father wasn’t willing or had already promised her…
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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…
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Enjoying Life
Enjoying life. Not taking things too seriously. “Hard work never killed anyone, why take the risk and be the first one”. All statements that Huw has always felt. He is however a worker and even when he’s not in his workshop (he is a precision engineer) he likes keeping busy. And what better a way to spend a Saturday than making a coffee table. So, enlisting the help of his friend Merfyn, who is retired and originally trained in woodwork before the dust forced him into painting and decorating, they set to work. Huw is very fond of the wood he rescues from old pallets. Much of his work is…
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Anniversary Bowls
My anniversary bowls have devoloped from a mistake I made when I was inexperienced which I mentioned it in my blog on learning through experience. I have made many special birthday or wedding anniversary bowls with a coin in the base. I have made at least three bowls for people celebrating their 100th birthday. For two of these I was able to get the wood for the bowls from the farms where the women were brought up. So the bowl was truly personal to them. They would probably have played in the tree from which the bowl was made. I remember being told afterwards that someone went to see one…
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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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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…
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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…