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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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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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I Try My Hand at Wood Carving!
I have mentioned my friend Paul Clarke, the sculptor. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go on a day wood carving workshop he was holding. I was not about to lose this chance to try my hand at wood carving. I loved it. It was wonderful working with wood but in a different discipline. I decided not to try a three dimensional piece, but a relief. I felt that this would give me the opportunity to use a number of different wood carving tools. I also felt that if I could get to grips with this discipline there also seemed more chance I would do something again with…
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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…
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The History of the Tree in the Wood.
The history of the tree is in each piece of wood but it can not always be easily read. One of the easiest stories to read is when a tree has been cut across the grain. Because the wood has to shrink as it dries (a living tree is about 60% water and this will come down to 10% or below for a centrally heated house) when it is cut like this it inevitably cracks. When it is planked along the grain it can move in different ways so does not necessarily crack. This circle of wood is 31″ diameter at the narrowest point and over 3′ at the widest…
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Laburnum Tea Lights
Had a lovely morning in the workshop turning a couple of branches of Laburnum into Tea lights. Christmas is coming. I know, autumn is only just here but in business one needs to think ahead! This Laburnum came from trimming around the electricity wires. Keeping them clear is essential work. They are only branches so the trees will still be growing. I’ve had them for years so they are very dry which is important for the tea-lights because a large bulk of wood is still left. If it was turned green/fresh it could crack or shrink badly. The sapwood has a little spalting in it. Spalting is where fungus has…
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Swimming With Seals
I couldn’t believe it when I ended up swimming with seals. Near me is a beautiful little cove. It is at least twenty minutes walk and since the path down the cliff at the end of that is very steep with hairpin bends it is usually deserted. At high tide it is just rocks but there is a small beach when the tide has gone out. There are old worn steps carved into the slate rock helping the descent. Who created them a long time ago? Smugglers, maybe? When I haven’t been working this year I have been busy in the garden so I haven’t been swimming once in the sea. 21st…
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Laburnum in Ceredigion
Laburnum hedges turn great swathes of this area yellow in May. Some roads become golden tunnels. Field after field are surrounded by branches dripping with Golden Chains. I don’t know that it is true but the story that I was told when I was young growing up in this area is that the Laburnum came here in the 1860s from Spain. It was used as ballast and was then used as cheap fencing posts. It took root. There are many hedges where the Laburnum trees are about 9′ (3m) apart which is just the right distance for fencing. Ceredigion was one of the last areas to be enclosed (the process…