-
Spalted Wood. How wood spalts.
Spalted wood. Spalted wood is where fungus or more usually several different fungi have been introduced to the wood. This is most commonly after the tree has been felled but sometimes it is a fungus which has killed the tree so the timber has already been spalted. Spalted wood can be created deliberately or can occur by accident as I have found out several times over the years! Spalted wood can be created as easily as:- Leaving the freshly sawn wood out in the weather, popping it into a plastic bag or burying the wood in wood shavings. However, knowing when the wood will be spalted enough to work but…
-
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…
-
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…
-
My Big Lathe
This is my favourite lathe and was in fact the first lathe that I bought though I didn’t use it straight away. I can turn up to 24″ diameter on this lathe. I love the history associated with this lathe. It started life as a metal spinning lathe – something I’d never even heard of when I first had the lathe. It was in a poor state and I had to derust then paint it. There was no tool rest and when I was asking Huw to make one for me I really didn’t know what I needed. This tool rest can be moved at a couple of different points…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Yew Trees
Yew trees are beautiful and I love working with Yew wood. Yew wood is one of the most interesting and beautiful woods, highly sought after by wood turners and furniture makers. It has a creamy coloured sapwood with much darker orange brown heartwood creating a striking contrast. The patterns created by the Yew tree as it grows tend to be very varied and ‘wild’. Yew trees also do not tend to grow smooth and round but undulating in and out. This means that if I can make things from yew that retain the natural edge this adds an interesting feature to the piece. However, yew also tends to surface crack…