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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…
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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…
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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…
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Wood Turning – Phil’s First Wooden Bowls
A friend came to stay for a few days recently and expressed an interest in trying his hand at wood turning and making some wooden bowls. I was absolutely delighted. I am passionate about my work and if I can turn someone else on to the wonders of wood in general and making wooden bowls by wood turning in particular I am not going to pass up on the opportunity! It is a chance to have a captive audience and to bore someone to tears… I warned Phil that I am a terribly bad teacher. I have had very little practice at it which does not help and I do…
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Plant Cuttings and Calan Gaeaf
When I decided to convert my little field into a wildlife haven I knew I had my work cut out for me. Planting up three quarters of an acre is no mean feat. It was also going to involve a lot of plants. I knew I had to learn about taking plant cuttings to propagate them. Obviously they take longer than buying plants but this is a long term project anyway. Also if a friend happens to have a plant that you like and a couple of spare branches that need pruning…. My mother has always taken plant cuttings but since her stroke I was unable to ask her advice.…
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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…
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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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Using the Way a Tree Grows in My Work
Using the way a tree grows enables me to get the most out of the wood I have. Some wood is reliable and reasonably predictable in its behaviour but some wood is “wild” and very unpredictable. Some wood turners prefer to just stick to the predictable. The wild wood can make a bowl warp – something I prefer to celebrate when it happens. It is exactly what I would mean by “using the way a tree grows in my work”. Or in other words “letting the wood have the last say”. The normal way for a tree to grow is evenly around the pith. This ash tree shows the way…
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Paul Clarke, Sculptor, Woodcraft
Paul Clarke is equally skilled working with stone or wood and luckily for me he is also a friend of mine. It is through our common interest in wood that I know him. He has bought wood off me before or I have known of someone who could supply the right wood for a project. Paul has made pieces at my places before as I have ample space outdoors. Of course I jumped at the chance to see him in action. He is working on a big project at the moment – a huge chair to go outdoors at Cardigan Castle for when it opens to the public next year. The castle…
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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…