Acorn?

[puritygold260]

Hi all, I have just been accepted into the forum, thank you. It looks like a fantastic group, one can only imagine the wealth of experience that is out there. Hopefully I will be able to contribute somewhere along the way.

Whilst reasonably handy across the board, my main developing (skill?) hobby is woodturning. I'd say I'm nearing intermediate level and can produce some reasonable work but it often doesn't compare too well next to some of the experts in our club....but practice and learning is the only way to develop.

I don't sell any of my work, I tend to give it to friends and family who have all genuinely welcomed my offerings. I guess once their needs are fulfilled I might have to look elsewhere! I'm not sure I have the stamina to produce enough stuff for craft fairs and don't think I'm good enough yet to produce unique one offs that would turn a profit.

Having said that, woodturning isn't a low cost hobby and decent and interesting wood is quite expensive....certainly cost of wood+time+finishes etc doesn't leave any room for a real profit....but maybe I'll need to generate some income from turning at some point.

I'm sure that isn't a unique conundrum....but there's plenty of fun and enjoyment whilst thinking about it.
Some other things...Favourite:
Wood to turn - Black Mulberry
Beer - Hazy Jane from Brewdog or Deya Steady Rolling Man.....dare I say, very similar
Sport - Rugby (Union, not the other one!)
Food - Mediterranean / Greek
Holiday destination - Crete...remote south

Probably gone on too long now - looking forward to being here.
Cheers

 

[Stigmorgan]

Welcome to the asylum
As you say, turning isn't the cheapest of hobbies, tools alone can be a pretty penny let alone, as you say, the pretty woods, I've found it helps to keep the costs down by watching the sales sites for 2nd hand tools, I'm quite lucky in that I only have need to buy wood if I need something specific as I have a large supply from work, I have also managed to befriend several local arborists who call me if they have anything interesting, of course this means I process all of my own wood and as a result can have a fair wait for it to be usable but now i have a chainsaw and bandsaw I actually enjoy the processing almost as much as the turning.

 

[Bingy man]

Welcome to ukw -good luck with your turning ..

 

[DeBangis]

Welcome to UKW.

 

[puritygold260]

Welcome to the asylum
As you say, turning isn't the cheapest of hobbies, tools alone can be a pretty penny let alone, as you say, the pretty woods, I've found it helps to keep the costs down by watching the sales sites for 2nd hand tools, I'm quite lucky in that I only have need to buy wood if I need something specific as I have a large supply from work, I have also managed to befriend several local arborists who call me if they have anything interesting, of course this means I process all of my own wood and as a result can have a fair wait for it to be usable but now i have a chainsaw and bandsaw I actually enjoy the processing almost as much as the turning.

Sounds like you've got your end to end process nailed. I've been picking up some nice pieces of wood from auction sites which is quite convenient...and my postie is looking a bit stronger these days!

 

[Stigmorgan]

Sounds like you've got your end to end process nailed. I've been picking up some nice pieces of wood from auction sites which is quite convenient...and my postie is looking a bit stronger these days!

Tree to log to creation is definitely a USP, people love to know where handmade items come from, my biggest difficulty is finding places to store the wood whilst it dries