One Small Step for....

[Unlucky Alf]

Sorry Chas but could you please stop posting pictures of your work. A couple of weeks ago I started looking at this forum hoping to get some tips on a planer/thicknesser, which I really need. Now, having seen this thread I really want to get a lathe. Unfortunately I can't afford both at the moment :x

Seriously though, you have created some lovely pieces of work, congratulations. I particularly like the cherry biscuit plate and cheese platter.


--------------
Simon

 

[CHJ]

Sorry Chas but could you please stop posting pictures of your work. A couple of weeks ago I started looking at this forum hoping to get some tips on a planer/thicknesser, which I really need. Now, having seen this thread I really want to get a lathe. Unfortunately I can't afford both at the moment :x

Seriously though, you have created some lovely pieces of work, congratulations. I particularly like the cherry biscuit plate and cheese platter.


--------------
Simon

Be warned Simon, if a lathe makes it into your workshop you may find that other equipments take on a supporting roll only, my thicknesser gets most use now just truing a face of turning blanks.
I have become thoroughly addicted to the creation of 'round spinney things' as someone has been known to refer to them. I do not expect that I will ever develope the skills that are shown in the exhibits to be seen at the craft shows but I think that there are many years of enjoyment still to come exploring the beauty hidden in a piece of wood.

The cherry came from a 25mm thick board offcut that I found in a woodyard, the grain patterning was far more pronounced than I expected due to the section of cut, I did not know if I liked it at first (a bit busy) but the recipient of the set burst into tears when she opened the giftwrap so I guess it hit the spot.

 

[CHJ]

Four more for the collection: click on images for larger view

Cedar of Lebanon Salad bowls and Potpourri pot.


Spalted Beech dish.

 

[MikeW]

Hey Chas...been a while since I've revisted this thread. Wonderful things have been spinning their way out of your shop I see!

Simply great stuff.

Thank you--Mike

 

[CHJ]

Hey Chas...been a while since I've revisted this thread. Wonderful things have been spinning their way out of your shop I see!

Simply great stuff.

Thank you--Mike

Thanks Mike, feel a bit embarrassed keep posting my basic turning seeing how accomplished other people are at it but as there have been some 4600 views of the thread (not all mine :lol: ) I guess someone is interested.

 

[Waka]

Chas

keep posting, it makes me jealous but i enjoy looking at your work.

Oh by the way where do you get BASIC turning from?

 

[CHJ]

Chas

keep posting, it makes me jealous but i enjoy looking at your work.

Oh by the way where do you get BASIC turning from?

Thanks for the interest Waka, re basic? well it is all simple forms & done with the minimum of tools and cheap and cheerful equipment (apart from dust safety/extraction that is) and I am a long way from very thin walled green turning or exotic offcentre shapes etc.

 

[CHJ]

A bit more "Art" in this ones rolled edge today. click on images for larger view

Zebrano Dish 310 mm dia.

 

[Waka]

Chas

Another masterpiece, that Zebrano is certainly nice looking, well done.

Just as a point of interest what do you do with all the pieces?

 

[Taffy Turner]

Chas,

Very nice indeed. I love the look of Zebrano, but not the smell!!

Taffy

 

[CHJ]

...snip...Just as a point of interest what do you do with all the pieces?

Well apart from filling the dinning room with the spares, (rapidly coming close to being designated a store room) several are in regular use for food serving, and, as I suspect is the same for other turners, any spare shelf or niche somewhere now has a sample full of potpourri, nuts, sweets or fruit or just as a decoration.

Quite a few of the pieces have gone as gifts or been claimed by other people as indicated in the Gallery link below by a star, main problem now is that as they spread far and wide I am starting to get requests for repeats, although this boosts the ego somewhat and gets back some of my material costs I am a little wary that it could become a chore if it goes too far.
I get most pleasure from picking a piece of wood and working it 'as I see it’ so to speak without the constraints of following set dimensions or pattern, sometimes it works better than others, but it is the freedom to do my own thing that gives me the most pleasure.

 

[Waka]

I get most pleasure from picking a piece of wood and working it 'as I see it’ so to speak without the constraints of following set dimensions or pattern, sometimes it works better than others, but it is the freedom to do my own thing that gives me the most pleasure.

Here here

 

[CHJ]

Chas,

Very nice indeed. I love the look of Zebrano, but not the smell!!

Taffy

Funnily enough Taffy this slab has little to no smell at all, don't know if it is because it is 50% sapwood (seconds), or that the wormholes in the sapwood have pre-ventilated it :lol:, but at roughly £7.50 a cu ft. it was too good to leave in the woodyard.

 

[trevtheturner]

Within a few months of starting turning, my house was becoming pretty full of round wooden things in various shapes, sizes, and colours (bowls, platters, weed pots/bud vases, pot-pourri bowls with lids, banksia candlesticks, 40 & 100 year calendars, etc., etc.). So much so that just about everybody that came to the house left with a piece of wood, and still do. But it's pretty much under control now with just a few useful and select items retained.

Because it is my hobby I don't generally sell anything (apart from a few pens I am making now for Christmas gifts) and I politely decline all requests to undertake commissions - simply because I just want the freedom to enjoy it as I choose. The pleasure of seeing peoples faces when they are unexpectedly given something that they are looking at and admiring is an added satisfaction. But the best bits are still indoors! :wink:

(The 100 year calendars ain't much good as presents for elderly aunts, though!) :roll: :roll:

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[CHJ]

Working my way down the slab. click on image for larger view

Zebrano 310 mm dia.

 

[Waka]

Chas

Any chance of you changing post title from Smal steps to large ones :lol:

How do you get under the lip on the Zebrano bowl? BTW looks very impressive, if I get time this time home I'm going to dedicate some ti,me to the lathe, after all your projects give me ideas.

 

[Taffy Turner]

Waka,

I don't know how Chas undercuts his bowl rims, but I do mine using a Robert Sorby Hollowmaster - see link below for picture.

http://www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?page=9968

It is possible to do it using a bowl gouge, but you are in SERIOUS danger of an almighty catch. I have done a few using the gouge, but the hollowmaster is a lot less nerve racking. It does take longer though, as you can only take small cuts with the Hollowmaster.

Regards

Gary

 

[CHJ]

...snip...How do you get under the lip on the Zebrano bowl?

Not having a great selection of tools in essence I cheat. I come back as far as possible towards the edge with a bowl gauge then use a 10mm/3/8" round nosed scraper to get as close to 90deg as possible then I shear scrape with a notched bowl scraper and then if I think it needs relieving behind the inside rim I use some 80Gauge fabric backed abrasive rolled into the appropriate diameter to sand the recess.

Perhaps one day a Hollowmaster as mentioned by Taffyor the equivalent will make its way into the tool rack but I'm afraid at the moment it has to join the list along with a the Bandsaw, Bowl Blank Saver and one or two more items that are fighting for access to the piggy bank.

...snip...your projects give me ideas.

Well if they do I am more than pleased, I spend most of my time at shows, craft fairs and outlets noting how others have tackled a piece and filing away a shape or idea for when the right bit of wood is at hand.

 

[CHJ]

click on images for larger view

Yew & Beech (Mahogany Insert ) Trinket Boxes (213 & 97 mm dia respectively)

 

[trevtheturner]

I use the Munro hollowing tool for undercutting and other difficult to access internal cutting. It is an excellent bit of kit which, with its adjustable cutter, allows anything from very aggressive cutting, useful for shifting a large quantity of wood from a wet turning, to very fine finishing cutting on dry hardwoods, without any danger of catching. Expensive at £160, but quality and worth the money in the long term.

The bowl blank saver you mention, Chas, is that the Kel McNaughton system? I was looking at that, because of the horrendous waste when bowl turning, but it needs a lathe with a minimum 2hp motor. Unfortunately my lathe is only 1hp.

Does anybody know of a bowl saver system that will function satisfactorily with just a 1hp lathe?

Cheers,

Trev.