Post a photo of the last thing you turned

[pat from Marck]

Yesterday had a go a a poplar log saved from a fire wood pile a it had black spots on the outside. This is what came out

decided to sleep on what I was going to do as I wanted to save the pattern and due to saw gouges at the other end I ended up with this shape. At this moment in time I'm toying with the idea of a roundish bowl set on a dish.
So today

I chopped it off, planning on making a dish so as to expose the paterrn both sides and another sall bowl with the other half almost went according to plan. But nugget head here forgot to take in the depth of the chuck recess and during sanding nealy went all the way through. Came up with putting a pedestal of spalted birch to save it. One more small mishap occurred whilst sanding the inside of the dish. For some reason a heat ring appeared in the bottom. All I can think of is it reacted to the glue underneath in the recess. As the base was thin there decided not to try sand it out instead added a heat ring of my own on the outer rim to try and balance it out. So this is the final result.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Very different. Question if you need to use mineral oil and don't have any can you use baby oil as a substitute?

That is what I use

 

[Davyboy]

This my meagre contribution as I’ve only just gone back into woodturning after many years and only have a small Nova Mercury lathe. Years ago when we lived in Spain, I made these on a larger scale and sold them to gift shops.

 

[Stigmorgan]

This my meagre contribution as I’ve only just gone back into woodturning after many years and only have a small Nova Mercury lathe. Years ago when we lived in Spain, I made these on a larger scale and sold them to gift shops.
View attachment 184635

Wow those are gorgeous, have to admit, thread chasing is something that baffles me

Another leaving gift for a colleague, made from Oak and Holly, finished with Danish Oil and turned with only 2 tools, my almost worn out bowl gouge and a micro skew that was part of my gift from secret santa 2022

 

[HOJ]

I need to ask @Stigmorgan you do seem to make a lot of leaving presents

 

[Davyboy]

Wow those are gorgeous, have to admit, thread chasing is something that baffles me

Another leaving gift for a colleague, made from Oak and Holly, finished with Danish Oil and turned with only 2 tools, my almost worn out bowl gouge and a micro skew that was part of my gift from secret santa 2022
View attachment 184644View attachment 184645View attachment 184646View attachment 184647View attachment 184648View attachment 184649View attachment 184650

That’s beautiful, there’s some pretty impressive pieces on here.

 

[Davyboy]

The threads were cut using a threadcutting device that I made up around 30 years ago after seeing a photograph of the Carbatec Threadmaster in a woodworking magazine. I actually started a thread about it on here around 14 years ago.

 

[Davyboy]

 

[Stigmorgan]

I need to ask @Stigmorgan you do seem to make a lot of leaving presents

Does seem that way
We currently have 4 staff leaving, 1 is retiring, 1 has decided not to renew their contract, the PE teacher was asked to go part time but has only just had a baby so can't afford to be part time and the 4th is moving to one of our other schools.

 

[pat from Marck]

Wow those are gorgeous, have to admit, thread chasing is something that baffles me

Another leaving gift for a colleague, made from Oak and Holly, finished with Danish Oil and turned with only 2 tools, my almost worn out bowl gouge and a micro skew that was part of my gift from secret santa 2022
View attachment 184644View attachment 184645View attachment 184646View attachment 184647View attachment 184648View attachment 184649View attachment 184650

That's a beautiful piece and I'm also thinking about the lot of leaving pressies you've been doing lately and at that rate your are going to run out of wood

 

[Davyboy]

It’s the cost of the blanks that’s putting me off at the moment, everything is so expensive!! Does anyone know of a cheap source of decent wood for turning?

 

[pat from Marck]

Underneath the weeping willow tree lay a rusty rotting metal plate that served as a cover for our water meter

one rusty cover so in amongst all the outer things that needed doing for the house replacing this with a new cover was a priority. Managed to run a novel design passed the missus and came up with this

The rabbits allowed me the old half an hour here and there for experimenting. The replacement plate is from the side af an electric cable drum. Which in turn will eventually be hinged to the hard wood frame made from bits I rejected for turning due to defects.

Thats all folks

 

[pat from Marck]

It’s the cost of the blanks that’s putting me off at the moment, everything is so expensive!! Does anyone know of a cheap source of decent wood for turning?

One way I've had some good results is to check out local charity shops that sell furniture one of my best results was a solid king size oak bed went a long way on all sorts of projects not just turning. Good luck.

 

[pat from Marck]

My eye caught these old spindles I've had hanging around

and thoight I'd have a day practising free hand making multiple same shape objects and see how close I could come to duplicating

so I opted for these shot cup shapes made six and those with a critical eye will see I failed in the dimensions. Then just for fun turned the black barrel, calling it a night when the boss demanded one but only cylinder in shape then to top that she interrupts this post by saying I've not given you alls anything to give scale. So here's one more with our cocktail stick pot

 

[Stigmorgan]

It’s the cost of the blanks that’s putting me off at the moment, everything is so expensive!! Does anyone know of a cheap source of decent wood for turning?

Befriend your local tree surgeon
Freecycle/Facebook/gumtree etc
Skip diving (with permission of course)
Charity shops
Carboot sales/Flea markets
If you're patient enough you can do like me and grow your own I've planted close to 400 trees over the last few years

 

[Stigmorgan]

That's a beautiful piece and I'm also thinking about the lot of leaving pressies you've been doing lately and at that rate your are going to run out of wood

No chance of that, I may run low on "dry" wood for bowls/goblets etc but I have more green wood from this year alone than I can get through and next month I have a large-ish Oak coming down with a lot of burr/burl on the trunk, trouble is I have nowhere to store it at the minute next year I have another massive oak earmarked for removal due to disease, a skinny birch that's almost dead and another decent sized one that's showing signs of decay, so absolutely no chance of running out

Anyway, found out today that Surrey's tree specialist who has carried out our tree inspections and surveys for almost 30 years has decided to retire, he's a really good guy and always makes time to advise me if I need his expertise so I wanted to make something special so set myself the challenge of using as many species of wood from the school site as I can, so far I have several of the components done and treated with Danish oil, I've used Oak, Holly, Birch and Western Red Cedar, still have more parts to make and want to use Hawthorn, Willow, possibly Sycamore and Cherry if I can squeeze them in somewhere, oh and I've only got 10 days to do it

 

[Davyboy]

By Jove, there are some incredible pieces on here, beyond my capabilities I suspect, but I’m going to give it a try!!

 

[Davyboy]

Befriend your local tree surgeon
Freecycle/Facebook/gumtree etc
Skip diving (with permission of course)
Charity shops
Carboot sales/Flea markets
If you're patient enough you can do like me and grow your own I've planted close to 400 trees over the last few years

Thank you stigmorgan, I’ll bear that in mind.

 

[Davyboy]

One way I've had some good results is to check out local charity shops that sell furniture one of my best results was a solid king size oak bed went a long way on all sorts of projects not just turning. Good luck.

Thank you Pat , I appreciate your help

 

[Stigmorgan]

Thank you stigmorgan, I’ll bear that in mind.

Fareham is only an hour from me, if you fancy the drive I'm sure I can sort some spare wood for you to play with