An Alder bowl

This evening I popped over to the barn to finish off a small alder bowl that I started at the weekend. Here’s how I left it at that point…

I’d wanted to do a curled over lip but kept breaking the edge so decided to cut this off. I was also going to mount this on my screw chuck hence the small size of the base, however when I glued a block to it and drilled it out on the lathe I found that it was off-centre when I chucked it.

After a bit of investigation it would seem that it’s a combination of the chuck & screw chuck so I may have to make another screw chuck and see how I get on with that. Instead I made a dovetail in the base and chucked it that way.

At present I don’t have large jaws for the chuck so this is how I finish off the base of my bowls – necessity is the mother of invention. I’ve had one spin off into orbit like this (and needless to say it was ruined) but it seems to work well for small bowls such as this.

The alder was nice to turn and looks nice finished off.

Another place for everything…

I’ve been neglecting the lathe for a few weeks as I’ve been playing with a MIG welder and having fun with that, but this evening I decided it was time to do some work on the lathe itself and so I built the following…

Sorry the picture’s a bit rubbish, it was taken on my phone. I had some galvanised sheet in the workshop from a garage door that I took off (it’s always worth hoarding some bits, you’ll never know when they’ll come in handy). I made a bracket on the left hand side with this steel and drilled/tapped two 4mm holes in the main column to attach it – breaking one tap in the process but thankfully I had another.

The other end is attached with a screw & washer through an existing hole on the leg. I used my forstner bits to drill the large holes for the tools, and had to make the left hand one larger still to fit the ferrule of my bowl gouge.

Happy with the new addition I turned the outside of a 6” * 3” Alder lump which was really nice to turn, and had a small area of spalting which looks rather nice on the side of the bowl. I’ll post a picture once it’s finished.

A huge ‘shroom

This evening whilst the family were watching Rocky 5 I escaped to the workshop again and had a go with a large lump of wood. Actually today is my day for large lumps as earlier I made a bowl on the outboard side, and this evening I loaded up the following monster…

It’s about 2’6” long and 8” or so in diameter. It was so large the banjo couldn’t traverse beneath it until I’d turned the outside off, so I progressed from right to left as can be seen in the above in order to turn it.

The wood had only been felled about a month ago, and I couldn’t believe the amount of water coming off it – I was getting soaked. As I’m sure this will crack badly I made the only thing I could with it…

That’s one for up at the allotment I think!

Turning on the large faceplate

I had a fair bit of spare time today so decided it was off to the workshop for me and one of the things I wanted to do was give the large faceplate a go.

I loaded up a large lump of Oak and off I went…

I haven’t yet finished painting the outboard part of the lathe (nor the lathe body itself, I’m having too much fun using it!). And I only have one tool rest which whilst easy to use isn’t cranked to getting close to the wood is a bit tricky (I can sense a purchase coming on soon!).

Anyhow I gingerly turned on the lathe at its slowest speed and started turning. A while later I was at the following stage – with some beautiful figuring in the wood…

I then went on to the inside of the bowl and the semi-finished article is below.

I’ll now leave it to season on the shelf and see what it’s like in a few months. There’s a bit of a hole internally but that all adds to the character. I just hope it doesn’t split whilst drying out.

A salad bowl

I’ve made a small salad bowl this week for a friend at work – but can’t give it to her yet as I haven’t sealed it. I went to Axminster tools recently (the one near High Wycombe) and bought some sealant in a starter pack. Or at least I think I did. Try as I might I can’t find it anywhere, either at home or in the workshop.

So the bowl will just have to languish here a little longer…

It’s made of an 8” disk of Elm which I found quite hard to turn. I did a piece of Hornbeam a few days ago (sorry, forgot the pictures) and that was gorgeous to turn – I’ll be ordering some more from Stiles & Bates soon.

I’m off down to Reading for a couple of days this coming week so will hopefully have time to pop into Axminster and buy something to finish this with then.

Finally - an outboard faceplate

Since I bought the lathe I’ve been after an outboard faceplate, and after hunting around for a while online (and being sent one that was wrong) I finally have my mitts on one. I popped over to the workshop today to check it was right…

Yes!

I did at first think it was bent, as when I spun the lathe the outer edge of the faceplate was wobbling. However this was my fault in two places – the threads on the outboard end were partially full of muck (old grease, sawdust, you know the sort of stuff), and hence I’d not managed to screw the faceplate fully home.

After a quick clean with a wire brush and some meths I could screw the faceplate all the way on and sure enough the wobbles were gone. I’m a happy bunny!

A place for everything…

Today I made something that I’ve been wanting for years. I can’t tell you how many years but it’s got to be a long old time.

I’ve wanted a place for all my tools for many years and finally in June 2010 I managed to buy a workshop just around the corner from my house in auction (which was a very scary thing for me, I was shaking after bidding so much I had to wait 1/2 hour before going home!).

Anyhow, today I affixed 4 pieces of wood together and drilled a few holes and voila, I have the following…

Now I’ll agree that it’s not very special, but the significance is that I have somewhere permanent to put my tools now, no longer do they need to languish tucked away in my cellar. Now they can be out on show, ready for action.

I’m loving my workshop.