Thread: Makin' Shavings / Turner's Projects.

I made these pens for a couple i know in CA. Just gifts for out of the blue...

Alright, so I've turned my first badger out of boxwood.
Really it was beginner's luck, and I'm lacking a lot of the tools to make quality badgers (chuck, drill chuck, bandsaw...)

I still have boxwood on hand, and a lot of it, but I want to be a bit more skilled before I go on working with it.
And being in a region famed for its walnuts, I've saved some branches from this year's pruning. But for now they are not dry enough.

So while I'm working my scales and arpeggios, it's pruned branches from the garden, logs from the firewood stash, and other construction pine cuttings.

Not being satisfied by my early skills (particulary with the skew), I've spent litteral hours on Youtube learning mostly from Richard Raffan.
Spent the morning on bead and coves rods (two of them), to work my cuts essentially.

Then, this afternoon, I tried to raise the bar a bit.

The aim was to try my hand at a reading pointer (I have a 7 years old, useful tool), since the minister of finances hand might be greased by crochet hooks in the future.
Dunno which wood. Might be linden, might be ash, might be plane, who cares, it's free and mistake-friendly.

Spindle turned, with a skew and an spindle gouge.
Happy ? Well at least mostly I knew what I was doing this time, and I might be close to a 3,5/4 mm crochet hook at the point, so mostly yes.
Satisfied ? Heck no, not yet.
My V-Cuts are messy, I can see at least one unsupported cut, but I see progress.
My beads and coves are far sharper, and overall I am far more precise.
And now I love working with the skew, even if my slicing cuts are not entirely satisfying. (like apparently a lot of people, I was intimidated at first because it would be catch after catch)

In a few months, and a bit of training on boxwood and yew, I should be able to work on these ebony and pink ivory blanks I bought far too early (but pink ivory is so hard to find)

You have a good start. Richard makes it all look easy. Myself i prefer the gouge not the skew. Practice practice. Richard raften and two other guys always do vids of how they like to make the same item. The guy from a different country (cant remember his name) is damn good. The three of these guys are good to watch to see the differences.

Watch your drying wood. Its not hard to end up with lots of splits and cracks so try to prepare your blanks. Youtube vids.

I often complain about everything being a damn YouTube video with a lot of ranting and little useful information but in this case it's really, really helpful.

Spent an hour yesterday chatting with the friend that years ago made me want to try my hand. He's from a family of wood turners actually, and yes, he was also adamant on checking the drying wood, with good advices.
And he also never uses a skew lol.

It's the beginning of the road. I'll have my joys and frustrations.
But well, look at the time, it's already 40s o'clock, I guess it will be my midlife crisis getaway drug. Safer than a motorbike anyway

And there we go.
Perfect ? No. But I'm pretty damn satisfied.
Boxwood is so nice to turn, an absolute pleasure.

Now to do the same, but with a collage of boxwood, ebony and pink ivory.

The Handle looks nice but you sure cant set the knot very deep. The knot looks a bit floppy without being set in very far. But, to each there own. Might make for a fine Powder duster.

You might need to make a stand for it as I don't think it will stand up on its own.

BTW, This is the guy I've enjoyed watching lately that turns for a living...
Tomislav Tomasic Woodturning

Well it stands on a standard stand, to my surprise


Actually there's a hole for a 6mm neodymium magnet at the top, it's supposed to hang.

And the whole project includes a stand and a bowl. That's if I can do it. Big if.

But yeah obviously I cut a bit too much towards the spearhead.
Lesson learned.

And yes, the brush is bad by itself. I'm talking bottom shelf Chinese bad. I suppose it would fit better as a powder brush.
But you know, for training purposes, I'd rather use a dummy.

I'll have a look at Tomislav Tomasic's videos, thanks for the tip !