Little things finished recently

A few new masterpieces.

Well, at least they're relatively new and finished.

They are a lidded box (perhaps jewellery box), with a clock insert inside the lid. The idea seemed good at the time, and it worked OK, but I'm not sure how practical it is.

A sort of pocket watch - a prototype - which worked OK, an d I'll make a modified version later to make it more compact: a spinning top: a plain lidded bowl with contrasting timbers: and a music box in black wattle. The music movement is in the lid, and makes the lid too heavy to be practical. But the black wattle is pretty.

Come to think of it, no masterpieces among them at all. But enough progress to make me relatively satisfied.

all the best,

vsquared

Woodcraft and capitalism

A few weeks ago one of my correspondents, whilst on a tour of the winery's of the Adelaide southern vineyards, come across some woodturned pens, offered as a souvenir by a vintner, for $30.00. She was of course scandalised, knowing the modest price I put on my creations.

The price tag of $30 does provide a very substantial profit, and brought to mind a poor, grey-bearded, shortsighted woodturner, slaving over his lathe until late into the night, and getting but a pittance for his work, with the profit being picked up by the large winemaking corporation.

But that is the way capitalism works.

More recently still, I came across an ad for pens, made using jarrah (sorry, Jarrah) from a Perth WA cathedral, currently being refurbished. These pens are top of the line, a veritable Rolls Royce of pens. Each kit (i.e. the works of the pen) costs upward of $80. To that add the very little bit of historic jarrah, some work, some skill, some sandpaper and wood-finish, and Lo -
you have a pen worth >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>$495.00.

Christianity hasn't survived for 2,000 years without learning a thing or two!

Singer treadle to computer desk

My dear old mum had a singer treadle sewing machine.

It was a beautiful machine (and mum was a beautiful mum).

Some time ago I acquired a singer treadly thing, minus the sewing machine and have had the intention to "do something" with it for a long, long time.

The time has come. I have a plan. I know what to do, how to do it, and what it will look like at the end.

This is the INCEPTION PHASE of a project.

The inception phase is marked by complete confidence, a certainty that this time things will go according to plan.

The next phase is the COMMENCEMENT PHASE. I've already entered this, as I have some of the basis materials to hand - see photo for treadle and some planks of cypress pine, which will be used in the construction. So far so good.

Further phases of the project are:
BASIC CONSTRUCTION- usually notable for finding there is a need for more timber, and for the discovery the timber is no longer available. A small loss of confidence sometimes occurs about this time.

CONNECTING THE COMPONENTS - often a small error in measuring or cutting or glueing up is discovered at this point. Timber can be cut to shorten it, but it is very difficult to stretch, so luck can play a big part in compensating for this minor error. Emotions ranging from minor iritation to despair are not uncommon.

FINISHING THE TIMBER - If there is one thing that woodworking gurus agree on, it is that preparation of timber is the secret to a good finish. This equates to hours of rubbing and scrubbing with sand paper, all the while discovering scratches, dents and other imperfections that were NOT there when the project started. this is also the time to try and cover up the botch that occured in the previous phase. BOREDOM prevails at this time, with frustration common. The words 'NEVER AGAIN" are sometimes heard.

FINALLY - PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER - Why, why, does it NOT look like it looked in my mind's eye at the inception phase?
A modicum of disappointment, mixed with relief are common at this stage.

I'll report on progress in due course.

Finished - at last

And it's better than it has any right to!

It started in The Guru's workshop, when I said I thought I'd turn the blank upside down and try a natural edge bowl. ( You HAVE noticed the edge isn't nice and flat and even, it's all wavey!)

The Guru said "Hmmmm. Whatever you reckon".

You need to know him to understand what that revealed of his opinion of the idea.

But I went ahead, and received the usual guidance and assistance. And all went fairly well.

At the sanding stage I took it home, intending to finish it on my newly acquired Jet mini-lathe. But I found I couldn't mount it, as the spigot on the bowl was to big for my only chuck.

Dammit!

I shelved tlhe bowl (literally) for a while, then had a brilliant idea. I drilled the base of the bowl and turned and fitted a pedestal. Wundebar. You are bnrighter than Einstein even...

Unfortunately, the pedestal wasn't quite exactly straight, or centred, or perhaps both. And when you put a slightly off balance lump on a lathe, the unbalance is magnified.

I shelved it again!!

Then, a few days ago, I plucked up my courage, gritted my teeth, put my shoulder to the wheel, my nose to the grindstone... and found it was impossible to work in that position.

So I attached the bowl to the lathe via the pedestal, and spent an uncomfortable hour or so sanding and polishing with the bowl thumping and bumping in unbalance.

And the result is OK. Not perfect - [perfection is for the gods).

But OK is OK.

Natural edge bowl on pedestal, New Guinea rosewood, finish Rustins Plastic.

all the best

vsquared47

pens, pens, pens

This is the completion of a small order for pens, which will now travel to the far side of the world, before meeting their users.

The timbers in the four pens on the left are, from the left: Cypress pine, Darwin Black Wattle, Flame Sheoak, and Northern Ti Tree.

The two pens in the photo on the right are the Flame Sheoak and the Ti Tree. All the timbers are Australian natives, the black wattle and ti tree are Northern Territory indigenous.

The sheoak and the ti tree are outstanding timbers for small turned items, being dense, close grained, with a fine finish. the sheoak has great colour and pattern, reddish brown with black streaks. Very showy, though it doesn't show up much in the photos. We'll blame the photographer, not the timber or woodturner.

I take more pride in my wood craft than photography these days. though I used to be a pretty fair clicker. In fact, the older I get the better I used to be.

The cypress and black wattle are fine general purpose timbers, for turning, flooring (the cypress), furniture work, even carving. The ti-tree and sheoak are not much good for anything except small craft items, but what they do well they do really well.

I hope the people who find themselves in possession of any of these pens will visit this site. Leave a comment, tell me how great the pens are, tell me that MissE behaved herself (ha ha) or advise me not to give up my day job - whatever - it'll be good to hear from you.

hairy oak: ugly name, beautiful timber.

The heading is a bit misleading. Only two of the items illustrated are hairy oak: the two reddish-brown pens.

The lighter coloured pen is Northern Ti-tree (or weeping ti-tree), and the lidded bowl is Darwin black wattle.

The shirt used for a back-ground displays my personal wood-turning philosophy. Thanks to shopper who found it.

But the hairy oak is a bit special. I hadn't heard of it until a few months ago, when I bought a 2nd hand lathe. The seller threw in various other items including a variety of timbers. One piece was/is an ugly grey lump, split and splintery all along it's length. It looked pretty useless, but I took it anyway - BBQs also provide a valuable service to the family. It had the words 'hairy oak' pencilled on it.

I asked my wood-turning guru if he knew it, and he advised I not throw it away. So I cut it open, and it's beautiful. Dark red/brown, with black streaks, (or, i think, black star spots if cut across the grain). It is highly prized by woodturners, though usually only for small objects (eg pens), beause it has an unfortunate habit of splitting along the grain as it dries. No good for anything but turning. What a shame.

Of course, it's not an oak really: Australia doesn't have any oaks.

It's an Australian native casurina. And if you don't like the name of hairy oak, it's also known as Flame Sheoak. Much more impressive I think, so Flame Sheoak it will be.

I'm turning a few pens at the moment, as I have an export order. Definitely flame sheoak for the international market.

all the best, from vsquared.

Black Wattle - a gift to woodturners

This is the first thing I've made from black wattle, which is pretty much the Smith or Jones of woodturning timber in Darwin, i..e. everyone uses it because there's plenty available.

It's also a very fine timber for the purpose, and is probably the best local turning timber, taking into account colour, grain, ease of turning, and quality of finish possible.

Which is pretty funny really, because whenever a householder finds a seedling black wattle in their garden, they say "Another bloody black wattle. rip it our before it takes the place over".

The cup, chalice, call it what you will, falls a bit short of perfection. This is normal for me.

I think the holes in the base might have been a mistake, but the idea seemed good at the time.

all the best

vsquared

A lump is still a lump

This is the lump of wood formerly known as a lump of wood.

It now has a shape.

But what does this shape mean?!?

What will the lump become?!?

These and other gripping questions will (or may be) answered in the next and further episodes of "The Lump".

all the best

vsquared.

A new lathe - a new project

The new lathe mentioned in the title is, in reality, a second-hand lathe.

I was about to buy a new lathe, when a used lathe of the same type was offered, including an extension bed, stand, an armful of chisels and gouges, a chuck, and some other goodies.

For good or ill, I bought the used one. So far, so good.

In fact, so far, very good.

You see above my Jet mini-lathe, loaded with a lump of timber, which is already turned down to almost round. It started very lumpy and bumpy, but the little Jet handled it beautifully.

The lump is my latest project. I intend to take photos as I work through it, and at the end, tara-tara - it will be revealed as a..............................?

alternatively, you may note in a few weeks, no further mention of the lump. You may then assume I stuffed it up. Barbecue timber is useful too, you know!

all the best, from vsquared.

The art of the Christmas Present

Some people spend days in department stores;

And some shop until their credit cards melt;

Some grow ill from the stress and worry;

And some slaughter the mink for his pelt.

But I did all my Chtristmas shopping at my lathe. And I don't really care whether people liked what they were given, because I had fun making it!

And here are some photos of a few of the outcomes.

Two angles of a New Guinea rosewood

cake stand. I look forward to a sponge-cake from it. Thanks to SkyW for the photos - a good job.

A camphor laurel bowl. I hope Pat enjoys it.

There was a cyclone

African mahogany, victim of the chainsaw gang, and alas, too big for my modest abilities.
Inspecting a paperbark, some of which is now added to my stock.

Darwin, the city in which I live, work and destroy lumps of timber, is in the tropics, and so subject to cyclones - you know, big winds, lots of rain, trees and houses fall down, ships sink.

We had a smallish cyclone a few weeks ago. No houses fell down, no ships sank, but some trees did fail to survive. Fallen trees = wood available for the taking.

So a number of evenings recently have seen me on the roadside, saw in hand, making merry of natures abundance.

I am now rich! I have big mobs of black wattle (delicious), some nameless timber from the verge that might or might not be useful, and tonight I liberated some paperbark from the parklands down the street.

But, as every fisherman knows, the one that got away is the biggest. The photo is of the remains of an African mahogany, felled by a cruel woodsman's chainsaw - just because it was big! I wanted to bring it home, but my teenage son wasn't willing to even try to lift it. What's the modern generation coming too?

It will be some time before I can produce anything from this windfall (nudge, nudge - windfall - get it??), as the wood is so green the sap is literally running out of it. But I'll record some results on this site when they happen.

All the best, vsquared.

The Tale of a Lump of Wood

Small bowl - Raintree.

A small clock, inset into Raintree. Thanks to Tom for the photo.

Vase - Raintree timber.

Some time ago a little old man was walking through a forest - well a city park with some trees in it. He saw, lying on the ground, a lump of wood.

It was not a really small lump of wood, which would not have been any good for anything; it wasn't a really big lump of wood, which would have been too heavy to pick up; it was a medium size lump, just right to pick up, carry back to his car, and take home.

It was a piece of Raintree, and had been lopped from a tree by city Council workers that very day. The little old man saved it from the dreaded woodchipping gang.

And the little old man had a woodturning lathe. And the photos show what he did with the lump of wood:

It also provided the timber for another clock insert, smaller than the one in the photo, and for a couple of pens.

I'm sure my piece of Raintree must be very happy I saved it from the dreaded wood-chipping gang.