Woodturners Bash

I had an email from my friend and tutor Chris Eagles about the Woodturners Bash the other day asking if I wanted to come along. As It was for UK workshop Forum members I was a bit worried as I hadn't joined, so the night before I quickly joined up and asked if it was OK if I came, I had plenty of replies and decided that it sounded like fun.

It was hosted at Peter Seftons Furniture School in what can only be described as an amazing workshop. Split into different sections (machine room, wood store, hand bench room, etc) I think that this is pretty much the ultimate workshop (Its going to make mine feel pretty small when I get back in there) and in a lovely setting - anyone thinking of doing a furniture course should check out his website http://www.peterseftonfurnitureschool.com/.

Everyone was dead friendly, sharing workshop stories and ideas. Really nice to be in an environment where you can talk about woodwork all day and have no one groan!

Chris did some great demos, I never seem to get bored of watching him work and I always end up learning something new. His skew chisel demo is always good and its made me want to go make a jig so I can sharpen mine properly tomorrow. He also showed a new method of work holding to finish the underside of box lids as well as how to turn whilst pulling the work under tension - really interesting.

I think everyone was completly stuffed at the BBQ as well as being a group of men we'd all brought meat and bread- not a green leaf in site - and there was far too much! I dont think I was the only one to loosen my belt during the afternoon!

A great day in all (I'm afraid the pictures are a bit poor as I forgot to take any and when I did Chris had to pose- should do a caption competition for the first pic).

Sharpening A Gouge On A Felt Wheel

Well I've decided to make my first video (don't take the micky too much) on how I use a felt wheel to hone my gouges and other single bevel tools. I think that this is such a great and easy way of sharpening tools that more people should know about it.





I know that sharpening is always a touchy subject as everyone has their own method but I've tried a lot of them (oil stone, water stone, diamond stones) and for speed and ease this wins hands down for me.
On this video I'm using a medium hardness felt wheel which is great for curved edged tools as it will give to the shape that you press into it. A felt wheel "polishes" the edge on your tool removing very little metal (so little that I normally remove the burr on the other side of the tool with the wheel rather than a slip stone).
Please bare in mind that the tool must be ground correctly first for it to have a good cutting angle when honed up.What method does everyone else use for honing their tools - curved edges in particular?

(also please excuse my t-shirt on the video - I've had people ask me if thats the company I work for in the past!)

Storage Problem

After a great 10 days holiday in Thailand I was dead keen to get back in the workshop before I went back to work. As I walk in I'm greeted by half sheets of ply everywhere and timber stood up as there's no where else to keep it in the dry. When you meet this mess it doesn't make you want to do anything!

I'm very sure that no matter how much space I have I'll fill it, but I do desperately need somewhere to store timber and sheet material. I decided that it was best to build a little lean to on the side of my workshop to house my ply off cuts and some of the hardwoods and softwoods I've got kicking around.

A simple construction of halving joints for the frame (cut on the mitre saw, then chiseled out and cleaned up with my no.778). I do think that I might have gone a little over the top on the sizes of the timbers though (4x2 and 3x2) but it's made it quite strong!

With the two sides made I added in the struts in the position where the lean-to will stay to save me having to carry anything heavier than it has to be! The rain yesterday and today hasn't helped my progress - nothing worse than working with wet wood!

Its not finished yet as the first bottom section it going to be covered in ply, to house more ply out of the rain. I've also got to properly sheet in the roof (bitumen sheets on top of the ply that I've got there already) as well as maybe add a gutter (which will help keep the rain off even more).

It wasn't up many minutes before I started loading timber into it! It's not massive but it should help for a while.

How does everyone else deal with there timber storage?

Not Pretty But Practical

A Little like me I guess...

I've been removing the handrail from the stairs at Summerfield Park and replacing it with something a little more solid (and something that meets building regs!).

The handrail at the top of the stairs was the harder job as I wanted to make sure it was solid as it will be used (hopefully) for years by lots of people. I decided that it was best to remove it all completely (turned out to be a great time for the health and safety man to turn up) and start again.

I started by sawing off the furthest post and using a halving joint to attached the new piece. The middle post need to be strong so I cut a hole in the floor and half lapped it to the joist beneath and the one against the wall was straight forward screw and plug although I had to scribe it in as the wall is an inch out of plumb!

I then ripped some 2x1 in half and used that fixed with screws and lots of glue to form the beading to hold in the infill of 12mm ply. As the title says not pretty....

Doing the handrail on the stairs was similar only there was little to fix the bottom newel post to, in the end I notched the concrete a little more (there was already a slight recess) and fixed timbers against the bottom riser to give me something to screw the newel post to.

The tenon on the string was none existent so I cut it off and used screws and glue again, by the time I added the handrail it was rock solid. Then just a case of cutting and fixing the beading and ply.

Just got to fill the screw holes and sand it now.

Tool Auction & Tool Making

Another busy weekend.
Yesterday I got up early and went to Ledbury Tool and Timber Auction with a pocket full of cash (and an uneasy wife left at home). In the end I didn't buy much just 4 large pieces of very twisted Apple, quite thick though so it should be alright for turning (probably as tough as old boots). There was a few things I should have bid higher on but you always think that on the drive home!
Today has been productive, as well as tackling the weeds at the allotment I've started to have a bit of a tidy up in the shed and I've come to the conclusion that I need to build an extension before I build my big extension. This is because I have nowhere to store any timber, but more on that in another post.
I also started to use my High Speed Steel (HSS) that I order from china (and some from Yandles) to make some more tools.
One I made using a square section of steel, ground so it forms a point. Before I could grind it I made a simple jig (in the picture above) to make sure it always went on the grinder the same way.
The other was made using round HHS bar and is basically a spindle gouge without the flute (called a "form tool" or somethimes a "cove tool" I think). I made beech handle for them both and although not identical handles they're starting to look like a set! I've got quite a few more bits of HSS so I'll be making some more woodturning tools over the next few months. anyone got any good ideas on what I can make?

Tulipwood platter

After all my experimenting last week I thought I'd just turn something a little more traditional this week. I brought a nice big plank of "tulipwood" (sounds so much nicer than poplar) as I know it's quite soft and would be good for me to practice on.
It's quite easy to turn although it does have a habit of tearing the grain if your tools aren't really sharp, the whole piece has a greenish tinge to it (my wife thought I'd added it) but I think its a good low cost wood to practice my skills on and make some quite nice pieces with in the process.
I finished the platter with a few coats of walnut oil but it will have a few more before I find it a new home.
You here so many people tell you poplar its good for nothing I'd love to hear what other people use it for as I think its quite an attractive wood.

Spirit Stains And Liming Wax

Although my wood turning classes have finished for this term I couldn't help but email Chris (my tutor) a question or two the other day, I thought he might be missing my thousand questions a lesson. He emailed back that he'd rather come and show me than write it down, so on Tuesday night he came over. This caused a bit of confusion with me as I thought he said for me to go to his and I was over half way there when my wife phoned to tell me my mistake!

We had a good few hours for Chris to show me new techniques involving texturing, painting then liming to give different layers of colour. Using the arbotech and a metal cutting disc in the grinder to give texture and interest. He was quite annoyed at himself when he forgot the blow pipes to show me with spirit stain, but I think we still created an interesting piece. I didn't mind not using the blow pipes as he'd already gone out of his way to teach me all these things, so I was surprised when he phone me up the next night to say we'd have a another crack at it to cover all the techniques. this time though not on oak (as it was too hard for the texturing) so to bring something else to try it on.

I brought round some beech I had left over and we set about making something different, still doing a bit of texturing and liming (the liming was difficult to get right) but working more with the spirit stains on an area that we roughly textured. We used the blow pipes this time and it gives a more airbrushed effect.

Again I know these pieces aren't to every ones taste (Gorges!) but I like them and had a really enjoyable couple of evenings making them in good company. I think I'm very lucky to be friends with someone who's such a good tutor.

Thanks again Chris.

Occupational Hazard

Don't worry I've still got all my fingers!

It's just I smiled inward to myself on Sunday night when my wife said the washing machine had stopped working. She'd been on the Internet to look at the error message and it had told her it was a problem with the pump. Without even look up I said it was a nail. Probably a panel pin.

This is not the first time I have broken our washing machine. Nor would it be the only washing machine I've ever broken. Nor, will it be the last washing machine I'll probably break.

I'd call this an occupational hazard. I check my pockets on a Friday night when I put my trousers in the washing basket, but sometimes one will escape me. Most of the time I'm lucky and I'll find this little Houdini nail the next time I put on my clean work trousers, not this time though.

After about half an hour of slowly draining down the washing machine to get to the pump I managed to find the offending culprit - a 35mm oval nail, sheradised so at least it wouldn't go rusty.

Luckily for me the motor just stopped and didn't burn out, otherwise I probably wouldn't be so jovial about the whole thing! maybe I should try and use my nail gun more - strips of nails are much easier to find!

Reclaimed Pine Bowl

A few months ago when taking down the extension on the Park Keepers cottage I sawed through some big old pine purlins. As I sawed I was greeted with the most amazing pine smell and the grain looked beautiful. I put both 4m lumps of timber to one side not quite sure what I'd do with them.
Knocking off from work on Friday night I decided to saw a bit off one and see what I could make from it over the weekend. I pulled out the nails and cut a blank to have a play with.
Considering it's softwood it didn't cut that easily, with the grain tearing if my bowl gouge wasn't sharp enough. I decided to hide nothing on the timber, leaving all the nail holes and any of the white paint that would stay on. I did treat it for wood worm though.
I had a small incident when turning the back away and got a little bit too confident with the lathe running too fast. They say sometimes something happens so fast you don't know what hit you - I certainly knew what hit me square on the nose! I'll keep my face mask on till the end next time - live and learn!

I finished the bowl with finishing oil and then a coat of wax. It's not perfect but I like the feel of the finished piece.

I've got plenty of this wood to play with so I might try and make a few more that I could maybe sell, although I don't know if people would buy a pine bowl - even if the piece of pine is over 200 years old.

Something A Little Different..

At my last woodturning lesson on Thursday I was challenged by Chris to do something that I don't normally do. "Don't think square and don't think centred".

Easier said than done with my mind! I went a completely different route cutting a piece of beech, leaving the bark on then having a play on the lathe. I even got out the acrylic paints and the blow torch. I know their not to everyone's taste but it was interesting making them and quite addictive once I got going. It's the first time I've used any paints for pleasure in about 15 years! And a blow torch is always good fun to use, although I'm extra careful with all the shavings in my workshop.

I finished the backs off by leaving a tooled edge with my new Arbotech type grinder disc, which leaves a surprisingly clean finish, and fixing a small mirror hook to mount it with. Like I said I don't think these are every one's cup of tea (especially people who read this blog) but it's interesting to try out new techniques and styles.

I've also made a couple of work holding devices for the lath, both to help finish off work and remove evidence of how the wood was held on the lathe. The first is a floor polishing mop trimmed up and mounted to some MDF. This will allow me to press the piece being worked into backing and turn away the waste without damaging the inside, idea for platters and shallow bowls.

The second is for the same purpose but different shaped pieces, This is just MDF glued, clamped up and then turned down to the right shape. With the addition of a sponge between the MDF and the bowl it should work great holding the piece firm.

Anyone else make up bits and bobs like this for work holding on the lathe?

Structural Work On Roof Done!

I managed to work through the list from the structural engineer over the last few days and tick off every item from his list.
The first was to remove a section of the wall plate as the cantilevered section was rotten (the bit sticking out past the wall). This wasn't as awkward as I thought it might be, just a few 6 inch cut nails to contend with. I half lapped the new section of wall plate on, which I planed down to size as it wasn't standard, and added the strap across the top to meet the requirements the engineer had set.
This picture shows quite well why I think the roof should have been replaced- the rafters are cut on to the wrong side of the wall plate creating pressures and forces in the wrong place so its pushing out not down. I know the purlins reduces the load but I just don't like to see work left thats not right!
The next step was to splice the barge board on the end where it had gone rotten, as well as add a new cocking fillet.
I then had to add 450mm new ends to the rafters which had the worst levels of decay.
The worst job was to then chisel a section of wall plate around 4m long and add a ply facing. This was to straighten it up and provide a fixing for the gutting. This job did my chisels no favours as it was full of nails.
I also added a ply soffit to both ends and fitted the a complete new gable ladder with barge board on the far side (not an easy job on your own!).
When I'd finished I couldn't help but add a fineal to both ends just to finish it off (I wont get paid for that bit but I don't care!).

Adding a Purlin to a Roof

We're still waiting for decisions to be made about the roof at Summerfield park, but I did get permission to undertake all structural works detailed by the structural engineer.

This involves things like splicing the wall plate, repairing rafter ends and changing the gable ladder on one end (the whole roof should really be replaced but I've been shot down on that due to the councils tight budget so I'll just do as I'm told).

I did have an argument with the structural engineer when he came as he originally said that a prop in the roof was doing nothing (it was under so much tension you could play a tune on it)- but to leave it in just in case (this way he wasn't going against his original survey. I wasn't really very happy with this answer, so I got him back out to look again, he then agreed with me that something should be done. I suggested a high level purlin should be added, he just needed to tell me the size.

In the end it had to be 250mm x 100mm by just over 5m long and to be C24 strength. It took ages to find someone who stocked a timber this size and strength (most suppliers stock up to 4.8m and normally only C16 strength), still it turned up yesterday so today I could have a bit of extra help to get it into the roof.

I wont say how it got up there for many reasons but it involved 5 men and quite a bit of grunting. Once it was in the loft space I let the other guys go to another job, just leaving just another chippy and myself to fit it. A little brick work making a recess in the gable wall to take it, then packing it up with slate and using mortar to fix it in. I think it was at the limit of what we could lift between us but we were both really pleased when we could take the old prop out and have the rafters sit on the new purlin.

I think I'm doing the rest of the repairs on my own, should keep me out of trouble!

First Try At A Hollow Form

At wood turning on Thursday night Chris brought in some different tools for me to try, all to do with hollowing as I've not tried this yet.

I tried them out on some green Alder (wet wood is always good fun to turn) and after a few test pieces to get the feel of the tools I made this little wooden vase/pot. It only took about 30 minutes to make but I'm sure it will crack as it dries, although the walls are all about the same thickness. I might leave it in oil and then sand it up in a few weeks if it survives!

I always enjoy trying out new tools but its made so much better with instruction! I think I'll probably sign on for my 7th term of wood turning classes but I could do with a good (difficult) project to keep me asking questions and learning, any ideas?

A Trinity Of Craftsmen

Bit of a book review here...

Last Thursday, at wood turning, my tutor Chris lent me a book entitled "A Trinity Of Craftsmen" by Freda Derrick. The dust jacket was in tatters but it looked just my sort of book.

I enjoyed reading it and for a book written in 1950 it reads really easily and quite informal for the era. The book is basically conversations and observations that Freda has had on her travels around the Cotswold's talking about the three main trades as she sees it; the mason, the Carpenter and the smith (her holy trinity). The people she meets in the book are all passionate about their trades and all long to see a future in them but worry about the lack of "Young willing lads" to pass their knowledge onto and the need for certain jobs. It concentrates on these trades in villages and rural areas and in conjunction with farming in particular (farming seeming much more important after the war than it does now).

Its weird reading it from a perspective where the writer thinks that a carpenter and blacksmith will be essential for the future of farming and in turn the country as a whole so that we can support ourselves. Comments about welding only really being for light repairs and wooden hurdles being essential for sheep farming (metal one being no good) being quite nice to read (if only I could have lived then!).

The book is split into three sections each dealing with a trade and describing some of their tools and some of their jobs (there are drawings as well). The book also talks about the new (at the time) government training centres for people coming out of the army (even a 9 month course on hurdle making). The section on the carpenter is a little light in content but still makes an interesting read, the section on the mason and smith seem to read much better with a bit more detail.

In all I really enjoyed this book and although its hardly "The Village Carpenter" (Which I think I've read about 6 times now) its a great look back at the past and good to see that even then people were worried about the disappearance of our rural crafts and the altering of village life in general. Also a nice song about a carpenter in there!