The Lathe

I've been on a journey. Even when I'm not walking the path, I have been focused on it. It seems like nearly everything I have done over the last 9 months has been leading up to becoming a wood turner. At the beginning of the year I joined the APTGW - The Bodgers. I have started turning on other peoples spindle lathes and got to grips with chisels and gouges. There are allot of helpful people who have shared lots of their time and knowledge to help me. I attended the Bodgers Ball in May and began infiltrating the inner circles of turners... My man on the inside (my mate Owen) gave me some pointers on lathe construction and armed with a chainsaw I set out cutting up a Sycamore log into the bed of the lathe. A couple of ash logs for the headstocks and 2 pointy bits of steel and we're pretty much ready to go right? Almost... Of course any journey worth taking has a struggle or two... Making the tools (that you can't buy in the shops) was the easy bit, getting the tools to do their job properly was the major issue... So after a bit of forging and hardening and tempering there was repeat grinding and sharpening sessions... I have ended up with four that are all working fairly well... More on hooks in a post to follow...

Anyway, incredibly, on one fine Sunday morning in September, everything came together... The final results were a bit ropey but I learnt allot about the process and it showed me where I need to regrind my tools (sigh). Since then I have done a smidge more turning and been on a brilliant course with Sharif Adams (more to follow!)

I feel this could be something all consuming...

Bowl 1 - Cherry, about 4 inches across. Lots of tear out and a jagged rim. I'm still gonna keep it forever...

Bowl 2 - Rowan, a bit bigger but just as bad.

Bowl 3 - Beech, turned under Sharif's guidance and a massive improvement.

Bowls 3 and 4 - Alder, turned 2 weeks after Sharif's course and benefiting from his tuition. I really like the spalting in the Alder and it turns really nicely with a clean finish. The walls are a bit thick but they feel even.

Watch this space...