One year of woodturning

[bassmansimon]

Hi everyone. Inspired by the post by michael_m (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/1st-birthday-celebrations-some-turnings-year-169249/), I am uploading a summary of my first year of woodturning. I started just before Mother's day last year - my first turning was a bowl I gave to my mum for mothers' day 2012. Hope you like, and sorry about the long post. In April 2012, I attended a beginner weekend woodturning class with John Ewert at Trend Timbers in Sydney. Since then, I have made these items:

01 Camphor Laurel bowl – approx 5” diameter. Gave to my mum for mother's day
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02 Snowman family – myrtle
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03 Quilted Jarrah bowl – 135mm diameter, 40mm deep. experimenting with recesses instead of a footed bowl.
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04 small Red Cedar desk bowl. I use this every day and got the blank for $2
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05 Black Heart Sassafras platter bowl - 245mm diameter x 35mm deep. Started life out as a bowl, but when carving the base took a huge chunk out of it, and so turned it into a platter instead.
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06 Figured Blackwood candle bowl. No real design plan with this one - just attacked it with a forstner bit in a hand-held power drill. I really like the design, and will likely do some more of these one day.
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07 Redgum Burl natural edge desk clock – not woodturned, but a bit of woodwork anyway
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08 Redgum Burl natural edge desk clock – not woodturned, but a bit of woodwork anyway
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09 Camphor Laurel bowl. I love this one - gave it to my wife for Christmas
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10 Redgum Burl natural edge stem vase. Experimenting with my first vessel. Fits a test-tube in the hole for live flowers
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11 Huon Pine square platter. First try at a square turning.
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12 Camphor Laurel platter. Started life as a platter, but thinned out the centre too much and so had to create a hole to turn it into a candle bowl / dip & chip bowl.
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13 Blackwood bracelet prototype.
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And I fell in love with pen turning, and have made 83 completed pens (and probably about 25 snapped blanks)...
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My woodturning goals for the next year is to average one project per month that I'm pleased with, plus I hope to do about 50 pens if possible.

Thanks to everyone here on the forum - your advice and help has assisted me to dramatically improve my techniques, especially in pen-turning. I'm still very much a beginner with larger woodturning projects.

Simon.

[michael_m]

Happy birthday! :2tsup:

There are some gorgeous pieces there (my favourite is the tri-tealight bowl), but your pens are something special. I have very much enjoyed reading over and looking at your creations this last year, so here's to the next one!

[bassmansimon]

Thanks. Yes I have learned lots this year about the tools and how to use / not use them.

[TTIT]

Good to see beginners 'evolution' in one spot. Well done :2tsup:

[dai sensei]

Looks like a great collection :2tsup:

[artme]

A year to be pleased with!!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[smiife]

well done simon,you have done yourself proud
you are well and truly hooked ,some fantastic pieces
you have made and look forward to the next year:2tsup:
cheers smiife

[powderpost]

Excellent work. :2tsup: Looks like you have had more shed time than I have over the past twelve months. :wink: Good way to go, just chuck a lump of wood in the lathe and see what develops. Stop and look frequently, often "inspiration" or design opportunities often appear inadvertently :U
Jim

[mick59wests]

great turnings and lots of timbers that I like as well :)
cheers
Mick

[ian thorn]

when do you sleep that is a whole lot of turning and it all looks great happy turning for the yr ahead

Ian

[smiife]

:wink: Good way to go, just chuck a lump of wood in the lathe and see what develops. Stop and look frequently, often "inspiration" or design opportunities often appear inadvertently :U
Jim[/QUOTE]

thats the way i do it jim:U
cheers smiife:2tsup:

[Bluegum]

Love your work Simon very impressive.

[bassmansimon]

Thanks everyone yes I have had a great time learning. It's really encouraging being a member of the forum
Simon

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Nice variety! :2tsup:

One suggestion... you've already tried square turning, so the next time you insert a clock into a blank how about mounting the blank on a lathe and turning a small bead around the hole for the insert?

It's a simple touch, but can increase the Wow Factor quite significantly! :D

[bassmansimon]

Nice variety! :2tsup:

One suggestion... you've already tried square turning, so the next time you insert a clock into a blank how about mounting the blank on a lathe and turning a small bead around the hole for the insert?

It's a simple touch, but can increase the Wow Factor quite significantly! :D

Sounds good. I think it would work well for round clocks, but how would it work on square items or the natural edge shaped ones like I made? I didn't cut the hole on the lathe with a jacobs chuck - it was a hand-held power drill. If doing it on the lathe I could use a jacobs chuck and turn the bead, but how to do that without ruining the back side with a faceplate etc?

[brendan stemp]

These pics represent a wonderful catalogue of your progression, fields of exploration and the improvement you have made in the year. Thanks for sharing them with us, a most enjoyable post. I hope you can maintain your interest and enthusiasm. I think this is a significant factor for many hobbyist turners who start with a roar of interest and activity which wanes over the years. Setting goals as you have will help as will regular contribution to this forum (along with a whole lot of other things). Good luck with it all.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Sounds good. I think it would work well for round clocks, but how would it work on square items or the natural edge shaped ones like I made? I didn't cut the hole on the lathe with a jacobs chuck - it was a hand-held power drill. If doing it on the lathe I could use a jacobs chuck and turn the bead, but how to do that without ruining the back side with a faceplate etc?

There's a few ways you can mount it, depending on how willing you are to make jigs. :)

The clocks you show all have relatively flat, squarish sides... so I'd go for the easiest way. IMHO.

1. Glue sacrificial offcuts to the sides, then once dried screw the sides to a timber disk on a faceplate.

It takes a bit of finesse to get everything square (although shims can help a lot in "rushed" jobs. :innocent:) and oriented so you have the blank centred where you want, but it's just fiddly work, not impossible.

2 Drill with a forstner & jacob's chuck in the tailstock, flatten the front face and turn the bead... then dismount, cut off the sacrificials and finish the sides, etc as per usual.


Hmm... I should point out that this makes for a squarish, sharp edged structure whizzing around at meat-eating speeds. It's often a good idea on pieces like this to wrap the outside in a thick layer of bubble-wrap/foam or even cardboard in a pinch, with a good several layers of duct tape. Just sayin'. :rolleyes:

If your sacrificial pieces are large enough then, once the glue has dried, you can use a compass from the middle of your blank (ie. where you want the clockface) to scribe a circle just large enough to include all of the good wood and cut the disk on a bandsaw. This is the safer route. (But uses more wood, dammit!)