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BernieP
19th September 2007, 01:21 PM
G'Day All

Just wondering how many do actual projects they read on the net and in books. I find it is the easiest way for me to make something half decent. Agree or otherwise?

My latest was a cake stand for the missus.
1st one I made but then discovered couldn't buy a top to fit too small!
2nd one bought the lid first (Big W $4 odd)

The idea came from http://www.woodturningonline.com/Turning/Projects/cakestand.html

As usual comments appreciated. Wood camphor, finish ubeaut.

Cheers
Bernie

OGYT
19th September 2007, 01:39 PM
Looks like it oughta hold a nice sized cake. I've said it before... I've never seen Camphor like that in the upover. Awesome timber! Well done. Like the knob on the dome, too.

Edited: Oh yeah. I do try some things I find on the web. That's how I learned to make coffee scoops... one of my best little sellers. :D

Gil Jones
19th September 2007, 01:59 PM
Very nice cake stand, Bernie:2tsup:
Always a fine idea to give the ladies a reason to make good cakes:)

mick61
19th September 2007, 02:23 PM
G`day bernie very nice cake stand. I do have a question though wouldn`t the smell of the camphor laurel effect the taste of the cake?
Yes the internet is a great source of design idea for me.
Mick:D

BernieP
19th September 2007, 03:09 PM
G'Day Mick

Have sealed wood pretty well, so shouldn't, but will let you know as it has its first resident!
And thanks for comments Al and Gil, wish I had some way of sending you some wood Al as I have a goodly amount of camphor, and for some reason the east coast here always seems to have nice colour.

Cheers
Bernie

Skew ChiDAMN!!
19th September 2007, 03:18 PM
Danger, Will Robinson! :D

One minor criticism: Camphor Laurel is a "busy" wood - so adding beads, coves and other embellishments tends to detract from the grain and start making the piece look "cluttered." Personally, I think you would've done better by either trying for simple, smooth and elegant curves, or using a plainer timber instead.

Still, I bet your Missus is happy with it and that's what counts, eh? It should've earned you a few brownie points. Good score with the lid, too! Only $4-? :oo:

I can't say that I've ever followed someone else's plans for a project... but I've collected quite a few for ideas to pinch.

Oh... and which "UBeaut finish" did you use? Neil sells quite a few, ya know. :rolleyes:

rsser
19th September 2007, 05:32 PM
Coming back to the original question ... I read heaps of project outlines but have never followed one.

The benefit of reading the stuff is that it shows how problems can be solved or results achieved ... and those can be filed away.

(Pity about the state of the filing cabinet though :- )

wheelinround
19th September 2007, 06:48 PM
Bernie I am going through the same web site have been for some time prior buying my lathe looking for things to start with and get the feel and hang of the lathe and tools.

I am doing simple stuff although I jumped in with a bowl when straight off its sitting unfinished as yet as I have a poblem with the timber hard as hell in the centre, which I am trying to keep. Working out how with what I have is half the fun.

Anyway back to it.. doing things like file handles, gouge handles, chisel handles different woods etc.

I think project setting is a good way to teach/learn especially when your doing it yourself setting your own goals etc.

It could be good if this forum had a section like that although everyone contributes in so many other sections aleady. I guess this is the sort of thing done at turner meetings.

BTW love the cake stand

joe greiner
19th September 2007, 11:16 PM
I find it difficult enough following my own plans; even worse trying to follow someone else's. Tonnes of ideas on the weird wild web, though: things I never would have considered making, pleasing proportions, tool techniques, tools to make, etc. Browse deep into this forum alone, and you'll have enough for your list of incomplete projects. (Minimum of three required for code conformance.)

Joe

Capt. Zero
20th September 2007, 02:32 AM
I've never followed the plans or projects I've seen on the net or read in books, but much like me and cooking shows, the ideas and tips/techniques are invalueable.

BernieP
20th September 2007, 03:19 PM
G'Day All

Thanks for comments as usual, am interested to see most glean ideas from projects, I usually say that, when and if, they don't turn out and have to call them something else:U However have found out where I am concerned my general wood turning has improved, and keeps my interest trying different ideas (allbeit someone else's).

Cheers
Bernie

hooppine
20th September 2007, 03:50 PM
Great Cakestand Bernie. I have one similar out of camphor, which I like to work with, but I warn you it can effect any cooked food when hot. I had no trouble and my good wife loved it until she placed some hot scones on a tea towel on the stand. A taste definitely came through not bad but noticeable. Cold no trouble, hot could be very different. I am now looking for a glass top or something hard enough to withstand a knife cutting a cake for another stand I promised someone for a birthday in December.
Larry H

BernieP
20th September 2007, 05:59 PM
G'Day Larry

Thanks for comments and will make sure only cold goes in it. Have you thought of making the cutting surface out of one of those white (don't know the right name :?) hard plastic cutting boards? Can get a big one and round it on lathe.

Cheers
Bernie

Barry Hicks
20th September 2007, 06:17 PM
G'day Bernie!
I like it: I'm glad my missus hasn't seen it or I would be receiving instructions on how her's should be made.
Al? mentioned lack of colour in CL over his way. Maybe in different parts of the US it may be different. I was once told that minerals in the soil affect the colours in the wood. For instance, I was told CL grown around Innisfail in NQ is lacking in colour and yet up on the Atherton Tablelands behind Innisfail on the red volcanic soil it has plenty of colour.
Perhaps other forumites have views on this.

PS Sorry for the hijack.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
20th September 2007, 06:23 PM
I was once told that minerals in the soil affect the colours in the wood. For instance, I was told CL grown around Innisfail in NQ is lacking in colour and yet up on the Atherton Tablelands behind Innisfail on the red volcanic soil it has plenty of colour.
Perhaps other forumites have views on this.

Definitely. :)

I've noticed this even on a local scale. All the CL's we've cut up from just down the road have lovely colouring (although they still pale in comparison to some of their Northern cousins :sigh:) while CL's from just up the road are fairly bland.

Same species, same weather, same environmental pollution... I've always put it down to different trace elements in the soil.

BernieP
20th September 2007, 06:39 PM
G'Day

Barry don't worry about hijack love a good debate.

Skew our soil is heavy clay mainly, so I guess comparable to the red volcanic soil mentioned by Barry.

Cheers
Bernie

joe greiner
20th September 2007, 08:01 PM
Can't remember where I read it, but some folks are deliberately colouring timber by injecting a magic potion in the ground before felling. Seems to work quite rapidly, I learned later; on the order of weeks or months, not years.

Joe

littlebuddha
21st September 2007, 05:02 AM
Bernie
Crap cake stand mate, waste of money and waste of good wood, you come here showing of a good looking cake stand and don't bother to offer a bit of cake out to any of us, if i send my address and get a bit of cake maybe i could change my mind about it.Oh muffed that already said good looking stand. Nice one, you have now got my wife asking where hers is, bought a glass dome a couple years back never got around to it. next project. Nice on Bernie, bit better fesign i think than the link you had. LB.:2tsup:

Cliff Rogers
21st September 2007, 10:01 AM
Danger, Will Robinson! :D

One minor criticism: Camphor Laurel is a "busy" wood - so adding beads, coves and other embellishments tends to detract from the grain and start making the piece look "cluttered." Personally, I think you would've done better by either trying for simple, smooth and elegant curves, or using a plainer timber instead.....
I tend to agree with this as a 'general rule' but... 2 things...

I don't mind this one altough I wouldn't have put the fat bulge in the middle of the stem, I like the middle thinner & the bulge lower down.

That pedestal table that Calm now has next to his TV chair turned out looking very good.

BernieP
21st September 2007, 01:54 PM
G'Day

Hey LB sorry mate cake all gone, very nice too.

Hey Cliff comments appreciated, as were Skew's, I had intended to make stem longer but looked too much like Calm's table, too tall for a cake stand. Question what's your opinion? Stem longer and thinner, seem to be having trouble with that side of design (aesthetics), keep in mind I was committed to size of dome(260mm).

That's what I like about this forum a great place for learning ideas.

Cheers
Bernie

Cliff Rogers
21st September 2007, 02:02 PM
As well as the aesthetics, you have to remember the practically of the design, you can't make it too tall & thin 'cos then you couldn't cut the cake without the whole lot going dick up.

JackoH
22nd September 2007, 10:14 AM
Lots of projects and demos on You Tube.