PeterStewart
4th February 2014, 04:08 PM
Hi All,
My 13 year old son Tim discovered wood turning on a visit to Echuca last year, spending most of the day watching a turner there doing demonstrations. We both signed up for a spindle turning course with Rob McKee and had to wait for Santa to bring us a shiny new lathe for Christmas, a Woodfast M305 midi. Since then we've been spending our toy money on a Vicmarc chuck and a some chisels.
We've both joined the Woodturners Society of Qld, and am looking forward to attending demos and workshops.
The biggest challenge we've got at the moment is getting wood to practice on without breaking the bank. I'm lucky enough to have a big slab of camphor laurel that I got from a working with wood show about ten years ago, but this is not going to last long. Can anyone suggest the best timber and source for practice material? I'm not really set up to be able to break down big logs, but that does seem to be the best way to get material.
I've managed to turn out a couple of small bowels (plates) from the camphor, but am going to have to do some learning about the best ways to finish them. The Wife has asked us to start producing Christmas presents for next year and I'm looking forward to trying out some simple boxes. Tim might even get a chance to use the lathe... we might have to come up with a time share arrangement where he can use it after school and I get to use it later in the evening.
I'm enjoying looking through these forums, lots of useful and inspiring information, I hope in the future to post up some of our first attempts.
Peter.
My 13 year old son Tim discovered wood turning on a visit to Echuca last year, spending most of the day watching a turner there doing demonstrations. We both signed up for a spindle turning course with Rob McKee and had to wait for Santa to bring us a shiny new lathe for Christmas, a Woodfast M305 midi. Since then we've been spending our toy money on a Vicmarc chuck and a some chisels.
We've both joined the Woodturners Society of Qld, and am looking forward to attending demos and workshops.
The biggest challenge we've got at the moment is getting wood to practice on without breaking the bank. I'm lucky enough to have a big slab of camphor laurel that I got from a working with wood show about ten years ago, but this is not going to last long. Can anyone suggest the best timber and source for practice material? I'm not really set up to be able to break down big logs, but that does seem to be the best way to get material.
I've managed to turn out a couple of small bowels (plates) from the camphor, but am going to have to do some learning about the best ways to finish them. The Wife has asked us to start producing Christmas presents for next year and I'm looking forward to trying out some simple boxes. Tim might even get a chance to use the lathe... we might have to come up with a time share arrangement where he can use it after school and I get to use it later in the evening.
I'm enjoying looking through these forums, lots of useful and inspiring information, I hope in the future to post up some of our first attempts.
Peter.