82 And still going strong

My Student today was 82 years young  Don and hasn't he done well .
That Bowl is a 12" x 4" Sycamore .

Recycled Skittle pin.

A few weeks ago I was given a couple of worn out Skittle pins and here are the two bowls I turned from one of them .Usually Skittle pins are turned from Apple wood in this area but these are Sycamore.
There are still chips and dinks out of them but I think it adds to the character.

A few bits and Bobs

Just for a change I have been turning some thin stuff two are Mulberry and the last one is Oak Burr.

Dave and Emma

Yesterday and today Father and Daughter Dave and Emma spent the two days learning bowl turning.
The two day woodturning break was a Birthday present to her dad from Emma.
Dave turned two very nice Sycamore bowls and Emma a Sycamore and a Redwood bowl.
They both did very well but I think we would have to give Emma first prize for turning the Redwood Bowl as it was very soft and not the easiest wood to turn and get a good finish on.
Her are a few pics.

Pauls Second Lesson with me.

Last Saturday Paul came to me for some Bowl turning Tuition and he has come back again today to reinforce what he did last week.
Paul's turning was much improved this week and to prove it he has made this very nice Ash Bowl with a beaded rim.

I really enjoy my work

Most of the time I seem to spend teaching lately and very satisfying it is too.
Every student I have had here up to now have been really good company but sometimes you get some that are really special like the couple of young people that have been here this week Jonny and Sophie.
I was very tired prior to them coming and was not particularly looking forward to it as I seem to have been very busy lately and finding if difficult t recoup my energy an age thing I expect. Anyway they were such a lovely couple the day seemed to go very quickly and was one of the most enjoyable days .
Most students are of retirement age and they always seem to enjoy their time here but it is just that bit special to get youngsters.
Here are a couple of pics from the day.

 Aren't they a lovely couple

A Sycamore Bowl for Paul

Yesterday my Student was Paul who is doing two days with me to catch up on his bowl turning.
Paul is not a complete novice having had tuition in the past from several woodturners but he has left it off for some time.
He is now sorted with a very big Jet lathe and all the kit so has come to me for a refresher course.
We started from basics today and this is the result a very nice Sycamore fruit bowl.

Well done Adrian

Adrian has recently bought himself a woodturning lathe and all the accessories from a retiring woodturner and needed some help on getting started so he came to me for two days tuition.
I recommended that he spent both days turning bowls  rather than doing a days bowl turning and a days spindle turning as it is in my opinion better to learn one thing properly than two things partly and this was proven to be the best way forward as you can see from the nice bowls he made. The plain one is beech and the one with the coloured rim is Macrocarpa.
Adrian got on so well that he found time to practice some spindle turning as well but never made anything just practiced the cuts.

 

 

My new apprentice 14year old Joe

14 year old Joe has got to do a project for school and it has to be something constructive so his parents Giles and  Louise who are friends of ours asked If I would like to take it on.
I was only too pleased but naturally had a few reservations as you can never be sure how much real interest a 14 year old will have or whether he is just doing it because he has to.
I must say I am very pleased he was here this morning for a couple of hours and I have found him to be rather a pleasant young man.
We went through how to process wood and he asked questions and made notes and went on to end seal a pile of blanks that I cut up yesterday.
He is supposed to do at least one hour a week for three months and then produce evidence and course notes to prove he has done his work.
He will be doing more than one hour a week and I will make a woodturner out of him within the three months and he will be able to show them what he is capable of.
This works two ways for me I will get help with some of the more mundane tasks like processing wood keeping the workshop clean and tidy and Joe will learn woodturning.
This morning Joe spent an hour end sealing blanks and his reward was to do some turning for about an hour as the following pics will show.
Joe took to the hands on turning a lot quicker than I expected and obviously is quite practical.
I hope he sticks to it because it will be rewarding for both of us.
I laid down the law to him I told him there are not many rules but the ones there are are important if he wants to work with me .They are quite simple :turn up on time do as you are told and stay safe that is it.

Making a start by end sealing sixty odd blanks from eleven inches to twenty inches once he got into the swing of it he soon got through them.

 A push cut across the end of the blank to make sure it is round and to start getting it into balance he coped with this easy enough.

 Squaring up the face and creating the spigot same push cut no problem here.

 Starting to shape the bottom of the bowl with a pull cut again taken to it like a duck to water.
This is far as Joe got because he was only here for a couple of hours but is here again Monday night.
I will keep reporting on his progress here.

Don and Emily

Today I had a lovely young couple for tuition Don and Emily.
Two years ago Emily's father was here for tuition and recomended me to Emily so that was nice.
We have had a great day they were easy to teach and easy company which made life easy for me because I am getting over a heavy cold.
As you can see their hard work was rewarded with two stunning Beech bowls.