Cedar of Lebanon

On Tuesday of this week at about two O clock we arrived home after two weeks away on a Cruise, at about four thirty Val a neighbour came in and told me the very next day they were having a large tree cut down in their front garden.
I was familiar with the tree as we used to live opposite them it was a Cedar of Lebanon about forty feet high.
Never refusing free wood if it is something interesting I told her I would be pleased to have it and I would make her something nice from it.
I got up a bit late for me on Wednesday morning about eight O clock because I was tired from our holiday too much food and too much booze.
By the time I got there the tree surgeon and crew had all the branches of the tree cut off and were about to fell the main trunk in three pieces as it was quite close to the house.
They asked me how much of the trunk I wanted and being greedy I said I would take the lot.
I guess the trunk must have been at least two tons because my van was well overloaded but it was only one hundred yards from my workshop so  I didn't worry about it.
As soon as I got it home I started processing it into blanks but at the end of the day I was less than half way through so I called on my Brother Chris to come and help me on the Thursday because I have six students next week and I wanted my van empty and my workshop clear.
Here are some pics I took

The first one shows all the wood packed into my can from the floor to the roof. As you can see it is beautiful wood

The bowl blanks are the ones I did on my own on the Wednesday the squares are cut to thickness ready to be cut into rounds

Me cutting the wood to thickness

 Brother Chris cutting to thickness we took it in turns as this is quite hard on the arms and shoulders after a while

 Cutting the squares into round Bowl blanks

 A couple of pics of me cutting into rounds

 We finally ended up with one hundred and ninety seven bowl blanks and about fifty Hollow form and fruit blanks.

 This is about half of the off cuts our Son Mark took the rest Wednesday night and our Daughter Tracey took these today

 All the bowl blanks ,Hollow form and fruit blanks in the van which we delivered to our stre in Bridgwater.
Two hard days work but worth it I expect these to be dry enough to turn in about three years

Gary

Gary's wife Ellenor treated him to a days woodturning experience and he was with me today.
I am on a bit of a run still, Students that are easy to teach I wonder how long it will last.
Gary turned a very nice 11" beech bowl with a textured rim.
Gary is not ready to take up woodturning as a hobby which is a real pity because he has taken to it really well.
Sorry about the music Gary LOL

Very well done Gary you were great company.

James

Today James was with me  a Christmas present from his wife Catharine.
Most of the time I speak to potential Students prior to their coming here to access their experience or lack of it so that I can plan the day to make sure they get as much as possible from it.
When James arrived this morning I had no Idea what experience he had or if he had any at all. Well it tuned out he had about 3 years experience and a day and a half of tuition with another Professional turner.
When I asked him what he wanted to do for the day he said he wanted to learn as much as he could possibly Texturing and colouring or Hollow form turning.
We settled for Texturing and colouring and make sure he had not picked up bad habits.
We quickly ironed out a few bad habits  and then produced the bottom of a wide rimmed bowl .
After turning the bowl  James created a wide rim and prepared it for texturing and colouring as the following pics will show.
We got through a lot today and as you can see it was well worth it very well done James

Sanding the rim ready for texturing

 

 

 Carving a texture

 

 Texture scorched and coloured

 

 Texture and colour removed to try something else

 Carved coloured and textured again using spirit stains

 Some of the surface sanded of to create a more subtle effect

 Carving removed and another texturing and colouring exercise

 Removing Texture and colour for final effect

 James beading rim ready to scorch and add Verdigris wax

 Rubbing in the Verdigris wax

 Removing the bowl centre

 Centre removed and sanded

 Bowl reversed and james is removing the spigot

 All done and a photo opportunity.

Andy todays Student

Andy my Student today was here for an experience day as a treat from his Wife for his Birthday.
He was good easy company and took too woodturning like a duck to water.
I have been very lucky lately all my Students have been easy to teach which makes life easy for me.
Andy turned a very nice beech bowl that had a lot of figuring in it as you can see from the pics.
Not the easiest bit of wood too turn but Andy managed it without any problems.

Malcolm and Tasha

Today Malcolm and Tasha had a days woodturning experience as a Birthday present from Tasha to her Dad Malcolm.
They were really good company and a pleasure to teach and as you can see from the following pics they both turned very nice Beech bowls.

Jim's second lesson

Jim came to me a few months ago for a Bowl turning lesson
He has now bought himself all the kit and has come back for a refresher.
He has since joined our Burnham on Sea woodturning club and is enjoying his turning
Jim turned four well made items today.

Left click on pics to enlarge

Another satisfied customer

Richards wife Maia treated him to a days woodturning tuition for his Birthday because it is something he has always been interested in. Richard is a nurse dealing with mental patient's so this is something completely different for him and something he is considering taking up as a hobby. I hope he does take it up he very quickly took to turning and I am very sure he would make a very good woodturner.
Here is Richard with the beautiful beech bowl he turned today.
Very well done Richard.