Gnome army

WoodturningWoodworking

Saw Rebecca Degroot’s video on making a gnome:

Looked like fun, so I made one or two while messing about with decorations.

Then I thought they’d be nice presents for the other kids in Calum’s class, so batch work time. I didn’t have many blanks readymade for this though (I’ll have to remember to stock up in October for next year) so I took a standard CLS lumber 4×2 and cut it down the middle on the bandsaw into two 2×2 rectangles and used the roughing gouge to round them up.

Softwood in general isn’t generally recommended for turning but with sharp tools it’s fine for basic stuff like this. I had a very minimalist story stick with just two ticks on it to mark out the body and a length for the tenon, and marked off the blank with it.… Read the rest

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Mark Dennehy in 2 Comments

Well, poop.

FinishingWoodturningWoodworking

Was bound to happen sooner or later I guess.

So I was mucking around experimenting with some colouring on spalted beech:

Just picked a funny shape because I was experimenting with that as well. Then some yellow stain…

And then some royal blue…

Hm. Potential but maybe not. Sand it all off…

BTW, that’s why I picked this blank – that black line isn’t spalting, it’s a crack. Not sure if this would survive hollowing, so it’s a learning blank 😀

Now, purple…

Eh. Not quite. I mean, it’s okay, but I’d want it lighter. Maybe some gold embellishing wax (or buff-it, since that’s all I had to hand)…

I dunno. I don’t like it much. Too dark. If I’m going to colour wood, I want it to look brighter than that.… Read the rest

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Mark Dennehy in 2 Comments

More tidying up and organising

General

Perils of a small shed – you need to not only put things back in their place after using them all the time, you also have to build the place for them to be put 😀

I mean, if I can’t get this stuff off the bench so I can use it, why did I even bother building it in the first place? 😀

So, first off, the paper towels and the 80/120 grit sandpaper rolls need a home. Nothing fancy, but…

Definitely not fancy, but it does at least get them off the bench. Next up is the finishes and the fasteners that haven’t gotten into the drawers because of space. Some simple shelves will do, but with ends so things aren’t constantly falling out and I want them on that piece of ply there but not attached to the cart permanently, it’ll use those latches you can see on the end of the paper towel holders, because when I need to empty the extractor barrel, I have to remove them and even disassemble the cart slightly.… Read the rest

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Mark Dennehy in 2 Comments