Why oh why???

can't I leave well alone??

We are having a swap (SWOWP??) for the UK members of WOW. Its been extended a bit to include whoever wants to join in, its a postal swap so some of the postage might be interesting.

Anyway, I 'finished' mine early and wrapped it up and put it away. Couldn't resist having a look a few days ago and found a couple of tiny cracks had opened up. Not unusual with yew but I thought, as this is to go to another turner, I'd try and fix them!@!!

Oh dear oh dear. I'd forgotten that I hadn't put a finish on the wood but just buffed it and waxed it. The CA immediately went in and stained all around the cracks. Stupidly, I then tried to sand it out and of course, now have some flats and obvious flaws in the surface.

My wife, Ronnie, called me a ..... well it shouldn't be repeated on line.

So, I've done a back up and am going to try and remount the original and redo the outside. This is going to be very interesting indeed. Its going to have to be hot glue mounted and absolutely dead centre at that. The walls are a bit thin. So there is every chance that it won't just be spoiled but translated into firewood.

I could have just wax filled the cracks and polished but there you go. A lesson learnt every day.

Its annoying because the original had a unique feature that just made it especially attractive and its damn near impossible to repeat because it depends on the bit of wood used. I searched and searched the woodpile but nothing was right.

Shame I'm a twit.

RATS

Life is just great.

Started to cut some oak up for the fire yesterday, reached sideways for a lump of wood and POW....

....the back has gone again. Can hardly move.

There goes any turning or anything else for a week or two at least.

Probably my own fault for not doing enough limbering up and flexibility exercises every day.

My wife's brother has given her instructions to give me a good clout round the head if I don't do them!@!! Trouble is, I can't move quickly enough now to avoid the incoming!!!

As Hugh Grant so eloquently put it

"BUGGER BUGGER BUGGER"

Yew to Ash

Much as I love working it yew, it has made a lovely change to turn some different wood lately. There has been some pear, chestnut and cherry but mostly its been ash. I have three or four big chunks from a year or so ago and now have what seems like half a tree in the barn with the other half yet to arrive. The new one is well over 800mm diameter and should provide for a few bowls!!

Anyway, a few test pieces on the earlier delivery. After my experience with some green chestnut, I expected a bit of movement but this has stayed rock solid and dead round. If you work in the right grain direction, its like cutting butter. My favourite of the forms looks just like alabaster in the flesh. Really nice stuff,

More experiments to follow I suspect. I thin Ronnie has already earmarked one for our 'collection' upstairs. I though this was for money and stuff!!!!

Its a bit bent!!

This bowl is made of chestnut. I made it as big as possible from the log I had but included rather too much sapwood I think.

Anyway it started very round. Now it appears to have been made on an oval lathe. It still seems to be moving and is becoming rather like a rugby ball!!

Its rustic init?

Ain't retirement great?

As I now have all this time on my hands, Ronnie reckons that I can do my turning AND keep working on the house!!

So I have to try and finish the kitchen. Old smartie pants thought he'd make some nice round steps. A couple of people failed to see them so I am adding oak cappings to the edges to give it some definition. Great fun but uses up rather more wood than I would like. I did want to make them continuous but have compromised and split them in two.

One more bit to make and then I can finish this one off. I am not sure if the glue I'm using is strong enough but the test is obvious.

Edit - all the edges seem to be holding up!! We are considering adding some panelling to the doorway, just to annoy a friend of ours who says that we shouldn't 'over restore' our house!!!