Death of a Yew bowl...

Started on a Yew bowl, the log had quite a lot of split & shake but I thought I had managed to cut a clean half, the outside was going well and I was happy with the shape and finish however, a large split started showing up.

It didn't appear to go too deep so I decided if I left it quite thick, it would be Ok...
Almost to the right depth, the crack had now opened up quite a lot...
With only a couple of last passes with the chisel needed to even it up, I tried to tidy the rim...
Which probably wasn't the best idea! In hindsight I probably should of just sanded the rim afterwards.
But then; hindsight is a wonderful thing!

The seasons are changing and the dryer climate means I'm in a race against time to use the green wood before it becomes not so green. Seasoned wood is much harder to turn and the nature of many of my blanks (taken from small logs which will split a lot once dry) means that much of it will be completely unusable if it gets too dry.

So, on with the bowls;

Small Ash bowl, the cleft rim shows interesting signs of Spalting;

Larger Ash bowl, lots of Burr and bark inclusions - taken from the crotch of a tree;

Another small Ash bowl, with more Spalting. Opposite piece of the log from the first bowl;

Another Ash bowl with a dead knot that stayed in place! Usually they come flying out, or curl and tear when they catch the chisel.

No longer round in any shape or form!

Deeper Ash bowl with natural edge rim, more seasoned than the others;

Bowls made from a beautiful piece of Elm;

The Elm was totally dead, overlooking the old tennis court.

Very large Ash bowl, now the largest I've turned at 15";

Holly bowl. If you want to see this from start to finish you'll find an extra page on the right; or click on; Burr to bowl.

I also turned some candlesticks, the first I've turned since my very first days turning!

Left to right: Hawthorn, Hawthorn, Holly, Ash, Hawthorn & Apple.

And finally, I made a couple of chisels. The metal is special metal working steel - very, very hard. The handles are turned from Ash. The 1st is a scraping tool.

The 2nd is a special parting tool, for making very thin cuts all the way through a piece of wood.

Greetings Bloggers! What a Spring, subject to snow, sleet and sun all in one

day, I never know what hat to wear!

Ben has just announced he has bought ANOTHER lathe, I believe it's for metal makings as he had a bit of an accident with the other one (1880's) which was a shame, but if I was that old, I'm sure I would have broken long ago!

I've finished the rustic Hazel sofa, at last, just in time as the cutting season has ended as the sap is rising fast.

It was a joy to finish, as I'd spent a lot of time gathering...and given away our old sofa to an upholsterer who fell in love with it!

Today I've been working on the latest, little wagon. New bows cut, shafts and side panels undercoated, door repaired, and the rest awaiting the epoxy treatment,,,too many places for water to settle for my liking! Ben has done the majority of the sanding on front and back, revealing rotten wood, which will be dug out, and treated. Will be glad when it's at the painting stage!

Thank goodness for the spring flowers to brighten up the occasional greyness,

daffs, primroses and periwinkle all bloom proudly to welcome a new growing year, the elephant garlic is living up to it's name..and have just planted raspberry canes from a kind neighbour who had too many. Hot salad seeds are in and already showing little green faces!

We've been slowly putting together our Etsy shop - it's a place for makers, artists & craftsmen to show and sell their work.

The final thing on the list - before we start selling, was for some sort of shop banner on our home page. Sarah sorted this with a gorgeous sign showing our blog, multi-purposeful! The picture will be our shop banner and the sign can be used for craft fairs and such like. We'll put a link in as soon as we start listing items to sell!

One of the other things we've been up to is getting in an application for Devon Open Studios. We'll be exhibiting our crafts with friends; Isabel Merrick (Ceramics & Painting) and Paul Mccullough (mixed media artist) in Crediton during September - we'll post dates and details at a later date. I say 'getting in', the only hard part was trying to get photos of all our stuff - that will look good as a 5cm thumbnail in the guide!
Not the pictures we're going to use, but this is Isabel's pottery & my wood....
....& this is Sarah & Paul's paintings & art.

Most excitedly (to me) is my new toy; 1880's metal working lathe! I've wanted a metal lathe since I was about 14 yrs old. My main reason for buying it is to make/modify parts for my wood lathe although there's a lot of other things I would like to try. Once it's running that is, I need to make an adaptor before I can fit any of my chucks to it.

If only I had a metal lathe.............

The parts look like they've been taken straight from a steam train, the company that built it made & designed everything from farm shafts to the electric car.
Finally, I thought I would mention this, a vintage Husqvarna chainsaw - their very first saw from the 1950's. It's an absolute monster but, from a time when Health & Safety was non-existent; no chain brake, no chain catcher, not even a hand guard!

Anyway, lots more firewood needing to be bringing in over the next couple of days (not with this beast) but, hopefully should have some more finished articles soon.

As the snowdrops bow their heads to make way for the daffs, with blue skies and the much missed sun it feels like spring has sprung, thank goodness! Tractors hum, busy with ploughing and chainsaws thunder in the woods for the last of the felling. Bev's lambs bleat happily in the top fields and we were in heaven with warmth on our faces!

Ben has a new toy, surprise, it's a lathe! Very sweet little one, for precision business, so watch this space! I'm cutting hazel for a settee, and hopefully a rustic sunlounger! With the car breaking down and a wagon due to come in for painting next week, I'm keen to start the woody things, but I have a feeling it may get put on hold....early to bed, early to rise!

Whilst waiting for some painting work, I decided to make a hazel stick chair.

As usual I started off very enthusiastically, hammered my thumb, cut my finger,

swore a bit, sat on it... it nearly fell apart... swore some more, fixed it, and here it is,

Ben kindly tested it, and it works!

I've just about finished the Elm shelves that have been drying in the barn, they still need waxing but we've put them in place for now, Sarah's been waiting a while for these to be ready!

Very pretty bits of Elm with lots of Burr in the wood, I've been saving the side pieces for quite a while - they are matching planks (cut back to back) but, very different shapes.

Sorry about the fuzziness of the pictures, we're still using a camera phone.

For a while I've wanted to do a mirror with little shelf underneath. I decided to use the red(dish) wood that I used a while ago, it's quite straight - which helps with this sort of thing and quite pretty. It turned out quite nice so I might do another, but with Oak - for the bathroom.

Also this small Oak frame with a gorgeous William Morris picture in.

I've gone back to working on the sideboard I started 5 or 6 months ago. I was keen to get it done but the amount of sanding involved was a little off-putting, especially after so much fun turning all the bowls for Xmas.

Anyway, the sides have been sanded and temporarily screwed. I'm going to have to spend a few hours making pegs to replace the screws but, not till a much later date.

A couple of other pieces of the frame are being re-made. I decided they either didn't look right or, might not be up to the task of holding all the weight that is starting to build up on the frame. As this wood is all very old stock I'm very limited to choice - all of the panels, shelves, base and draws are 1 inch thick Elm planks, seems very wasteful to be using it on the parts that can't even be seen but, I'm more concerned about it matching properly than anything else.

I still haven't done anymore turning yet this year however, it definitely won't be much longer as I've got a nice selection of wood mounting up. We picked up some Yew yesterday, it is from the village churchyard and was kindly offered to us to see what use we can make of it. There are some nice size pieces but, it's all going to need cutting down to be manageable for turning. Jim has kindly offered to put it through his re-saw (large bandsaw) for me so I'll have to wait till then to see what sort of turnings are possible with it.

I think I've got enough other bits to keep me going till then!

And finally, a picture of Sarah working on her chair, I'm sure she'll explain more when ready;

I haven't really got much to show for the last month or so, certainly nothing as nice as the slate paintings Sarah did recently - not that I haven't been busy, it's just that most of the wood I've been working with has been to feed the hungry fire over the cold spell!

I did complete a few more bowls before the cold snap took hold. Since then turning hasn't been quite so appealing - numb knuckles gripping cold steel touching large, spinning chunks of wood just isn't the best combination!

I have just started some more shelves with Elm but, as they are only just at the stage of being treated for woodworm I don't have pics yet.

Here's the bowls though;

(First; these natural-edge yew bowls,)

(This one's a very cheery little bowl with a permanent smile!)

(My first attempt at a square edged bowl....)

(....Nearly square anyway!)

(I also turned this elm bowl, despite all the elm I've worked with this is the first piece I've turned)

(And finally some more natural edge Ash bowls.)

Once the workroom is a bit warmer, I've got a nice chunk of holly to turn. We went for a walk near Cadbury Castle (once believed to be the magical castle of Camelot!), surrounding it are many holly trees, all with very strange & unusual twists to the trunks. One of these had came down quite some time ago and the loggers had kindly cut the base off for me! The largest lump of holly I've ever seen, should be some nice bowls.