Peter Brown's ShopTime

I was playing with shapes.. First was going to be a mushroom, but I found this shape instead. Looks like a building to me. Then Top hat with burned in brim, goblet and finally a mushroom to make up for #1.

I have two stainless steel travel mug kits ready to be outfited with wood. Problem? I have no blank large enough to do the job. I would like to point out at that I still don't have a travel mug. I don't want to disappoint the reader. This project was only 1/2 completed. This was not the fault of the wood, but rather the tuner. Regardless... here are the steps I followed until the failure. I wanted a six sided turning, which equals 30 degrees per cut. It should be noted that I had to do math, which upset me greatly because I'm horrible at it and it makes my hobby less enjoyable! Anyway, I followed math up with dangerous beveled crosscuts on the radial arm saw. That made me feel better. I used doublestick tape and NOT FINGERS to hold the Maple in place. All cut with the grain lined up to my liking. Ran two strips of packing tape over the cut staves. I was out of yellow glue so I was using Gorilla glue in it's place. I really am not a fan and might attribute that to some o...

For whatever reason I really liked the way this came out last night. I can crank out a dozen stoppers and not be overly enamored with one. I just really liked the thick goblet shape and wanted to recall it for next time. 2 inches X 1 3/8 CA finish

This is #4 for me and the first bowl I turned from dried wood. This is kiln dried California Walnut. Again the outside and bottom turned with my bowl gouge but the hollowing was all done with a 1/2 round nose scraper. I'm beginning to enjoy the advantage of scraping and I get a pretty nice surface right off the tools. Sanded to 180 and I've done 4 coats of Danish Oil. The walnut is thirsty and it will get few more coats still! 1 1/2 high 5 inches wide.

I turned two more pens last night. I'm not sure what's come over me. That's like 10 pens in the last week... The first is from Corian. Yeah the counter top material. I love the weight and feel of these. They shine up great and have heft! And a Walnut SOLD pen that I had trouble getting a good picture of.

I was watching Doug Stowe's box making video for the 27th time when I finally decided to try my hand at a simple box. I have some Aromatic Cedar that is already surfaced to 1/2 and thought that I would start with a simple box. Plus I wanted to test out my idea of making the miter cuts on the radial arm saw. I reasoned that it would allow me to leave the table saw blade registered to 90 for all the other operations and might save on setup time. The operation seemed simple enough. I set my RAS to 45degrees and make a pass to give me a reference kerf in the fence and on the table. I then set a stop my desired length from that time. Flipped the board face down to make the first bevel flipped and registered it against my stop for the second. Wash rinse & repeat. The last two cuts were a wee bit dangerous without a change of plan. So I used some double stick tape in lieu of my hands. Worked like a charm! So I took off my riot helmet & Kevlar body suit and pretended like I knew it...

I've been on a pen turning kick lately. Not even sure why. Here are my most recent and I've already got more blanks ready for tonight! Redwood Burl SOLD CA finish Kingwood SOLD CA Finish Bamboo. CA finish. I'd never turned this before and have to say, "It was soo fun!" I really enjoyed it and it turned beautifully! Blackwood & Redheart SOLD CA finish. I've made this style about half a dozen times. It's a staple for me and very popular. Jatoba. SOLD CA finish.

This is bowl #4 for me and the first one with NO CATCHES. I took this as proof that I had turned it, in case my luck didn't hold and I dropped it on the way to it's oil bath. It measures 7 3/4 wide x 2 1/2 high. Finish is simply 3 coats of danish oil.   SOLD I've got a dried chunk of walnut waiting for me this weekend...

This is Claro Walnut burl SOLD in a Parker style pen. CA finish. This pen reeks of class.

Bowl turning appears to be my Achilles Heel. I cannot seem to get the hang of my bowl gouge. Regardless this is my first bowl completed bowl without any major defects. My first one warped and I wasn't able to properly finish the bottom on my second. Plus this one feels really nice in my hand. Inside turned almost totally with my 1/2 round nose scraper. California Bay Laurel 1 1/2 x 6 1/2 SOLD

Three new slimelines from this weekend. Lignum Vitae & Blackwood. SOLD CA Finish Claro Walnut Burl. CA finish SOLD Juniper bush SOLD CA finish