Peter Brown's ShopTime

Two weeks ago I had a very bad day of office computing. I left the office in a foul mood and headed home. If only to keep from going home in such a piss poor mood I missed my turn and head straight out of town. I cranked up the rock and I gave myself a 30 minute drive window. I soon found myself in a rural area. After I'd calmed down enough to be civil to my bride and understanding with my children I started to head home. On the way back I stopped on the side of the road in the middle of a small patch of redwood forest. On the side of the road was a rather large redwood log and spalted maple branch. Both found there way home with me. Honestly that might have also had a lot to do with my improved disposition! I just cut them both up yesterday on the band saw. No rot, and some cool looking grain. Not bad for a mad drive detour.

I'm kicking myself for not snapping a picture, but here is the scoop. The wife has a cheap plastic brush that broke. I found that she had been using it without a handle for a while. What in the world?! So in about 30 minutes... I drilled out the brush head with a 1/2 forstner bit, then chucked up a maple branch that's been drying in the shop since about October. Turned a 1/2 tenon. and rough shaped the handle. reversed on the tenon and finished up. Sanded to 320 and finished with beeswax. CA glue and 10 minutes later it was in use. As if anyone in a turners house should have a brush without a handle!

Every once in a while we are called upon to do something so completely uninteresting that it's hard to care. Such is the case with this new handle for one of my lovely brides pots. Honestly though it's good to work wood and do your best to duplicate a form without anything but the naked eye. Again as a firm supporter of "no unneeded math at the lathe!" I'm pleased with the outcome.

No matter how hard I try to avoid it, most people are still enamoured with my pens. For whatever else I try to produce off the lathe, nothing sells as well as the pens. From left to right: walnut & maple, mopani, lignum vitae & maple, tuplipwood & blackwood, black & white ebony, yellowheart & blackwood, walnut. So here are a few more.. One with a Celtic Knot. Perfect for St. Pats!

Something new on the horizon. I've made one bud vase in the past. Just on a whim. It was out of Cocobolo and Red Oak. It was a bit on the small side, but still rewarding. Now I'm thinking of trying my hand a some to sell. I've found a local surgical shop that sells test tubes. We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.

There are few things as enjoyable as transforming something as dull as a 2x4 into something as interesting as a goblet. I turned it a bit different as I was just beginning to turn at this point. I turned a lot of the handle before scraping out the bowl. I got quite a bit of chatter during this. Something that would be minimized if I'd hollowed the bowl section first.

These are a blast to make. So super simple! I found a local shop that sells the necklaces for $2.50, add the .04 cents for a 1/2 slice of wood for making the pendant and my $12.00 price tag is looking like a pretty good profit margin. Yeah capitalism! Here's the how-to I used, though I simplified it slightly, As a tend do.