I looked at my home page today and thought: wow, my last post is from 15/10, that’s more than a week ago, and I don’t have anything sensational or big to report. Where’s all the time gone?
But reflecting a little more, I think this is just natural. Life is simply not sensational all the time, and if it were, it would be pretty exhausting.
So what have I been doing in these last 10 days? Well, here’s an overview, and it probably reads like your average wood turner’s diary, just stretched out a little (since I am not a full time wood turner).
I applied for, and got accepted, membership in a high-end home ware e-trading site. Now anxiously awaiting further news on how to set up my shop there. This could potentially be very good. OTOH, it could be the same disaster as Etsy and Folksy turned out to be (at least they were cheap).
Remember that post about some free lime wood? Well, I did some work with that on the weekend when I got it, but there was still plenty of work left. In fact, last Sunday I spent more than 4 hours chain-sawing all of it into a nice stack of blanks of various sizes, which are now a neat little stack in the garden with a tarpaulin covering them. In the process I managed to almost ruin a chainsaw blade, and blunt both of them. Now I am waiting for delivery of some files so I can sharpen the chains again. And I ended up with three large bin bags full of shavings. My wife’s horses were very grateful, I believe.
I finally got around to making myself a proper tool rack for all my turning tools. So far they lived in a make-do cardboard tube solution, which was hanging off the edge of my metal turning tool shelf. Due to the combined weight, that shelf was threatening to fall apart any time soon. Last weekend I also bought a half sheet of exterior plywood (the good stuff), and I have now made myself a rack for all my turning tools. Pictures to follow soon.
I also used some more of that same sheet to finalize work on a universal support table. Sounds grand, but it really is just a piece of plywood, square in size, but with one corner cut away for a small bowl and the opposite corner cut out for a bigger bowl, and a bracket underneath. This I can clamp onto a round tool rest (the Report Sorby type), and therefore mount in my banjo in just about any position I like. At the same time, I made a small sled for my Proxxon tool. I can now use this to do all sorts of geometrical carving my pieces, although a first attempt has shown me that this needs some practice. Again, pictures to follow.
I finally finished a large (14″) beech bowl, very plain and simple. I made a start on a blue, black and gold canister from spalted sycamore. I also made three little Christmas ornaments, but they are not finished yet. And finally, last night, I made a rustic winged bowl from a piece of oak. Actually came out very nice. Oh, yes, I also made some more progress on one of my designed art boxes. As above, plenty of pictures to follow.
I bought some more tools and consumables from Axminster, and I spent time on ebay buying a few nice bowl blanks (which I will probably abuse into jewellery boxes). I also bought some cut-offs from a local hardwood store. I had a bit of a shock there: black walnut is EXPENSIVE!
So, in hindsight, and considering I actually have a full time job, and do work in the household, like shopping and ironing, I think I did actually get quite a lot done, even though today was a very quiet day, and I didn’t even go into my workshop at all (very unusual for me on a Sunday).
I think sometimes we all just need to remind ourselves of all those little things we do all the time, and not expect life to be a 24-7 party or one big adventure movie, and we’d all be a much happier bunch.
