To complete a Halloween witch’s accessories, a witch needs a high class broom. For the discriminating witch, we have a brand new broom turned by hand from locally harvested maple, finished with fine grit sandpaper (80 grit is a witch’s favorite) and a touch of fine beeswax and eye of newt.
Read More...I had a big problem coming up with a Halloween project. My wife came to my rescue suggesting a spider. This spider is an eccentric turning. Offsetting the tail end by nearly a half an inch flattened my pet spider’s bottom side so he will not sit high off the ground. I left him unsanded […]
Read More...In this video, I’m going another step beyond in eccentric turning. Building on a viewer suggestion to use masking tape to enable power transmission while backing off the pressure between tailstock and headstock. I made a pair of threaded faceplates in which I drilled holes to provide regular offsets. Corresponding holes would then be drilled […]
Read More...Harry Potter needs a new magic wand to withstand “he who must not be named“. This magic wand has the key to powerful magic – a Phoenix feather inside the handle. This full sized 17” long wand is made from walnut and red oak. It is finished with mineral oil and beeswax. It is a […]
Read More...After the Cascade Woodturners club asked me to do a demo, I needed to make a practice run. After the last whistle, a viewer suggesting making the whistle in a way that it could be tuned instead of relying solely on the depth of holes drilled in the cylinder. This whistle is tuned by inserting […]
Read More...To dispel my ball turning phobia forever, I decided to do a large, hollow ball. What’s different? Well, on a large ball, any irregular surface is more apparent. Even more is that I’m having to turn blind. I cannot check wall thickness as I work the wood — I have to rely on measurement taken […]
Read More...I am interested in multi-axis and off center turning. However, any change to the turning axis presents challenges and risks. This project, from hard maple, follows an example in “Woodturning Methods” by Mike Darlow. On the first axis, I turned the body, foot, and a mounting disk. Then I mounted a wood faceplate with a […]
Read More...I’ve turned several tops on my lathe but never a tippy top. A tippy top should start normally, then flip over onto its spindle. During this process, it reverses its rotation. Physics students create monstrous equations to explain this reversal that are totally beyond me. This wood is poplar with a walnut spindle. The poplar […]
Read More...At the Desert Woodturning Rounding in Mesa Arizona, I saw a weird toy in the instant gallery. I studied it but couldn’t figure out how it was turned. Fortunately, the woodturner was nearby and explained both the simplicity and the critical portions of the toy. I had to make one. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what […]
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