Buffing Wheel Disaster!

 

When you have spent all your precious time on, and poured all your creative juices into a piece, don’t take your eye off the The Beall Buffing Systemball at the last stage and suffer a disaster like this.   This lovely little Copper Beech bowl had swallowed much time with burl problems and metal inlays (copper) to add feature and fill holes! It never ceases to amaze me how much time smaller turnings can demand.  Furthermore, I had already dedicated this piece (and signed it!) to my surgeon who is currently giving me treatments for Arthritis.  Mr Koch, please accept my apologies and eternal thanks!

 

Bottom of Copper Beech Broken Bowl

Bottom of Copper Beech Broken Bowl

Anyway back to that ball, and not taking your eye off it… it was, in fact, a ball that took my eye off the ball as I had tennis (Wimbledon! Go Andy Murray!) playing in the workshop.  In a split second of distraction, the edge of the bowl caught on the wheel and it was instantly ripped from my hands and bounced around the lathe.  The trauma ripped a chunk out of the very thin outer edge.  Now before you say “You could fix that!”, take a look at the last photo.  The sides of the bowl have multiple dents that I can’t remove.  They are too deep and I don’t have enough wall thickness to re-turn them.

Lesson learnt.  I’ll move on, but I’m mighty peeved!

 

Dents in Sides of Copper Beech Bowl

Dents in Sides of Copper Beech Bowl

 

 

Three Footed Bowl

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Following on from my ‘Four Footed Bowl‘, I have recently produced a three footed version.  This should have overcome the ‘rocking’ issue with the first one as it moved slightly with moisture changes.  I used a lovely piece of ‘rippled’ Sycamore that is pretty enough to not need any embellishment beyond a buffed coat of Chestnut’s Wood Wax 22.

I have just finished a short follow-up post and video that covers the carbide burrs and tools I used in order to create the feet.  Of course there are many other ways that this could be done – use what ever method you are most comfortable with!  The follow-up, with links to the manufacturers, can be seen here.

 

I produced a video of the creation of this piece.  It can be found here: Video – Three Footed Bowl

Video #05 – Bottom Repair, Part 1

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In ‘video #3’ I went through the bottom of a bowl.  I’m sure we have all done it.  This is ‘Part 1’ of how I fixed the bottom.  I could have just thrown this away as it wasn’t a particularly good piece of wood, but I wanted to learn the process of repairing so I have the knowledge when I really need it.  Everyone should attempt a repair, at least once!  I wouldn’t do it quite the same way today, but this learning process was invaluable.

 

 

Video #01 – Onwards and Upwards!

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This was my first YouTube video, and the start of my story.  I returned to turning in my middle years, having turned a little in school back in the late 1970’s.  I pretty much had to start again, with only a slight memory of how the machines work and how the tools should feel in my hands.

I started making YouTube videos after watching a chap called Peter Freitag who used his workshop, and his videos, as a therapy for his very acute depressive states. Having become very ill in 2007, and hardly ever leaving my home, I too had become depressed.  Peter, and his videos, showed me that I could do this too, to challenge myself and to meet new fellows around the world.  It didn’t take me long to come back ‘out of my shell’ and very quickly the videos became a part of me.  If you have a few minutes free, please go and visit Peter and his world… https://www.youtube.com/user/PeteTGIF

I have come an awful long way since creating this first video.  My turning, I hope, is almost unrecognisable from these first few videos.  I feel I have undergone many years of learning in just a few as old learnt skills came back to me.