Recent content by nicguthrie

Laburnum is one of my absolute favourite UK woods, and I've had some in the past from a local tree surgeon. From experience it does have a tendency to appear fine as it dries then crack suddenly, also a tendency to having rot pockets travelling along the very very centre. I'd love to take some...

I've gone with the Danish Oil, as it's the only thing I could source pretty quickly and locally, from all the suggestions - but I'm keeping that guide to shellac finishing, printed out and in my shed for future reference. I have a lovely light coloured Spalted Beech bowl that I'm doing next...

Thanks for the supportive comments. As for the "lighter polymerising oil" would that include BLO? The only oils I have in the 'shop at the moment is that or a hard wax oil I bought a couple years back to do skirtings and furniture with. I'm not sure about the shape of the piece - I was just...

I'd go with Marcros' suggestion of a hard wax oil. There's nothing easier to apply, no matter the shape of the piece, it's fairly durable, especially if the wood it's self is pretty tough. I say "fairly durable" but I mean it's perfectly well suited to the likes of skirting board etc, so quite a...

Hey folks. I've not been around as my beloved wife died at the beginning of November. We didn't get a lot of warning, one day being told we had about 2-3 years, next we knew, it was 2-3 days. Been running on the spot trying to catch up with all the paper work and figure out where life now leads...

A very nice start to a very good hobby to have, and potentially more! Good job on the pens, I hope you enjoyed making them! Have you found the tips on YouTube about alternating layers of Boiled Linseed Oil and CA glue? It speeds up the drying and finishing times very impressively - if you've...

Just another wee +1 to the mention of the JSP Powercap IP. I tried the Trend Airshield and found that with most of it's weight concentrated at the front, it gave me a sore and cramped neck after a short time, given that while I'm working, I'm normally looking downward, a bad position for the...

Seems the community is split in the same way I was thinking. Bacteria, fungi and grot in the spalted areas vs dryness mitigating it's danger, and the appeal of it's extraordinary beauty. I've always thought it was one of the most spectacular woods one can buy in Britain, from Britain. Sent...

YouTube is full of advice on building such things, should you decide to go that route. There's a fellow called Matthias Wandel, who seems more engineer than wood worker, but comes up with downright incredible jigs and designs for everything from routers to table saws to extractors, he's bound...

Just a quick question, that I've intended to ask for weeks, but life got in the way. Is spalted beech (or sycamore) suitable wood for a chopping board? I'd assumed spalting would be bad near food, at least damp food, and given up on making a chopping board for friends when I found that the...

Just a thought, but would making the bottom third or even half of the "spindle" holding the base from a machine screw, with a nut under the base, allow you to shorten/lengthen the inner depth to fit whatever batch of cocktail sticks they happened to fill it with? Or perhaps a hollow spindle...

Thanks Nev, I had a look on Amazon at the inside of that book and it does cover a few new techniques and stuff, looks pretty interesting - if you give me a mobile number or email address I'll Paypal you some funds to cover postage etc if you like! :) As for Richard Raffan, thanks for that tip...

Wow, sorry guys, the app I use on my phone, Tapatalk seems to have deleted the response I sent. Thanks for the advice, I was looking for a book that contained more than just the basic techniques, as I'm now pretty familiar with the Kieth Rowley handbook that was my first purchase. It's not that...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Woodturner-Inspiring-Developing-Woodturning/dp/1610352181/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&qid=1442686603&sr=8-25&keywords=woodturning I've seen the above book on Amazon, and browsed the very limited detail available on preview, where he mentions some interesting stuff...

I've got the Axi Evolution, and recently acquired an SC4 as well. I've got the standard C jaws on the Axi, which are the most commonly used ones on that. I also have the big 250mm rubber peg based aluminium button jaws - which I use a lot if I need to go back and repair something that I've...