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I wonder if many have seen this effort? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-11/ ... a/10702906

Twice a year I wonder what the situation is with elms in the UK. Where I live, when the seeds fall and blow around it's like walking through the confetti from a hundred weddings. Now spring is here they are sprouting everywhere even flower pots. Any chance that they'll make a comeback in the UK?

Safety has been very much on my mind since the other week when I started teaching my grandson how to turn wood. All went well, no short-cuts taken and even the shed was kept clean! With this in mind, I had rather a surprise to see our latest Aldi catalogue advertising a cheapo lathe, also a set...

I can't remember posting this before but Dalboy nudged my conscience to post something. Now and then someone turns up (no pun) with a piece of wood they think you might like. In this case it was some largish branches of a local casuarina known as buloke (or bulloak). The drier the area the...

I rarely have had problems with wood dust/shavings until the last few years. It was brought home with a vengeance when the doctor diagnosed dermatitis on my ankle, probably because occasionally my socks can fill up with shavings when turning in shorts. Has anyone else noticed sensitivity...

I had occasion to make some minor repairs to an early Victorian chest of drawers. Solid legs and pillars with the main carcase being deal, veneered in Cuban mahogany. One foot was loose and some veneer was missing. The veneer was simple as I had some scraps of thick veneer I had saved from a...

I was doing a bit of clearing up in the garden and I realised that one of our biggest weeds (using a growing in the wrong place definition) is elm. Everywhere looks like a wedding on speed with elm seeds like confetti. And they sprout anywhere there's a bit of loose soil. I like turning elm and...

A friend recently offered me some wood as his garden was becoming overgrown. Most of it is apricot but one piece about eight inches in diameter isn't. It's not an Australian native but is becoming increasingly popular for its fast growing properties as well as being ornamental. The wood is...

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been given some she-oak (casuarina). I'm still waiting to get it to a better bandsaw than mine but decided to turn a candlestick out of a piece I'd split off. It's heavy (won't float), hard and has quite a few flaws inside but other than that it finishes...

In this blog you can see what looks like a group of screwdrivers. Anyone know the make? http://thingswemake.co.uk/

Yesterday was a mess. It started with the weather - absolutely perfect blue skies, nice and warm. The sort of day that reminds me how much I dislike gardening. So I hid away in the shed. I couldn't settle to anything in the turning line so I thought I'd fix the fastener on the bandsaw door...

This will be used for handles for carving chisels for which it is well suited though I usually use pear. Smells nice when cutting and takes a polish well. The odd marks on the pieces shown come from insects chewing under the bark and into the sapwood. It is grown in the UK but not in the wild.

As we're getting hints of spring across here I've been trying to go through the shed to see what wood can be cut into useable sizes. As with most of us there is a good deal of it but the other day I was offered some more. A friend is a woodcutter and said he had some sheoak (sheoke) that has...

This one was also a victim of the drought but I've planted another since then. It isn't native to Australia or the UK. The piece shown is light and feels something like cedar. Enough clues to form a wild guess I think. :D

This wood is fairly common across here and is even seen as a weed tree in places. Heavyish and hard enough to test the sharpness of your tools but gives a marvellous finish. I've included pictures from all sides with excellent ones of the dustbin lid. As you can see, it comes off the bandsaw...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5-CROWN-Wood ... 4ad6044a44

A month or so back we had to have two trees removed - one was a fast growing wattle, the other rather old and coniferous. It leaves a huge gap. Not native to the UK.

Our son drives around the state a fair deal and, like any sensible person, he carries a saw in his car and brings a few bits back to me. This one is fascinating in its similarity to a well-known timber. I'm afraid the octagonal handle is a bit out of focus so I rough turned a piece I had lying...

I'd ordered a quantity of box (buxus sempervirens) to make up a set of chisel handles and added a piece of the following to make up the parcel. To me in Australia it's exotic but probably not for some of you blokes.

I've been turning a few chair legs lately from locally sourced elm and noticed that I was having to resharpen more than usual. Is elm normally abrasive or is it just picking up silica across here? I don't notice this with locally grown ash.