Post a photo of the last thing you made

[NickVanBeest]

Customer order: "I want a wooden sacrificial dagger"

The result:

Sapele and beech...

Handle not perfect, but hey, it was the first attempt at anything like this

 

[Stigmorgan]

Finished my 2nd cherry bowl today, I'm quite happy with it, a little more of the heart and less sapwood would have been nice but overall the two complement each other fairly well I think.

 

[bourbon]

OK, not woodworking, (and not today, yesterday)

 

[NickVanBeest]

OK, not woodworking, (and not today, yesterday)

Cute!

 

[hog&bodge]

View attachment 121821
This whirligig has been in progress (time permitting) for about 2 months now, I think I have ironed out the problems and made 3 types of propellor, this one worked best - 45 degree maltese cross - now to make the kids
View attachment 121820

I like these and have been asked by people to make them. yours looks fab.
I am sure I bought a book with diagrams, no idea what's happened to it.

 

[Krisskross]

I like these and have been asked by people to make them. yours looks fab.
I am sure I bought a book with diagrams, no idea what's happened to it.

Thank you - don't forget to post pics. SPECIAL THANKS to shrimperuk, gwheyduke for the many you tube videos I have watched

 

[D_W]

Customer order: "I want a wooden sacrificial dagger"

The result:
View attachment 121906

Sapele and beech...

Handle not perfect, but hey, it was the first attempt at anything like this

for halloween, my daughter asked if I'd make a wooden knife that she could stick through a pumpkin. We thought maybe that was a bit morbid, but I'd finished two of the kitchen knives earlier.

If you make something, someone will request you make something for them sometimes, so an acquaintance who realized that my knives are "hard and sharp and don't dent on bones" asked if I could make a boning knife and then a knife of his wife's favorite pattern that she's got, but made out of cheap stamped soft steel.

Between last night and today, I ground these patterns out. What's remarkable about knife making is most of it is something anyone who does hand tool woodworking can do, and the hardening part isn't that difficult for about half a dozen steels.

(But I didn't get to make the handles for these- which the recipient wants). Just so nobody thinks I"m advertising services (one thing I won't do is work for pay, or for profit, or whatever). These were done no charge, of course. It's just nice to make things and know they'll be used. The bottom is a boning knife, which is something I don't use -both are extremely thin and crisp - the steel is only about .07" to start and they're given a near flat convex grind.

I quoted your post mostly because I thought "I just finished these knives, they're packed and ready to go and I'd like to post them, but I probably shouldn't post knives here when someone else requested to leave the wood bits to them..

...and what do you know, there's a knife posted in "last thing made"!

 

[Stigmorgan]

So today I have impressed myself. A friend is making himself a resin and wood river table, when he found out I'm getting going with the turning he asked if I could make some legs, I had 4 old wooden cricket stumps that the PE teacher threw out so thought I could use them, I thought they would be made of oak but I think they are London plane (please correct me if I'm wrong) I roughed the first one to round and because the grain is so beautiful and because I have to make 4 of them I decided to keep them simple so just added a couple of detail rings at each end then sanded from 120 to 400 and applied some briwax clear furniture wax, I kept a tight hold of the paper towel around the leg to generate some heat and get the wax to soak I to the wood and then polish, then I started on the 2nd leg, so far I have it shaped and by some miracle it is the exact length of the 1st one and the diameter is about 95% accurate over the length. I've managed this by eye as I have no calipers at the minute.

It seems to chip rather than cut but I'm thinking that's more due to how dry and old they are, the scraper gets a pretty nice finish though and it sands very nicely and doesn't take very long to get through the grits. Will attempt the other 2 tomorrow

 

[D_W]

I got a piece of london plane tree here a few years ago (which I guess is related to maple?). It makes beautiful light colored chisel handles when it's straight. Mine is relatively new wood and it feels like maple and isn't chippy, but I'd bet those cricket sticks have stories to tell and their age problem makes them a little more brittle. It's a great wood for turning, though - crisp detail, no pores, not too heavy and takes a nice polish easily.

 

[Stigmorgan]

I got a piece of london plane tree here a few years ago (which I guess is related to maple?). It makes beautiful light colored chisel handles when it's straight. Mine is relatively new wood and it feels like maple and isn't chippy, but I'd bet those cricket sticks have stories to tell and their age problem makes them a little more brittle. It's a great wood for turning, though - crisp detail, no pores, not too heavy and takes a nice polish easily.

Yeah, as much as getting it to cut is a pain it does finish nice, I'm really enjoying working with it, just a shame I don't have more.

 

[mikej460]

I got a piece of london plane tree here a few years ago (which I guess is related to maple?). It makes beautiful light colored chisel handles when it's straight. Mine is relatively new wood and it feels like maple and isn't chippy, but I'd bet those cricket sticks have stories to tell and their age problem makes them a little more brittle. It's a great wood for turning, though - crisp detail, no pores, not too heavy and takes a nice polish easily.

It was actually derived from American Sycamore Platanus × acerifolia - Wikipedia

Over the pond is often called Lacewood which I've just discovered is really a generic term as described below....

The name “Lacewood” is used very loosely and can be applied (and misapplied) to a number of different wood species. In its vaguest sense, the term “lacewood” is used to describe any wood that displays figuring that resembles lace. Attempts to identify a specific board macroscopically may be difficult.

Two Australian species, Northern Silky Oak (Cardwellia sublimis), and Southern Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta) can both look very similar, and are sometimes sold as Australian Lacewood. Additionally, Leopardwood (Roupala spp.) looks similar, but tends to be slightly darker brown, and is significantly heavier.

Interesting stuff and beautiful timber - show us a picture then

 

[D_W]

Looks like a wide range of woods. Lacewood here is a very specific wood (in the US) that has a vivid texture that literally looks like pieces of ribbon (vs. "ribboning" in wood like avodire).

Leopardwood is a wood that looks a little bit like it but is far harder (both are reddish brown).

We don't get much from australia, and the typical woods you'll get like euro beech can be had here, but not at retail (they really need to be gotten FOB by the pallet as they were imported in droves a couple of decades ago and the bottom of the market dropped out - I hear furniture makers will buy beech, but some will also be american beech. Rick Hearne at Hearne's here in the us (where I got Platanus acerifolia) put his thumb on his nose and said "beech...utility wood, we only have it in boules - the lumber is used sometimes by the furniture industry" (which means it would've been horribly overpriced there).

Which is too bad, because it's a far nicer wood to work by hand in the same hardness range as hard maple, and when quartered, looks really nice. You could harvest american beech here (and in good quality, it's the equal of euro beech, but a little prettier), but there's no real market for it. It falls in my township and rots (and since it's on "gov" land, there's no access to it).

At any rate, got off track. Most of our exotics come from africa and central and southern america. We have our own "play the lottery" woods, though, like granadillo - which could be a gorgeous brown wood that takes a high polish, or a wood that looks like a double hard oak with stringy grain. Blanks of it area usually waxed leaving you gambling.

 

[D_W]

Yeah, as much as getting it to cut is a pain it does finish nice, I'm really enjoying working with it, just a shame I don't have more.

ditto that - I had a quartered piece about as big as two textbooks, but because I got it as a cutoff from hearne's, it cost some goofy amount, like $13.50 a board foot. It wasn't that well quartered and it twisted, but the theory of spontaneous junk (keep enough junk around and eventually something will pop up from it) and keeping it led to sawing it up for chisel handles and it was just dandy.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes. Lacewood here at least is just quarter sawn plane. Garno may be along soon to post pictures of a piece.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Yes. Lacewood here at least is just quarter sawn plane. Garno may be along soon to post pictures of a piece.

I think it's one of the most gorgeous grain patterns, a real shame my spindles don't really show off the lace pattern very much, just a thin strip running the length.

 

[Jameshow]

Finally finished my first turning piece.....

 

[D_W]

Looks like a marples carving style handle - I'll bet it's FAR more comfortable than a stock handle, especially when the pan is loaded.

My favorite chisel handles, even if some have more sharp lines and decoration, none feels better when the taper fits the hand.

 

[Sachakins]

Not all on one day, but over last few weeks and still need to make some more...

 

[D_W]

this thread is such a joy - most other forums have gone dormant with things being made as the topical forums lose traffic. This thread makes me want to go tot he shop and make.

 

[Stigmorgan]

this thread is such a joy - most other forums have gone dormant with things being made as the topical forums lose traffic. This thread makes me want to go tot he shop and make.

Do it . I spend a couple hours a day in my little space, I finish work at 12, spend a few hours with the dogs then out to the lathe for 2 or 3 hours before heading over to school to lock up.
Today I shaped out the 3rd coffee table leg, unfortunately though I came across a nasty knot that wasn't very solid so had to look for something to fill it with, ended up using sawdust from the leg itself and some fibreglass resin that I usually use for making cosplay armour, with the colder temps it doesn't set very quick but should be ready for a final scraping then sand and wax before moving on to the final one.