A Wood Turners Workshop

I have turned bowls, pens, pill boxes, clocks, etc. etc. until the cupboards and shelves in our home are full to breaking point, and the little lady indoors decreed 'No More'.

So a couple of years ago I turned my attention to other things in my small workshop, which by the way is an 8' x 6' metal shed lined with tongue and grooved floor boarding. (very warm, especially in the winter months) 

When I  first started this hobby I joined a wood turning club and learned a lot from all the friendly guys in the club, but one thing I quickly learned, they were all very well off and their equipment was very up to date with all the latest gadgets on the market, much to expensive for my pocket.

The majority of my equipment has come from garage sales, second hand shops and car boot stalls. I have over the years learned to repair, and bring back to their working life all manner of tools, sharpening after de-rusting, replacing broken handles most of what I use to create the treen that is the art of woodturning.

My lathe is a Myford ML8, it cost, a good thirty years ago, £60 at a car boot sale. Since then I have added to it many extras and chucks including a compound metal slide, three and four jaw metal chucks, sanding table and so many gadgets you wouldn't believe.

I WOULD NEVER EVER SWAP IT FOR ANY OF THE MODERN LATHES

Which brings me  to the reason why I have been asked to explain how I have made a lot of the tools I use.

Metal . . . . . an alien material for me to start with, very frightening spinning round in the chuck. But perseverance and a lot reading, of course after acquiring some old engineering books from the second hand book shops. I would now never even consider buying a tool if after a lot of thought, I think I could make it myself. And anyway the majority of tools these days don't have the right thread for my spindle nose on the Myford, so I have to make my own.

The first tool I made was  a cup chuck, I forget  what prompted me to make it but I was so proud when it held so steady and true, spinning away on the thread I had cut with my newly acquired taps I had found at the local flea market. I was from then on in a new world of my own, able to solve a lot of problems that previously had been way beyond my finances.

So, this 'blog' will be the journey that took me into the world of amateur tool making, possibly to encourage some of you with limited finances to take up the very rewarding hobby of woodturning.            

A Wood Turners Workshop

I have turned bowls, pens, pill boxes, clocks, etc. etc. until the cupboards and shelves in our home are full to breaking point, and the little lady indoors decreed 'No More'.

So a couple of years ago I turned my attention to other things in my small workshop, which by the way is an 8' x 6' metal shed lined with tongue and grooved floor boarding. (very warm, especially in the winter months) 

When I  first started this hobby I joined a wood turning club and learned a lot from all the friendly guys in the club, but one thing I quickly learned, they were all very well off and their equipment was very up to date with all the latest gadgets on the market, much to expensive for my pocket.

The majority of my equipment has come from garage sales, second hand shops and car boot stalls. I have over the years learned to repair, and bring back to their working life all manner of tools, sharpening after de-rusting, replacing broken handles most of what I use to create the treen that is the art of woodturning.

My lathe is a Myford ML8, it cost, a good thirty years ago, £60 at a car boot sale. Since then I have added to it many extras and chucks including a compound metal slide, three and four jaw metal chucks, sanding table and so many gadgets you wouldn't believe.

I WOULD NEVER EVER SWAP IT FOR ANY OF THE MODERN LATHES

Which brings me  to the reason why I have been asked to explain how I have made a lot of the tools I use.

Metal . . . . . an alien material for me to start with, very frightening spinning round in the chuck. But perseverance and a lot reading, of course after acquiring some old engineering books from the second hand book shops. I would now never even consider buying a tool if after a lot of thought, I think I could make it myself. And anyway the majority of tools these days don't have the right thread for my spindle nose on the Myford, so I have to make my own.

The first tool I made was  a cup chuck, I forget  what prompted me to make it but I was so proud when it held so steady and true, spinning away on the thread I had cut with my newly acquired taps I had found at the local flea market. I was from then on in a new world of my own, able to solve a lot of problems that previously had been way beyond my finances.

So, this 'blog' will be the journey that took me into the world of amateur tool making, possibly to encourage some of you with limited finances to take up the very rewarding hobby of woodturning.