Not the last thing I made, it is from the summer, but just popped up on a feed.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/z9L1zUTkux2msE3c6
He wanted a Moana boat after I made him the Maui hook
It’s been quite a while since I was last looking through this thread, and I’m truly in envy of the skills that so many people have in so many different fields!
So many things I’d love to have a go at, but I have neither the ability, space, or tools to manage them.
👏🏻🎩
Count Zero - The Moana boat wasn't that technically challenging
Those titanium coffee french press on bananindustries tempted me but when the price went up , but it seemed I could get parts from aliex-press to make one using the mug I have am
So 6 days later, I have the bits to try, fortunately its a perfect size, so the plunger off my old french press gets sacrificed for pieces, and the rod fits. The lid off a peanut butter can fits perfectly, so a hole in it to fit the rest and I have just what I wanted,with no extra bits to carry for camping
Do you cast any of that jimw, or all cut from solid? Would be interesting to see a few photos from manufacture.
It was entirely fabricated, almost all from sheet, including the tapered pillar tube which was wrapped, soldered and planished to shape on a home made Mandrel . I don’t have access to casting at home. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the manufacture.
The trickiest part was drilling all the 0.3mm holes for the ‘wires’ (which are fishing line as wire of that diameter would distort as soon as they were touched).
That is seriously good
The harp, I mean but the moana boat is a thing of beauty too. 🤣
Really like those ski lights- what do they look like when turned on?
Loving the skis 😊👏
Harp is pretty mental 😍
“Count Zero - The Moana boat wasn't that technically challenging”
Well, no, but I hadn’t seen that when I posted - that harp, on the other hand, is exquisite! I’ll send a link to that to my mate, who’s a goldsmith, I think he’ll be impressed.
The most recent thing I put together is a heavy duty lanyard for my new phone. I’m almost pathological about losing it, or having it stolen; my previous one dropped out of my shorts pocket when I was out on my bike a couple of months ago, and the new phone is not something I’m prepared to risk losing, so I made up a heavy-duty tether using Dyneema boat mooring rope, with the ends glued into a loop with thick heatshrink tubing to secure the loops. The case is a Casetify, and the corners are designed to take fairly large split-rings, along with locking carabiners, so it should be pretty secure in future. 🤞🏻😎
I sent my mate a link to this page, mentioning the harp - he’s very impressed!
When you drop or mishandle that set up the karabiner is going to pivot onto the screen...
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It's taken a while with one thing or another but after the first one broke (ten years and excessive fettling on my part - the original design was sound) this is the version with precast lugs that, crucially, takes 45mm tyres out of the box [some assembly required] .
“Count Zero - The Moana boat wasn't that technically challenging”
Well, no, but I hadn’t seen that when I posted - that harp, on the other hand, is exquisite! I’ll send a link to that to my mate, who’s a goldsmith, I think he’ll be impressed.
The most recent thing I put together is a heavy duty lanyard for my new phone. I’m almost pathological about losing it, or having it stolen; my previous one dropped out of my shorts pocket when I was out on my bike a couple of months ago, and the new phone is not something I’m prepared to risk losing, so I made up a heavy-duty tether using Dyneema boat mooring rope, with the ends glued into a loop with thick heatshrink tubing to secure the loops. The case is a Casetify, and the corners are designed to take fairly large split-rings, along with locking carabiners, so it should be pretty secure in future. 🤞🏻😎
Os there not now a slight risk that if it falls out your pocket its going to tangle in unpleasant ways with bits of your bike?
The Hope one is for my niece, she’s a barista.
If she ever gets to be a judge, you could put a handle on it and she could use it as a gavel!
It’s turning into a kind of therapy
Is that a lathe spun?
Purely accidental, but I’ll claim it anyway. 😉
A little more filing work to do to get the base evened out nice a smooth.
Got a sweat on cutting through the casing mind.
Well, I got them finished. The brazing was really hard, my mate let me practice plenty and gave me loads of good advice. I was happy with the finish I managed to achieve, I'm sure someone more competent would have got a cleaner finish. 🤣
Rice pudding remains, including skin. 
A 1950s fireplace was making it all a bit crap so I took it out, had a piece of granite cut and polished then set about making the units on either side.
The glass shelves were cut by High Class Glass in Stafford, by the chap responsible for some of the newish cheeky downhill trails by Seven Springs on Cannock Chase. Very well suited to his Atherton, he says.
I was kindly given some cherry wood from a freshly cut tree and a suggestion I tried making mushrooms. I am quite pleased with the shape but the wood was so green that it cracked as it dried which is a shame. I think it should still look okay though, mushrooms aren't perfect, but I will be letting the rest of the wood dry slowly in the garage for 6 months I think.
Any advice on the best way to dry fresh wood welcome.
Do I shave off the bark and create round sections for use later?
Do I do the first shaping carve, leave it to dry in a box of sawdust and then do a finishing carve and shape?
Something else?
The timber need to be seasoned(dried) or it will rot(albeit slowly) but as it dries in the smaller form, it will twist and shakes will develop.
If its in board form, lay them in a stack, with accurately parallel sticks in between, throw a cover over it to protect from rain, but leave the end so that the air passes through and over.
Rule of thumb is a year for each inch of thickness if air dried.
If you want to turn some of it, you can rough it into an approximate bowl shape, then stick it on a shelf in your garage and just forget about it.
Get yourself a basic moisture meter, and this will tell you how the drying process is going
Nice WCA.
You could make a lot of them as they don't take up mush room.
Keep the weather off your logs but plenty of air flow. Leave them. Long time.
I quite like the odd bit of cracking in stuff like that but I guess being so small they may well crack in two.
I would just oil them personally. Looks more natural innit.
BigJohn that looks great 👏
Thanks guys. Currently the wood is just on a shelf at the back of the old garage, so it is drying slowly out of the weather. I think I will probably rough out some of the shapes first and leave it to dry, mostly to get rid of the bark and reduce the risk of actually rotting
Those two mushrooms are a gift for theotherJohnV as a thank you for the wood, so I'll ask him if you want some oiled, painted, or binned.
Little bit of oil or wax or whatever, would be grand
The cracks add character, and if they split they split.
If I'd known it took so long for the wood to dry I'd have pruned the tree 3 years ago 😉
Thank God you said " I tried making mushrooms" as seeing the picture I thought you'd diversified into butt plugs and with your user name that could end badly
I made a toolpost grinder for my Colchester lathe. Spindle runs at 13000 rpm! As wel as grinding the spindle can be used with milling cutters. I can change the pulleys to slow the spindle down. Motor housing needs some holes in it to allow cooling!
Any advice on the best way to dry fresh wood welcome.
From experience... put it in a container with a bit of airflow where it can sit at 40 degrees for a couple of years.
How do I make things from wood? – Chat Forum – Singletrack World Magazine Forum
8 used discs from an old farm discs plough and an old car wheel.. knocked up a heavy duty fire pit for when it stops raining
I think you meant to say 'if it ever stops raining.'
Today I thought I'd see if I could turn a sphere using a wood lathe. To do this, I use some cheap pallet timber, as I didn't know what I was doing. I was really pleased and surprised that it takes about 30 minutes for me to do the whole thing. I'm sure that I'll get quicker with practise, but here you go.
I also made this compression chuck. The left-hand bit was the base of a vase I'd made previously, and then just hollowed out to make a pit with enough depth for the ball to fit into. The right-hand end is two rubber furniture feet glued to an old tail stock. It is a remarkably simple process to do this once you have the basic cylinder.
1) Measure the diameter of the cylinder.
2) Cut down the cylinder to be the same length as that diameter. Make sure you leave enough at each end so you can cut off the marks where it is clamped.
3) Multiply the diameter of the sphere by 0.293 and then put two pencil lines that far in from the ends of the cylinder and also on the flat end of the cylinder at the same distance.
4) Remove the wood between these two lines so you end up with a narrow cylinder with a 45 degree cone at each end.
5) Mark the flat cylinder bit with lines on each quarter distance, and again the same on the cone faces.
6) Remove the wood for the corners between the quarterbarks so it looks more round like the fourth picture above.
7) Change the compression chucks and gently chisel off any of the bumps. Release of the chucks, turn it 90 degrees and repeat.
8) keep moving round the chucks until it is nice and round, sand it, wax it, and you have a sphere.
Load of balls.
Well done WCA 👍
Memory jogged by the "what do you buy your mates?" thread. Made this for a 50th birthday last year. It's a ring/watch holder. 
Classy. That's up there with my 'bedside ornament'
I've made half a dozen of the balls, and I'm now trying to think of things to do with them. Here's my first attempt.
Daughter very pleased with the mushrooms / butt plugs.
Have to say - the most butt pluggy shaped of the mushrooms is of a dimension that would take some swallowing.
@kayak23, what theatre / show is that?
Daughter very pleased with the mushrooms / butt plugs
All tested and approved by management before shipping 😉
I fitted a quick-shift kit to my Lancia Beta Coupe tonight. I have not mig welded in 30 years and was given a free well used modified mig welder by a mates father in law. I had a quick practice, guessed the setting and managed to 'weld'...
I have replaced all the bushes in gear change rods also, so hoping this is an improvement
The last wood turning one for a while, I promise, but I thought I'd show you what they actually do with those balls I made. This is playing around, but I need to work out how to do the face a bit better, I think. Any suggestions are welcome or failing that, i'll be on to YouTube.
Little upcycling proj, herb planter and outdoor kitchen worktop from leftover bits and bobs i had ligging about
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