How to Make a Lectern
Michael T Collins makes an easily adjustable lectern. Dale Carnegie once said ‘there are always…
Submissions now open for the Mark Baker Woodturner of the Year Competition. Enter HERE for a chance to win prizes
Michael T Collins makes an easily adjustable lectern. Dale Carnegie once said ‘there are always…
In honour of our much missed and respected former Editor Mark Baker, we have launched…
Firstly, welcome to the new Woodworkers Institute! It is still the same great resource of…
Dave Western creates from scrapwood a killer whale that is based heavily on a dramatic form…
Ian Woodford shares some ideas for designing and making a nutcracker. Since the early days,…
John Lloyd looks at a 15th-century technique that revolutionised furniture making. No, this has nothing…
Michael T Collins makes a beautiful rustic-looking coffee table. I have long been a proponent of…
Lee Stoffer weaves the seat for his stool. To ensure the seat weave was of the highest standard, I visited my friend and basket maker extraordinaire, Martin Hazell. He’s developed his own method for chair seating with willow, which is reasonably simple to achieve, incredibly strong and comfortable. The finished stool should give many years of reliable service. Martin has a 15-year-old example that is still in great condition with regular use. You can also modify the frame, adding stretchers to give extra support to taller versions if you wish. Further reading
A revolutionary advancement The Gothic style started around 1150 in France with the cathedral of Saint-Denis in Paris. It spread quickly outwards across the realms of France, England and beyond. As well as having a distinct decorative style, it was a technological revolution in stonemasonry. Displacing the thick walls, stout columns and round arches of the old Romanesque style, the Gothic church had slim clusters of columns which soared skywards, branching out into slender stone ribs which met in the middle of the roof in high, pointed arches. The slim columns were braced by ‘flying buttresses’ on the outside to prevent the roof vault collapsing outwards. With this structural stone framework, the walls could be pierced with large windows and delicate tracery, flooding light into the interior. During Gothic’s 400 years of domination, there were inevitable changes in fashion – mainly in the tracery and vault ribs. In the Early
Peter Benson looks at selecting the perfect carving knife. The most common questions I am asked are – what knives to choose, and how to sharpen tools and keep them sharp. Many of those who are of my generation can remember a time when almost every schoolboy would have a knife in his pocket or in a sheath on his belt. Sticks were cut into bows, arrows, swords and daggers for all our games, as well as made into aircraft and model guns by those with a little more imagination. Knives in today’s society I can’t remember anyone ever using a knife in a threatening manner. The most dangerous activity for which they were used was to throw them at any available tree to see if they would stick in. In these days of protecting young children from anything remotely dangerous, and the incidence of knife crime, it is rare for any
Guest editor ZoëGertner is lured by the siren song into creating this deep-sea beauty I have acquired a collection of wooden bowls of all shapes, sizes and various species that were turned around 20 years ago. Some have warped and twisted as time has passed, and several have interesting grain patterns both within and outside them. A large, wide bowl has the potential to be carved inside, rather than around it – a different and possibly more challenging approach for decorating a plain turned bowl. However, if you do not have a suitable bowl, you could carve your mermaid in relief as a panel. Things you will need Tools Preparation From my collection of lovely, chunky wooden bowls, I chose a beech wood one that had been turned to approximately 16in diameter and 2in thickness including the rim, mainly because it has an interesting grain pattern flowing around the inside
Guest editor ZoëGertner is lured by the siren song into creating this deep-sea beauty I have acquired a collection of wooden bowls of all shapes, sizes and various species that were turned around 20 years ago. Some have warped and twisted as time has passed, and several have interesting grain patterns both within and outside them. A large, wide bowl has the potential to be carved inside, rather than around it – a different and possibly more challenging approach for decorating a plain turned bowl. However, if you do not have a suitable bowl, you could carve your mermaid in relief as a panel. Things you will need Tools Preparation From my collection of lovely, chunky wooden bowls, I chose a beech wood one that had been turned to approximately 16in diameter and 2in thickness including the rim, mainly because it has an interesting grain pattern flowing around the inside
Arris: A arris is the term for a sharp edge on wood where two edges meet. It is common to sand this edge to make it less sharp. Awl: This is a pointy tool used for marking or drilling a small hole. Bevel: This is an angle on the edge of two meeting surfaces. On a piece of wood a bevel take the sharpness of the edge, on a chisel it allows the chisel to cut in nearer to surface. Bind: This is where a saw blade jams in the cut or kerf it has made, this happens when the set of the saw teeth is incorrect. Bit/cutter: A bit or cutter is a tool used in a spinning action such as a drill bit, a router cutter or a forstner bit. Blade: The main metal part of a tool. In the case of a saw it is the part that has the teeth, for a
Kurt Hertzog looks at using various types of shell in his turned work. As we’ve been exploring materials and colouration techniques a bit out of the normal woodturning, I’d like to continue this month with the use of shell. Of course, we can’t turn the shell in the traditional sense of cutting away and creating shape with our lathe and turning tools. We can remove shell material to refine the shape or create interesting features. If we don’t feel inclined to cut, pierce or mechanically alter the shell, we can simply paint or dye the shell. When I speak of shell, I don’t really put bounds on which types. It can be egg shells, sea shells or anything else in the category. This month, let’s explore a few of the types of shells and how we might integrate them into our turnings. Safety Working with shell may seem pretty innocuous,
Kurt Hertzog talks about the skew chisel. Of the many tools in a woodturner’s kit, the skew chisel alone usually falls into the love or hate category. Few woodturners are neutral on the tool. The classically trained tradesmen learn the power and versatility of the tool and it is often their ‘go-to’ tool for nearly all of their spindle work. The self-taught turner usually struggles with the skew chisel and, without some outside guidance or supreme perseverance, will rarely master the tool. Others who have had guidance during their learning will usually learn effective use of the tool provided their instructor is proficient with the tool. It is beyond the scope of this article to teach you how to use the skew chisel, but I’ll share a few of the ‘rules’ that have helped me. If you haven’t truly mastered the skew, read on to see if we can take
