Tim the Turner

16/05/2026

Back in the workshop for a bit of therapy! I've had this African blackwood blank for ages, so thought I'd make something out of it. They used to be made for clarinet bells and the rejects were sold on to the rest of us. Not many left as blackwood is an endangered species. Anyway I've posted a few so you can see the stages of producing this sinister little pot. Ideal for the wicked stepmother, witch or a present for the goth who has everything.

10/04/2026

14/02/2026

Finally turned something after another lay off due to a self inflicted back injury! Anyway I made a purpleheart egg. Took a bit of cursing to get the thread working as I'm out of practice. I might make a smaller one to fit inside like a Russian doll if I can overcome my desire to just sit on the sofa.

01/01/2026

Happy New Year!
The year has turned, another turn around the sun. I hope to do more turning myself this year, got a backlog of logs!

20/10/2025

Thought I'd show the finishing end as well with a small ash bowl I wet turned in February. Same tree. I weigh them when rough turned and wrapped and write the weight on the tape. As it dries it loses weight, once it stops losing weight it's dry. In this case it lost 140gms of water. Turned back to a circle and thinned down a nice shape then sanded to 320 grit and then finished with Yorkshire grit.

20/10/2025

We've had a few ash logs cut in 24 or 23, split and cut into blank sizes and stored outside in plastic bags to keep them wet. Today I unpacked one and rough turned it so took some pics to show the process ending up with it wrapped in paper, weighed and left to dry. Some time after Christmas I'll finish it.

17/10/2025

The dear neighbour comes with problems needing turning solutions

The spider plant gnome gets his hairs stuck in the dog bowls.

So a fancy plinth was turned.

A mushroom might have been better but there isn’t much room.

I’ll go. (Wood is an old lump of laburnum)

30/09/2025

Back on the lathe at last, couple of utilitarian pieces, handle for a weeder and a little scoop. I'll think of something more interesting to make soon.

14/07/2025

Decided to make a goblet for the goblin king.

08/07/2025

Just about to set off for my weekly volunteering session at Start in Salford, aka Start inspiring minds, where four of us run a wood turning class. We do it one on one for 12 sessions and by the end they're turning out really good stuff. I like to have actual samples of things they want to make so these are coming in to live in the sample box.