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Saturday 25 June 2016

Woodturning workshops

Woodturning workshops

I have recently been looking at a way to shoehorn a 2nd lathe into my workshop!! and this got me thinking about the other workshops I have had.

My first workshop when I first started woodturning was in the corner of a wooden duck shed, the shed was about 20' square and jet black from years of proper creosote being painted on.
The roof was corrugated sheet and got very hot in the sun, inside there was two low roof beams that I hit my head on!! Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of that workshop :-)

My 2nd workshop was on the same site as the first (a garden centre where I worked) but was a new sheet metal type building. It was larger than the 1st (with more headroom!) and again my lathe which by now I had upgraded to a euro 2000 was in the corner.

wood woodturner
My 2nd woodturning workshop and euro 2000 lathe.
The building was big at about 50' x 35' and was difficult to heat and control the dust in.
After a couple of years in that workshop I moved house and I moved my lathe (now a vb36) into the garage which is where it still is.

woodturner
VB36 lathe in my current workshop.
This workshop is 8'x9' and is a bit of a squeeze at times! in fact I cant even get the full lathe in a picture without standing just outside of the door as i cannot get far enough away from it with my camera! maybe I need a wide angle lens :-)

I keep the dust extractor,bandsaw and a compressor outside of the workshop and pipe them in or in the case of the bandsaw wheel it in when I want to use it.

tools
Startrite 352e bandsaw
I better stop waffleing on, maybe I can write more about some of the adaptions I have made in my workshop and tools I have in another blog post?
ohh and to conclude what started this train of thought... trying to squeeze another lathe in.. I decided not to bother in the end as I just could'int make it fit!!




Tuesday 21 June 2016

starting over


Starting over

hello folks, I know that this blog has been inactive for a long time but just recently I have felt the need to write more or should I say.. say more than what I do on my social media accounts.

I really enjoy being in my workshop, (especially in the winter months) just the radio and the lathe is a perfect way to spend the hours, but with this time comes isolation, sometimes I don't leave my home/workshop for days at a time and I don't speak to anyone except my wife and daughter for weeks.

woodturning workshop
Turning an oak bowl


So when I go to write something on my Facebook page or on a woodturning forum I struggle to know what to say and find myself just saying the bare minimum to show the latest piece of work that I have made.

I wonder whether this makes people think that I am arrogant or somehow above the norm? as I don't tend to get the same level of interaction on my accounts that other people seem to get.
That really is not the case and I think its just a lack of practice I suppose and a fear of saying the wrong thing.

So I have decided to write again on this blog and get some practice!! as well as showing or talking about what I have been making or what problems I have been having.