The Banksia tree grows in Australia and produces unique looking nuts. The nuts are harvested and sold as exotic blanks for wood turning. I have seen these in various woodworking stores so I thought that I would give it a try. I was surprised when I cut into the nut so I took a few photos of the process.
Preparing turning blanks at the band saw from logs can be dangerous because the log wants to roll when the blade enters the timber. I have broken a band saw blade trying to cut a hand held log and fortunately was not injured in the process. Carter Products makes a log mill that I have…
I had a nice piece of Walnut that was dry enough to try my hand at turning a natural edge bowl. Not just a natural edge bowl, but one that wasn’t round, instead elongated which meant that I would be turning “air” as the cut was interrupted 4 times per revolution until I was deep…
There are many ways to cut captive rings and specialty tools are sold to accomplish the task. I decided to make my own captive ring tool from an Allen wrench, the tricky part being the shape of the grind. I tried many different shapes without success before hitting one that worked. The various grinds were…
One of the great things about wood turning is the variety of things that you can produce on the lathe. Each piece is unique because you, not a computer, control the tool. The way the wood is mounted in relation to the grain determines the tools used to accomplish the task. Lidded boxes are end…
There was an article in the Dec/Jan 13 issue of Woodcraft Magazine describing how to make salt and pepper mills using mechanisms purchased at, you guessed it, Woodcraft stores. This looked like something that would make nice gifts for Marilyn’s side of the family because they were invited to our house for a Christmas party. …
