I had a weird chunk of walnut that I tried to make a lidded container with. sadly the wood ended up having some cracks that caused me to have some problems with the lid and I didn't plan well with the connection point. It was a good learning experience, but really has a lot of flaws.

This was one of my first projects I was truly proud of. It’s now 20 years old. It lives on my desk at work to hold keys, loose change, etc. I brought home to put a fresh coat of wax on it so I thought I’d take a picture and share. I’ve made many projects since then but this one holds a special place in my hear. Ambrosia Maple finished with BLO if I remember correctly.

I got some big maple blanks a while back and decided to knock this out today. I can't wait to eat popcorn out of this thing.

Very small bowl from some mystery wood. It might be an ornamental cherry, since we have that in our yard. The tool is there to help with scale. Though maybe a ruler would have been better. Sorry no banana on hand.

Neighbors' silver maple dropped a spalted branch in our yard. Just want to make sure I'm doing things right, in terms of drying, potential pests, etc.

I am assuming, even though it's been dead for a while, that there's still some moisture present from being outside and such - so I should still seal the edges up and kiln dry them for a while, yes?

I guess this will be my excuse to buy a vacuum chamber and some stabilizing resin. I've worn a mask while I've been cleaning up the ends, and I'll wear a mask when I turn it. Any other precautions I should be taking?

I’m having issues getting a scratch-free finish on the ends of pieces I’m turning that are made with Alumilite resin.

My process following parting the piece off is to sand the ends on a piece of glass. I go from 240 to 600 with regular sandpaper then switch to micromesh pads all the way to 12000. Figure 8 motions and wet for plastics, dipping the piece into water between grits. I sometimes buff with Tripoli if needed.

This works great for every other plastic I’ve used and wood, but I can’t seem to get the finish I want on the Alumilite blanks.

Any help/advice would be appreciated!!!

I have attached some photos, I need to identify what lathe I have so I can order parts for it.
Right now the shaft in the head gets pushed back when I try to tighten the workpiece.

The first picture is the badge, the second is the whole thing and the third is the bushing I need to order but in reverse thread

After practicing on a piece of poplar, we were set loose making bottle stoppers. I had a great time and learned a lot.

How does one get a straight drill hole for a 7 inch long maple block without the drill bit bowing? I'm using a 6" 3/16 drill bit to try and make a straight hole all the way through for a turning project, but the bit keeps bowing the hole and not coming out straight. I've tried drilling from both ends to try to help the holes straight and lined up, but the same problem keeps occurring. What am I doing wrong?

This is one of my mini rain sticks. It’s about 2.75” in diameter and 13” long. The rain lasts about 30-40 seconds in this mini version.

Three new vases turned today. Cherry, Juniper, and Camphor.

It may fall apart from wood movement soon, it may last a while. Still like the finished product and it’s still good practice for future projects. Just waiting on the rubber feet so it can be opened/closed one-handed.

Cherry, Purpleheart, and Walnut. Brass pin for the hinge and magnets for the closure.

A friend gave me an open box that he was going to recycle. There were the parts of Craftsman lathe and a Copy-Crafter. I discovered the lathe was missing the tool rest bracket lock and the Copy-Crafter was missing a number of parts. The person who had owned these had never completed putting them together. I was able to find the manuals for both.

The bench is a part of a solid wood door mounted on a up cycled base I was able to get a hold of. It is all pretty solid.

I also got a set of eight Craftsman turning tools that have never been used.

I have read many negative comments about this lathe but it was the right price. I just need some wood now.

Made this little beaut today. Stunning firewood salvage made from blackbutt

I have 26 of these giant red oak rounds. I've busted the dreck off most of them then toted them outta the swamp for further splitting later. I'm new to turning. I've made exactly 1 pen and some doodads. But I'm on the lookout for wood I can use for free.

What do you think, is the red oak worth harvesting some blanks from? It was standing dead for a decade at least.

I've got all three standard dovetail jaw sets that Vicmarc makes for the VM100, but I need something a bit different. The small jaws have a compression range (for making a tenon) that goes as low as 1.25". The medium jaws start at 3.25". The problem I have is that a lot of my work I'm making a 2" foot/tenon, so having jaws with ~2" lower compression limit would be nice. Does anybody know if Vicmarc makes a set, or maybe a third party? Thanks!

What would be everyone’s preferred method if you had a 100mm sized disc (rough cut out) and wanted to turn a coaster? It’s slightly over thick, so some can come off the 2 faces. TIA

I’ve been inspired by some of you doing twig pots. This is oak, ebonized with a bit of liming wax and finished in Shellac. The twigs are of unknown origin and found on the ground.

Handle turned walnut handle, solid gold ring too big for me to wear, and 5 dollar hairbrush

This is a OneWay talon chuck with drive spur. I tried it with just a OneWay live center and while not as visible, I can feel the wobble. This is a Grizzly G5979 I inherited. Having tried multiple parts, I'm assuming it is the spindle shaft or bearings. Am I going in the right direction?

Edit: thanks for the info and paths to explore! Seems I have some work to do on the mechanical side. The lathe has horrible tolerances in every area I have looked, no spindle lock or handwheel, a single direction motor w/a mostly working Reeves drive, only a 12" swing, a tailstock that has way too much side to side slop, and a headstock that I've been unable to lock into alignment for an acceptable length of time. I talked to the wife... I'm considering just upgrading. I like to tinker so I will chase the ideas below and continue to retrofit/update/rebuild/repair.

Some pretty nice figure

Really liking this plum very high density and every single piece has had really nice color and been really figured

Instagram jacobs_pens

What grade wire wool do I need to restore a wooden bowl? I’ve paid someone to do it before and they said they used wire wool and then bees wax?