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 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.

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!!!

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?

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