Saturday, August 29, 2009

New skill - turning wood


Last weekend I took a class on wood turning and made this bowl and mallet in class. I've long admired turned objects and thought that some turned wood items would help with my medieval kit. Of course, the use of modern lathes powered by electricity and modern tools made of high speed steel is not very medieval but I prefer them to their period counterparts. I will hopefully have access to a lathe next month so I can try out some more turning. It was easier than I thought, although the inside of the bowl was difficult, and it was also fun.

The wood I used was black acacia that was gathered by the class instructor a couple of weeks ago when the city cut down a tree across from the shop (how fortuitous!). There is nice variation of color between the heart wood and the sap wood that looks very striking.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks great! Though I have turned a lot of metal and plastic, it wasn't until recently that I made some wood turnings. It is a lot of fun and, like you said, easier than you would expect. I like the freedom it allows.

webmaster said...

I am still very much a newbie at wood turning, but I do have a small lathe. Actually, I'm looking forward to making a Medieval lathe to see what it might have been like. Several other Medieval topics on my blog - come visit - http://medieval-living.com/wordpress/