Half term holiday in Wanstead

I had a commission for spindles from a neighbour who was refurbishing his kitchen stools.

After sharpening my skew chisels I did some practise first – so I turned some spurtles from Oak, Walnut and Utile. I remember what a professional turner once said during a demonstration  ‘ your lucky not being a professional, we have to practise every day’

Having read through the little Kelly Kettle booklet I picked up on the Hobo Stove they sell as an extra for £10.50

So I made a card template first and then cut it out using a couple of really useful sheet metalworking tools.

This punch cuts out 1/8” holes for riveting, I also used it for extra air holes.

 

This is a real gem – a Gabro notcher 3M2  it cuts strips out without deformation, the swan necked pieces push the material off the cutter. The picture does not show the size of this monster the bed is 5'x2' on a big stand.

The finished job – I bent the metal round by hand over the bick of an anvil and used a large metal round and a mallet to bend the pan supports over - just need to test it!

In preparation for the Kent group meeting, making shrink pots.

 

I watched the Sean Hellman video on YouTube. His cutter looked like hard work – so I designed and made this simpler version (as yet totally untested). The Oak mounting block holds a standard craft knife blade at an angle so it can cut a right angled groove inside the pot. The existing round locking notches made it easy to secure

I also took John Burbages advice  and made a clamp to hold round material whilst cutting a large hole in it. One of the on line videos I found shows that maybe it’s easier if the Round wood is not cut to length first.