Ramble On: Wood

Ever since the seventh grade, where I turned my first piece, a tooth pick holder, on a wooden lathe, I was hooked. In high school I took a woods class each year, making various things like cabinets, a chest and signs using a dremel tool. Every year in high school I would ask my teacher, Mr. J. if I could use one of the lathes to turn stuff which was always buried behind projects and tools, so he always said no. Grandpa used to have a lathe so one day dad brought it home and it was small and not very safe so dad wouldn't let me make stuff with it. We've always had a metal lathe, but it's not good to use a metal lathe for wood or a wooden lathe for metal, so that was also a no.

This last birthday, my parents bought me a lathe, ironically, it was one from my old woods teacher, Mr. J. During the rest of the school year I was looking up projects that I wanted to make on it in the summer, the first of which was a wooden mug, so that is what I made. The wood started out roughly 18"x8" and dad helped me cut it and glue it. I put in on the lathe and began turning it and having a blast.

Soon the mug was done...but it needed a handle to grip it better

After a few coats of mineral oil and butcher block conditioner, and 4 days of curing, I got the finished project after 7 days: (same mug from different angles)

I am proud to say that I drank some water from it this morning and it didn't leak!

Then dad wanted have the part where the motor is connected fixed a little so it would run truer, that meant a few days of no lathe, which was sad. I got the part back and we connected it and I had the need to turn something again, except I didn't have any wood, which is a problem. Dad and I up and down our road, where a bunch of trees were cut this spring, in hopes that we would find a piece that was left behind, and indeed we did. He chopped it up with the chain saw, I put it on and was soon covered in dust.

Soon I got the rough shape I wanted from it...then drilled out the center and began working on it (first time drilling out the center and it went a lot easier)