Category Archives: LATHE TURNING

“Natural Edge” Napkin Holders

Posted by on April 14, 2013 8 comments

tree-to-napkin-holderOne of the benefits of being married is that I now have knowledge of a whole range of implements that were previously entirely foreign to me.  Although some might claim that for me these included sponges or cleaning products other than Greased Lightning*, today I’m referring to napkin holders.

After observing the little wooden plant pots that I made, as well as my (nearly identical) pencil holder, my wife suggested that “napkin holders” could be made in a similar way.  After procrastinating for a while, I decided to give it a try.

Taking a piece of wood that I slaughtered from my backyard several months ago, I cut it into pieces around one and a quarter inches long with my miter saw.  From here, I drilled a  one and a half inch hole in the middle of the pieces using my small mill/drill press.  This turned out to be slightly too small, so it was made larger with a 1 3/4 inch hole saw.  See below for lots of process pictures: Read more »

Tree Trunk Pencil Holder

Posted by on April 4, 2013 1 comment

Cleaning up my garage this weekend, I realized that I didn’t have a good place to keep my pens and pencils.  Fortunately, I have a lathe, a 1 1/2 inch paddle bit, and a small tree trunk already pre-turned to a good size to keep everything in.

If you’ve been following along with my projects, you probably remember something quite similar where I made tiny vases or pots for small plants out of wood.  This was obviously very similar.  The differences were that I used a eurethane/stain combo to finish the piece (Minwax Satin Polyshades “Chestnut” available from Amazon, or likely from a local hardware store), and sanded it down better after rough-cutting it with my South Bend lathe.  The piece was then setup on a milling machine the paddle bit was used to form the pen/pencil cavity.

The paddle bit operation could have been done on a lathe, but I don’t have the proper chuck setup for it.  This wood vase is a simple project, but it’s nice to be able to say “I don’t have anywhere to put this,” then just make something yourself.

Catamaran Wooden Gooseneck Plug Repair

Posted by on April 2, 2013 No comments

prindle-wooden-gooseneck-plug-pinnedI have a small Prindle 16 foot catamaran (similar to a Hobie-Cat) that was built a year before I was born.  Naturally it needs repair from time to time, and after hooking the mast up improperly (resulting in a pretty spectacular failure), the boom’s gooseneck plug was broken.

I’m not sure if these are sold without the boom (possibly part of the “U” bracket on this catalog), but I wasn’t really thrilled about the riveted design anyway.  Instead of purchasing a new boom, I decided to make a boom plug myself.  Out of wood.  From a tree that I cut down in my backyard.  Check out the video and more pictures after the “read more” to see exactly how this was done. Read more »

The Fiber Optic Wooden Mushroom

Posted by on January 27, 2013 1 comment

fiber-optic-mushroom-animated-smallThe original Master ‘Shroom was interesting, but naturally just lighting up a few LEDs for eyes wasn’t enough for me.  If I were to use fiber optics instead, I could transmit light form a base unit to anywhere on the mushroom.  The animated GIF to the right pretty much shows what’s going on, but see the video below for more complete results and a look at how it’s put together:

As for the components used in this project, I needed some wood – part of a really small tree trunk, and this fiber optic lamp from Amazon (rated as a 1 star item, so you know it’s good!).  I do my own little review and teardown of this lamp at the end of this article if you are curious about it.  I also used a bit of repair putty that can be had from Walmart or of course from Amazon if you really dread physically going to stores.

The ‘shroom is made by Read more »

Plant Pots Made from Found Wood

Posted by on January 4, 2013 1 comment

raw-wood-potted-plantsAs much as I like my other tools, I’ve been incredibly happy with how easy it is to make interesting stuff for little to no raw material cost with my lathe.  The raw material for these tiny “pots” was free, costing a trip to the backyard where I had these trimmings* stored.  This is the result of an idea I had to plant Jade and Elephant bush in this very natural pot, vase, or whatever you would call it.  A chopped up piece of wood in the back yard was cleaned up with my lathe, then drilled on my milling machine.

Although I don’t think the results would be quite as good, Read more »