I have always been interested in wood. I find it a very agreeable medium to handle. It always feels warm and welcoming. As a child I liked to grow trees from acorns and sycamore seeds and any other available seed. One marvelous thing about wood is that if what you are making really turns out to be useless you can always throw it on the fire and enjoy the heat and the look of it burning! There is a beautiful Latin poem, well it is almost a poem, in which regret is expressed at the felling of a tree and the sorrow of the tree ending its life and becoming silent. No more will the music of the winds blowing through its foliage be heard. The narrative goes on to say that with the arrival of a Luthier the tree will once more sing when it is converted into musical instruments. I must get the original in Latin as it says it all. Which prompts me to suggest to you that you visit my 'Violin Making' page. At the moment I have three photos there of 'work in progress' on a Stradavarius copy violin.

I visited Leo today, the 1^st of November, 2002. He has just moved into this new house and is still in the process of setting out his workshop. He has two lathes and other woodworking machinery and is a very experienced turner of wood. His speciality is standard lamps and table lamps. While I was with him he gave me a demonstration of bowl turning and this photograph shows the early stages of the work. In about an hour he had completed a fine bowl in Elm with a very nice finish. I brought my unfinished music stand for Leo to run his critical eye over. He was very complimentary and offered me some valuable finishing hints.

If you are interested in woodturning or in the work of wood turners you will enjoy visiting the websites of a few wood turners that I have met and who are all producing work to the finest standards. Whether it is bowls or platters for everyday use or items for special occasions or just gallery or art pieces you will see something that you will like. I don't think that Leo has a website just yet but Robert Howe, Hilary Hale and John McCarthy all do and their sites are worth a visit. The Cork Chapter of the Irish Woodturners Guild has a website. You can access it by clicking on Cork Chapter

As a newcomer to woodturning I don't have a large number of pieces completed but have enjoyed the few that I have done. These include a lovely round box from teak, this has a cover and is made from the one piece with matching grain. I have this at home and Zoë always likes to look into it as she sometimes finds a sweet there which she quickly consumes! Then there are the two music stands that I have made for Oonagh and Laura. These are made from oak but the 'screws', to tighten the raising column and to adjust the angle of the music holder, are made from sycamore as the grain of oak is such that it does not take threading as well as sycamore does.

Table Lamp and matching Bowl

I am flattered that Paul is enjoying this table lamp and bowl, shown on the left. It is made from some Monterey Pine felled in the 'O'Brien' estate in Kilcrohane, West Cork. My thanks to Paul for providing the exotic location for showing my work, further pieces will have to be photographed in less exotic places! In fact I have another small log or two from the same source. I know that I will be able to 'extract' a deep bowl from one piece and I will make a cover for this from a darker type of wood for contrast. This sort of covered bowl or 'box' could be useful for keeping sweets or other such delicacies or just junk. To make this I must first buy myself a chuck for the lathe as heretofore I have been 'chucking' my work with temporary timber 'chucks' mounted on a faceplate. This works, obviously, but the major drawback is that first of all you have the added work of making a 'specialised' chuck for each piece of work and then it is not very accurate if you have to re chuck a piece of work to further finish it, as they rarely re chuck accurately.

Well, I have purchased a RP4000 chuck and find it quite good, well good enough for me. In the past couple of days I have used up the remaining piece of wood from the lamp stand and bowl and made a deep bowl from the log leaving the 'waney' edging of the outer part of the log as the rim of bowl. I am very pleased with it and have given it to Paul in New York.

Paul, very graciously, accepted the bowl with the waney edge. It is nice to think that others will enjoy ones work. I quite forgot to photograph the bowl before giving it to him and he has now very kindly photographed it for me. You can see a photo of it here, I can consider it to be part of my 'gallery'. This bowl was made from the same tree as was the lamp stand and small bowl in the other photo above. I was very surprised at how well it finished as it is a softwood. However it was more troublesome to do than many hardwoods but it has behaved well, hasn't distorted or cracked and must be fully dried out by now and is still intact.

Turned Oak Music Stand for Laura

This is another project that I have just completed. Final polishing and buffing is to be done and then Laura can take it away to join her 'cello, or violoncello, to give it its full name, in her 'music room'. I already have completed and delivered a similar music stand to Oonagh which she appreciates very much. Philip, who is a professional musician and who plays a lot of medieval music, has admired these music stands very much and I will be making one for him very soon. I hope to have it ready to bring to Dorking on my next visit.

Pine Chest of drawers for Laura

This project is more than half built but has been put on the long finger while more urgent jobs have been undertaken. This is in my way at the moment so the sooner that I get it finished and delivered the sooner I will have a bit more room in my shack.

Garden Shed for Laura and Sinéad

Having built a timber deck for Laura and Sinéad I didn't get around to finishing the garden 'shed' that I have part constructed. The final design of this will now have to be changed as it will become more of a storage utility rather than a storage and sheltered seating utility as at first planned.

October, 2003. Having completed a deck in Laura's garden I have now changed my plans for the garden shed and just in the past few days have erected the finished product. It is now free standing and requires a couple of days work to finish it off and to 'fill it up' with garden furniture, lawnmower and so on in preparation for the winter.

Well having waited some days for a break in the weather my 'window of opportunity' eventually presented itself today, the 20^th of November, 2003. I spent most of the day, ably assisted by Thérèse, felting the roof of the shed. I spent more time on it than was expected of me but I am pleased with the finished result and especially with the scalloped edging to the strips of felt. Few will notice this refinement but I know it is there and that is my reward for the extra trouble it took. I have also fitted a cylinder type night latch to the outward opening door, something I was told was not possible! In the next few days, as a surprise for Laura and Sinead, I am going to fit an electronic alarm to the door so that unauthorised opening of it will result in a hooter going off. Not too many sheds in the area have such electronics fitted! Again, this is just me indulging myself it 'flights of fancy'. If you can do it why not do it. I suppose that this item about the shed can be removed from my site in due course and consigned to the past rather than have an ongoing record of my projects.

Carved Wooden Hobby Horse for Zoë

Would love to make a wooden rocking horse in the 'Victorian' style. However it would take up more room than any of us have to spare. As an alternative I may make a wooden hobbyhorse, which would be fun. This is a project for the 'design section'. I must do some research into this and come up with some drawings. More on this project as it develops. I have been checking the 'net for some inspiration and so far have not come up with anything. I may eventually have to put pencil to paper and work on a few sketches and take measurements from the 'end user'. That will be fun.

Well, the rocking horse has not materialised for lots of reasons; nor has the hobby horse. I was a bit uncertain about the hobby horse, it could be more of a 'weapon' than a toy and was best left in the realms of my day dreams. As an alternative I made a 'Tudor' style dolls house for Zoë's third birthday, which was on the 20^th of July, 2003. This turned out very well and was worth all the work that went into it. This is it in the photo to the right.

Having just mentioned wood carving, I have also done some wood carving and of course this was an essential skill to have when I started violin making. Violin Making involves a lot of carving. Externally the scroll and peg box are the most obvious examples of the carving. Look closer - how was the front sound table and the back curved? Not many know it, they assume that they are bent, but they are carved, inside and out to very precise thicknesses and the only way to do this properly is by hand with very sharp gouges and mini planes.

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