In the shop

There's a craft show coming up this weekend that's essentially no cost to the vendors. K., however, says I need more stock before going to a show. And she's right. I need more pens, stoppers, wands and chainmaille before trying to sell stuff.

I've got a full day of aikido this coming Saturday besides, so I really can't fit the show into my schedule.

But, I still need more inventory. So, back in the shop to do a little more turning.

I recently purchased a bunch of blanks for stoppers and a few blanks for pens, so I've got a selection to choose from. Last night I chose blanks of English Walnut and Spalted Maple to turn.

The EW was first on the lathe, and it turned out well. However, I could not get it off the chuck. I even tried chilling the chuck to get it to shrink: no dice. So, I had to destroy the stopper. :(

Next up was Spalted Maple and it turned out nicely, too. It really is quite pretty when turned and polished.

I had some issues getting it assembled. I had to drill the hole a bit deeper and use a vise grip to help me get the threaded insert into the wood.

Working through that issue inspired me to go back to a Tulipwood stopper I'd made a while back. I'd had the same issues with it that I'd just had with the Maple. With the Maple, I was bound and determined that it was going to get assembled, it was too pretty to send it to the trash. The Tulipwood, I was not as inspired, originally, as I have a number of blanks laying around. The new approach to assembling stubborn stoppers worked on the Tulipwood, so I ended the evening with two new stoppers.

Tonight is volleyball, so it won't be convenient to turn. Instead, I'll work on getting my Tormek set up again. It's been sitting idle, but since I'm doing more turning I need to be able to sharpen my tools.