Can Turning Wood Help
You Overcome A Bad Day

I was feeling a little low, problems with my garage/shop permit and problems with my health and switching of insurance agencies ….turns out that they lost me or deleted me from the system and now I have no health insurance!

So, thought I would share some thoughts that I shared with the facebook group …basically my way of dealing with stress and problems of this world. Sometimes you just can’t beat it and if you can stick a piece of steel into a turning piece of wood……for a short time your problems go away!

Sharing Some Woodturning Pictures

Thought I share some pics.

This is what I do when I want to turn, but just don’t have it in me to set up a bowl blank or some other more complicated woodturning project.

I turn tool handle blanks!

I know, that probably sounds dumb, but its really easy to do, I’m turning something so I’m feeling a little usefull and I’m making shavings 🙂 I love making new woodturning tools so I’m always in need of some woodturning tool handles.

From Branches to Tool Handles

The trick is to cut up some fairly straight branches that are at least 24″ long and anywhere from 3 to 5″ wide. I try to use hardwood, but I use anything I can get my hands on. So at this point I have about 25 branches cut to around 24″ and I keep them outside. I probably should paint the ends but most of it is ash and oak which have been dead for a couple of years.

I don’t know how many of you mow your own lawn, and those that do how many of you look at it as a pain in the ass or think of it as a time to empty your brain ….and just cut grass. That’s how it is for me to turn some handle blanks….. I suppose I could apply the some train of thought to bowl blanks, but handles are a lot easier.

Making Tool Handles for Woodturning Tools

I like making tools so the handles always get used. I give some away and I’m planning on selling some of them, carbide tools and HSS parting tools and scrapers for now. I hope 2018 to be the year that I set up a website and can sell a few tools per month, helping me, helping my fellow turners!

Clear My Head By Turning Tool Handles

But, to place a branch on the lathe and start turning is the fastest way for me to empty my brain, or just feel like I accomplished something for the day……it has all kinds of theraputic purposes! Its a lot healthier than taking some type of sedative or other mind altering drug, better than pounding down a bunch of beers. Sometimes I’ll go out to the shop when I can barely walk, I throw one of those limbs between centers, scrape off the bark, get down to the wood and see what God has designed for me today. No limb or branch has ever been the same and the beauty of wood is something that never, never ceases to impress me.

Turning a New Oak
Woodturning Tool Handle

Was feeling a little low today so I threw an oak limb on the lathe, between centers and created kind of a funky shape only because the bark went deep into the wood, doesn’t matter I might make 2 handles out of it, or one long one with a unique shape 🙂 I also practiced my skew skills a little, using both the flat skew and the oval skew…. didn’t do too bad, but I need some practice, I need to sharpen the skews….probably would have done a better job, but I didn’t feel like setting up the shapening jig.

If you’ve read this far….good on you! For the new people, I really don’t like showing too many pictures because a tree fell on my roof, been waiting for the insurance and county so I can get things started. I’m trying to put a 12/12 pitch on this thing ….back in the day I could do it by myself. Gonna be tough now. Plus just talked to the county and they changed their building code standards and this whole thing has become a bigger pain in the ass. I live in the most expensive county in Illinois, they have taken me to court a couple of times but the problems have always been their fault, now I have to redraw plans!

This is why there is boxes, wood, shavings and debris all over the place. I don’t have a roof over my head, just a bunch of tarps.

Sorry, I don’t mean to bring you guys down. We all have our problems, life sucks and if you don’t think that you haven’t l;ived long enough. Its how you deal with the sucky part that matters.

Check out the hunk of oak, that will be a beautiful handle some day.

Here’s a couple of pics to look at. Will try to post a video also