Whoa there boy. A bit of a close shave.

Tree, very kindly, pointed me in the direction of some plans for a shavehorse and I am resigned to getting on and building it. My first project will be to shingle the shed roof in oak but I need a drawknife for this. This is where I could bore you with the old ebay bargain story but I shall suffice to say that I found an antique one mis-listed and won for a mere £11 (They usually start at about £40+). The handles are cracked and need replacing but that is no problem on the lathe. I have started by regrinding the edge back to it's original razor sharpness. I shall retrim the ironwork to take the new handles and pressure fit them before burring the ends to hold them in place. I will post the photos after the restoration to show how I did.

To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

I couldn't resist the pun on the Byds song when you consider the weather and what I am about to say. Last weekend, after many a month searching, I finally found, and bought, a woodturning lathe. The particular model is a Kity 663. Those in the know will be going "Ooh, aren't you lucky" whilst everyone else will be none the wiser. This model is German in origin and is one of the best, quiet running, lathes you can get. It belonged to a wood turner in Rotherwas and was sold to me by his grandson after his grandfather's death. An absolute snip at £50, especially as I was given about £100 of drills, scrapers, G clamps, spokeshaves and a benchstop, for free, because his grandson wanted to see it go to a good home. The motor is very sound and I spent most of Monday cleaning it up, oiling and greasing everywhere. If I was to buy a restored model now it would set me back about £600. Above is a photo of the lathe as it was found in the lock-up and I will post subsequent shots as I use and restore it further.


On a totally different note, it was Nick Waller's wedding on Saturday. Tree and I were running behind all day and didn't get to the reception until quite late. But we managed to see Nick and "fornication" Dan, who was his best man, Sarah and Lydia. It reminded us to pay more attention to keeping in touch with people. It is getting bad when it comes to just seeing people at weddings, funerals, etc.