Once again it is Og Maidne with little output from the shed of wonders. It has been a busy year however. I installed heel-drains along the side of my garage to stop water entering through the brick work. The garage is buried about 18″ along one side. The run-off from my shed gutters runs down a path, which unfortunately allowed all of this additional water to run against the side of the garage. The heel drain catches most of this water and re-directs it into the rainwater gully at the corner of the house. Hopefully this will see the garage as close to water-tight as possible. I also replaced ..read more

I had to replace my better half’s pen today, after selling the last one. This timber is really punky and is at the stage where it is almost firewood. The spalting is spectacular however. If you look closely, you will see the ragged edges where the barrel trimmer was just a tad aggressive. The pen body is turned as “comfort fit” because of severe arthritis. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA I made another little stool from scrap pine too. Our neighbour had new windows fitted earlier this year, and I begged the scraps from the window fitters for kindling. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA It’s still a bit rough and i ..read more

I actually got out to my shed and did some turning these last 2 weekends. I turned a baby rattle from holly for a family friend. Delivered it yesterday, and it went down a storm. It’s always a treat to me seeing folk examine the rattles looking for the join where the rings were added. Finish is organic beeswax. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA I have also turned a tooth fairy bell from a lump of very spalted and very punky beech. I think it turned out very well. Finish is spray lacquer OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Hopefully this will be a regular thing now most of the work in the house i ..read more

Yes, another year all but gone. I’m not sure anyone still reads my drivel, there is so little of it these days. I have done no turning, and very little making. It has been a very busy year for me. My daughter was married, I renovated the main bedroom, had to do some significant welding on both cars to pass their respective MOT tests, and repair/refit a badly installed loft ladder. The ladder may on the surface appear insignificant, and the actual repair was. Lifting the loft flooring and undoing the poor structural work however was not. I will never understand how supposed trades people can ri ..read more

Yet another Happy Og Maidne to my follower(s) with no real content to show. I simply have not done much in the way of turning. A couple of quaichs, a few trinkets, and a single pen. Nothing noteworthy. I have insulated and lined my workshop roof, and fitted new LED lights, built a desk from upcycled material, and made a charcuterie board for a family member. Mostly though, my efforts have been concentrated on home renovations. New double-glazed window and walk-in sliderobes for the main bedroom. We also had a new roof, which curtailed other activities. I am still working from home, and still p ..read more

It seems hard to believe it has been over a year since I last posted anything here. It has been a strange time, with this virus changing everything we do. We (our family) have managed to survive without so much as a high temperature. I have been lucky, in as much I have worked from home since the very start. Our kids have worked right through, so we are extremely grateful they have remained plague free. Now fully vaccinated, and with the lifting of restrictions coming closer, it is only a matter of time before I have to return to my office. C’est la vie. I have been watching people in similar ..read more

I have been working from home since mid-March. My employer very generously extended the Easter weekend by an extra 2 days, so the garden has been getting a tidy. Out walking with the dog, I found a discarded shotgun cartridge. The plastic got cut away and I turned a piece of oak from the firewood pile to attach to the end. Not much of a turning, but I have so many other things going on I have had little time for turning since I moved here. It was OK for a piece of firewood. Just polished up with friction polish. Our firewood comes in crates made from pallet wood. I’m not sure what the species ..read more

I really needed to tidy my shed. It has been used mainly for cutting timber (and mdf) for the house, so rubbish has accumulated on the floor, and I didn’t tidy it away. The garden incinerator has been busy, mainly because I wouldn’t put that muck anywhere near the log stove. My lathe bed was covered in surface rust, due to the high moisture content in the metal shed. First off, was a going over with the random orbit sander to polish the rust off, followed by a coat of paste wax. The lathe bed got a coat of wax at the end of the Summer however, so I’m not holding my breath. I now have a dehum ..read more

This renovation malarkey is taking time. Between working full time and living in it, it’s not easy to get a run at stuff. We now have the front room finished though, finally. Most imprtant, the stove looks great. I need to get the tripod out and level the camera to take the photo properly. It all looks off-level. The hearth looks like it’s got a curve in it too, which must be something to do with the lens. All in all I’m happy though. Another job completed ..read more