Handy Woodcrafts website is live!

Well thats it we are now live at http://www.handywoodcrafts.co.uk/ Big thank you to my lovely wife Donna who has made this possible. We still have a few things to do like add pictures and some basic info. We will be adding products as and when they are made so keep an eye out for something that may catch your eye.

Please pop along and have a look and tell us what you think any feedback will be appreciated and will help us find any mistakes that we may have missed.

Thanks
Drew

Dopes R US

I have been MIA for the past 2 weeks on hand made Monday "coughs" Sunday evening thru Tuesday lunch...... Sorry Wendy couldn't resist. So anyway A few weeks ago I suggested to Wendy that "to grow your own Dope you needed to plant a man" but alas there are apparently enough Dope addicts (women) who have some Dope already at home. Anyway if you want a sign that has nothing to do with dopes 1stuniquegifts is as good place to go, actually come to think about it MUMS the word right now. Anyway pop past say hi and have a read at all the different blogs posted. (Click on MUMS above to visit)

Thou shalt forever more be known as the....

Ok so are we wondering why I have a sign depicting a loo that quite blatantly says reading room posted above? Well thanks to Wendy I won it and I feel it's a rather fitting sign as any self respecting Dope will testify its the one room in the house where you get total peace and quiet lol.

When you break something don't bin it!

Remember a few weeks ago I said I wasn't going to show you my botched attempt at turning that weekend?  Well I decided against that and am going to show you how when we turners break something sometimes it doesn't go into the bin it sits on a shelf till you decide to fix it.






This classic example of a bit of beech that was so full of shakes (little cracks) just didn't want to play ball and this is how it ended up. If you look at the bottom it's all nice with lots of different circles on it well that was supposed to be the diameter of the whole thing but when I started turning the sides it just would not do what I wanted it to do. So this is the end result a platter with a bowl growing out of it.

OK so we have had the do as the wood tells you example above now lets move on to the omg I went to thin and my bowl is broken scenario.

Now what I hope you see above is a beautiful bowl with a lovely contrasting base? But in reality what you see is a bowl that is totally the wrong way round and was destined to be a pot pourri dish. How? I hear you ask. Simple really the top just now was the base but the clever Dope here when hollowing it through the bit that is now covered with the clever contrasting bit of timber went to thin with the chisel and effectively it was broken. Now at this point you can do two things 1 - scream like a raving lunatic and bin it putting it down to experience or 2 - put it on a shelf along with some other "deliberate mistakes" and come back to it at a later date.

Imagine this without the red wood, that's how it should have looked like.Anyway two deliberate mistakes later we have a bowl "ooh wait its upside down now". The cocobolo (red timber) was actually a lid I made for a box in the past but the box exploded on the lathe so I was left with a lid on the mistakes shelf. OK to cut the story short the lid fitted the hole and we now have something that could have ended up in a bin.

And the moral of this story is......... yes you guessed it I made a pot pourri bowl with the lid I saved from my deliberate mistake.

Didn't see that coming did you?

Well enough of my tom foolery.

I hope you enjoyed reading and remember to keep an eye out soon for the release of our own website you can bookmark the holding page just now and we will let you know when it goes live. http://www.handywoodcrafts.co.uk/

Until our paths cross again I bid you adieu.

Week Four Handmade Monday.

Where does the time go to? Well week #4 over at >>Wendy's blog <<so go along have a read and enjoy looking at everyones blogs that are taking part


I have been a right lazy bugger this week. I did go and get my towbar fitted - now I just need to find an auto electrician to help me wire it up. I also went and picked up the trailer and will have to get round to giving it a facelift as it's an old trailer tent with the gubbings ripped out.

We also had 2 nights taken up with a course at the Business Gateway here and were given a years subscription to a Mr Site package so we hope to be up and running soon with our very own site.

Anyway, this is me and as it was the face behind the facebook page this week I will use the same photo here to give you all a laugh. I deliberately waited until I had been in the shed and doing some dusty work to look my absolute best for a photo. I also took the time not to shave.

Anyway the results of my getting covered in sawdust for this photo are more display and storage ideas so without further ado..............

What, a shelf? I hear you say?

Yes it's a shelf - one that hangs on a wall and not lying on the floor like above. It's basically for those that have no desk space left but lots of wall space.

Handy having kids sometimes!

Well here it is against a wall. The hand belongs to my daughter but I could supply a few rawl plugs and some screws to hold it up as I'm sure she would take offence at me selling her to hold it up for you.

So that was Saturday and I'm not showing my botched turning I did lol.

Sunday.......and this was the end result.



Plier rack.



Ooh my what a lot of pliers you have!

So what is it? Well thats a set of pliers so I assume that's what it's meant for but I added a little extra and put a rail that can be used for storing reels of wire etc.



You broke it!



Chopping board is an optional extra.



The overall design should hold between 10 and 15 pliers depending on how much of a plier addict you are and the removable reel rod with, may I add, hand turned knobs seems to work really well.

Well, there you have it. My week, eventful and finally a crafty weekend but I do have something to show for the week I suppose.

I also wanted to show this off as we make hand painted signs or routered signs

See you again next week!

Drew