Turning projects
"Is this your self-portrait?" asks me a friend who has discovered my just finished standing-up. I like the comparison: A serious turner - no matter whether professional or do-it-yourselfer - must not be thrown off the web. Even if several times have not led to the expected result, he has to stand upright in front of his lathe as quickly as possible, in order to finally master what you want.
By the way: The hairy splendid things of my standing up could be a little denser, but I want to use the few fur remains that I still own sparing: In my child days, there were several fur shops in almost every small town, where I could ask for fur residues for craft purposes. Nowadays, this craft seems to have almost completely disappeared.
And how does it actually order a standing man? Is this old children's toy also threatened with extinction? - Well, if you have a turning bank, you can do something about it: Turn a standing man today! They will have a lot of fun and their goal of becoming a "sturgeon" at the Drechselbank itself to come a good step closer.
Anyone who - like me - grew up as a well-protected only child wants to be well-protected when they get older. And: Anyone who - like me - was allowed to practice on their father's lathe as a child should at some point be able to turn a suitable hat for their head, which has long since become bald!
When I recently accompanied my wife to the grocery discounter near us, I discovered inexpensive cylindrical decorative glasses, approx. 120 mm in diameter and 200 mm high, on the display table. That would be half the battle for a wood turning project that I've had saved in my to-do app for a while! Grinning, I add this item to our shopping cart. My wife looks at me questioningly, but actually she knows I hate always to talk about "unlaid eggs."
The borrowed old spinning wheel sits on my workbench as a reference object. I looked at every detail carefully, measured it, sketched it and thought about what problems could arise when making the individual parts.
hiddenLINKMushroom-Puzzle
The mushroom puzzle was created based on a suggestion from 
David Springet's book "Woodturning Trickery". The ring-shaped closure works somewhat like the principle of child safety locks on the caps of bottles for household chemicals: the mushroom head can only be unscrewed if you press the freely movable stem and the ring together firmly and at the same time carry out a rotating movement.
A few years ago I found in a German DIY magazine a step-by-step guide to replicating an award-winning bowl made by an English wood turner, in which the base and rim were connected by a number of interestingly shaped columns with a bent axis of rotation.
Ohne Fleiß kein Preis
Ein „Zauberlehrling“ muss schon eine Weile üben, bevor er die Fingerfertigkeit besitzt, mit bloßen Händen vor den Augen seines staunenden Publikums eine Münze verschwinden zu lassen. Mit dem passenden gedrechselten Zaubergerät wird der Trick jedoch zum Kinderspiel. Allerdings: Wer nicht gerade ein Zauberer ist, muss auch das Drechseln erst tüchtig üben.
Die Verordnung über die Berufsausbildung zum Drechsler schreibt vor, dass der Auszubildende seine praktischen Kenntnisse außer durch die Anfertigung eines Gesellenstückes auch durch die Anfertigung einer Arbeitsprobe vor der Prüfungskommission nachweisen muß.
In einer kleinen Broschüre mit dem Titel "Die Arbeitsprobe" hat Diplomdesigner Prof. G. Böckelmann, Hildesheim, die Werkzeichnungen von interessanten kleinen Drechselobjekten zusammengefaßt, die in vergangenen Jahren von der Drechslerinnung Hannover zu den Gesellenprüfungen im Bundesland Niedersachsen verlangt wurden. Die freundliche Widmung "Gutes Gelingen", die mir Herr Prof. Böckelmann in mein Exemplar geschrieben hatte, war für mich Verpflichtung und Anreiz, all die faszinierenden Spielgaben, Geduldspiele und Gebrauchsgegenstände einmal übungshalber nachzuarbeiten.
1989/1990 - Wendezeit: Mal raus aus dem Hobbykeller! Endlich die neu gewonnene Reisefreiheit genießen! - Ja, aber mein Hobby ganz "an den Nagel zu hängen" , war für mich nie eine Option! Dann eher eine Flucht nach vorne! Nachdem ich mir einige Male den damals oft gehörten Satz: "Wir Ossis sind auch nicht dumm!" aufgesagt hatte, hatte ich damit wohl genügend Mut angesammet, um bei der Drechslerinnung Niedersachsen - In den neuen Bundesländern gab es zu diesem Zeitpunkt nicht mehr/noch nicht die entsprechenden Strukturen! - anzufragen, ob ich dort als externer Prüfling meine Drechslergesellenprüfeng ablegen darf!
Among the numerous practice pieces I made to prepare for my journeyman woodturner exam were the turned parts for a small toy kaleidoscope. It goes without saying that this work made me want to complement the individual parts with an appropriate interior.
I took the inspiration for my candlestick spider from the classic woodturner's books “Das Drechslerwerk” by Fritz Spannagel. I turned the middle part between the four-point and the center punch. Sharp tools and cutting techniques are required to avoid tearing out of the lime wood, which is otherwise very easy to turn. The underturn at the bottom, which is reminiscent of the hat of a mushroom, is a small challenge that visually enhances the otherwise simple workpiece.
By the way, I have my own theory about the invention of the Christmas hanging chandelier: I think a skilled hobby wood turner discovered after years of creative work that all the floor space and walls in the apartment were occupied by his exhibits. A look at the ceiling brought enlightenment in the truest sense of the word: this could have been the birth of the hanging chandelier!