I guess that most of us have more than one hobby or interest in life, and apart from vintage radio and hombrew, my main intest for some years now has been woodturning. In part, I turned to woodturning as a practical hobby, having become disenchanted with amateur radio, the ethos of which had changed from a technical, experimental and constructional hobby into little more than 'posh CB' using out of the box plug 'n play push to talk equipment.
My interest was always in construction, and over the 37 years that I've been licensed, that has waned to negligible proportions, though interest in QRP construction does linger on. I'm not knocking amateur radio - it gives pleasure to many thousands - it's just not for me any more. Though there are more than twenty radio amateurs in my village, I only know of two, and they're non-technical.
Conversely, there is an active woodturning club in my village, of which I'm secretary. We have a competition each month - on alternate months judged by the members (we have an average turnout of 55), and on the intervening months, judged by a panel of judges, of whom I'm one. We also have a professional demonstrator each month, all of whom are members of the Register of Professional Turners.
What I like about woodturning is the striving for perfection and pride in the work, something instilled in me in my six yeare apprenticeship with what was then the 'Gas Board'.
In my view, there are two meanings to the word 'amateur'. Firstly, a novice who isn't up to professional standard, and secondly, someone who engages in an activity for pleasure - not for financial gain, but turns out work of a very high standard, and that is what I and other woodturners strive to achieve. Amateurs woodturners have one advantage over professionals - time is not of the essence - you can take as long as you wish, and if the end result is not up to scratch, it's still useful as firewood!
I've attached a few pics of some of the things I've made, none of which would be a competition winner, but were to the best standard that I could attain at the time. Theres' a chain that I carved from a solid length of sycamore, 2"" square and about 24" long. Each link was carved, then the cage at the end was carved, and thecaptive ball inside the cage was carved from the scrap between the four pillars.
There are a few little bowls I've turned, mostly from 6" square x 3" thick blanks. The first is in Indian roesewood, the second Lomndon plane, and the last one is sycamore. The little vase was turned from laburnum from a neighbours garden. (It's about 5" tall). Recently, I've been trying to perfect the turning of a cube within a cube, within a cube, and have attached a pic of one I've made from a 55mm cube of wood. Tricky!
I hope they're of interest.
David
My interest was always in construction, and over the 37 years that I've been licensed, that has waned to negligible proportions, though interest in QRP construction does linger on. I'm not knocking amateur radio - it gives pleasure to many thousands - it's just not for me any more. Though there are more than twenty radio amateurs in my village, I only know of two, and they're non-technical.
Conversely, there is an active woodturning club in my village, of which I'm secretary. We have a competition each month - on alternate months judged by the members (we have an average turnout of 55), and on the intervening months, judged by a panel of judges, of whom I'm one. We also have a professional demonstrator each month, all of whom are members of the Register of Professional Turners.
What I like about woodturning is the striving for perfection and pride in the work, something instilled in me in my six yeare apprenticeship with what was then the 'Gas Board'.
In my view, there are two meanings to the word 'amateur'. Firstly, a novice who isn't up to professional standard, and secondly, someone who engages in an activity for pleasure - not for financial gain, but turns out work of a very high standard, and that is what I and other woodturners strive to achieve. Amateurs woodturners have one advantage over professionals - time is not of the essence - you can take as long as you wish, and if the end result is not up to scratch, it's still useful as firewood!
I've attached a few pics of some of the things I've made, none of which would be a competition winner, but were to the best standard that I could attain at the time. Theres' a chain that I carved from a solid length of sycamore, 2"" square and about 24" long. Each link was carved, then the cage at the end was carved, and thecaptive ball inside the cage was carved from the scrap between the four pillars.
There are a few little bowls I've turned, mostly from 6" square x 3" thick blanks. The first is in Indian roesewood, the second Lomndon plane, and the last one is sycamore. The little vase was turned from laburnum from a neighbours garden. (It's about 5" tall). Recently, I've been trying to perfect the turning of a cube within a cube, within a cube, and have attached a pic of one I've made from a 55mm cube of wood. Tricky!
I hope they're of interest.
David
!
.. my woodwork skills have only managed an electric guitar.. some shelves.. a massive PA system (everything.. speaker boxes.. racks.. cable cases etc) and repairing the frame of my bed.. competent, but nothing like the beauty of your creations.
