Brass Monkeys

The first 15 minutes when I get to the workshop at this time of year are not warm!  The next 15 or so are not much warmer but when i've got my overalls on, a cup of coffee and the radio is fired up with Lauren Laverne on 6 Music things start to improve a bit.

I've got a bit of a lull at the moment so I thought I'd get on with a bit of a fun project.  I am taking a service at my church on Feb12th (Oakhill Methodist Chapel) and I shall me looking at the ministry of Christian Surfers.  For the first part of the service I need something visual and interactive so I decide to make myself an Indo Board.  I found a big lump of oak and started trying to turn part of it into a 10" diameter 24" long cylinder, to make the roller. It was way too heavy for the lathe in its rough state, so I decided to make it as round as I could with my electric plane, see photo.  Even after making it good enough to roll on the floor it still flew off the lathe when I started it up!  No harm done, although I am not sure that my safety spec's would have made much difference had it hit me.

So for the rest of this week, i've got a 3 tier flower stand to make, a friend's bass guitar to re-solder, the indo board to finish, plus fix the planing machine which has shaken itself to pieces.  I can't say my work isn't varied!