More Turning

A Few more examples of my wood turning efforts, below are three mushrooms, the two outer ones are from scrap pieces of Leylandii, the left one unfinished and the right one polished on the lathe with friction polish. The middle one is from a small branch of Yew which I 'finished' with a wipe of linseed oil. Personally I don't like that one, but She who must be obeyed does and that is all that matters

Below are a bowl made from Black Walnut, and a bud vase from Banksia Nut. The Walnut Bowl is about three inches across.

This is what a Banksia Nut looks like before being attacked on a Wood Lathe. It is from a tree grown in Australia. For scale purposes, the nut is around 7 to 9 inches long. Not easy to turn but worth the effort. Well I think so anyway
Oh and just as a matter of interest, the previous posts of the Texaco Copenhagen, came about because I found the offending photographs on some web site, but the site wouldn't allow be to copy the piccies! It would however allow me to post it directly into this blog. Strange really but they are very good pics, If you look closely at the ones of the blunt end, you can make out quite a few people, which gives a real idea of the scale. She has been scrapped now, but she was approx one fifth of a mile long and needed about 70 feet of water to float (when loaded of course)

NEC Classic Motor Show

Had a good day out on Saturday last with my good friend Jack, Visited the Classic show at NEC Birmingham, apparently in previous years this show was dedicated to cars, but pleasingly this year they included a couple of halls of classic Bikes.

This is a 1920s Norton, I'm not sure what model it is, I think it is a model 18 or 19. Feel free to tell me.

A lovely little 2 stroke Coventry Eagle, I have a photograph somewhere of my Mother sat on one of these when she was a young Lass!

A Wooler. Quite a rare thing, John Wooler made prototype motor bikes from 1911 through to the 1950s among them were some very interesting configurations of beam engines and shaft drives, they all had the tank and headlamp moulded into the sort of shape shown above, which gave the whole genre the nick-name "Flying Bananas"

A 1930s Scott. 600cc 2 stroke watercooled twin. Sometimes referred to as a "Yowler" because of the distinctive exhaust noise.

This is a Triumph "Junior" Poor photo, sorry.

Norton Dominator 99 in a featherbed frame. Pure Dream.

An Early HRD which of course became Vincent. A 1000cc V-Twin, amazing piece of engineering.

This is the MUCH later version of the HRD above, with a Vincent Black Shadow engine in a Egli frame. I could sell my Granny for one of those.

There were quite a few cars at the show, I will put a few interesting one on this organ shortly.

Sawley Abbey

For years, riding one or other of the motorbikes towards the countryside to the north of Jones Towers, I have ridden past Sawley Abbey. Only recently did I manage to stop and walk around the place. Well worth a few minutes of your time if you are anywhere near the Clitheroe area. It is signposted off the A59 just to the East of Clitheroe.

A nice view of Pendle Hill taken 'contra-jour' with part of the Abbey silhouetted against the autumn sky

She who must be obeyed stood by what used to be the monks Lavvies

Apparently a Cistercian Abbey founded in 1147 or 1148 on the banks of the River Ribble, by William Percy II. Although the old Monks found the place rather inhospitable and the weather inclement, they were there until 1536 when Henry VIII pulled the plug.

As I said if you are anywhere near it is worth a visit and it is FREE! Other than that google it.

Look at the Tits on this

Just had to post this one!!