Gonks

 Over a week since my last posting,  Where does the time go?

The "In" thing at the moment amongst wood-turners appears to be the Gonk !  I had never heard of such things until very recently, however they appear to be popular, and they are sort of cute...

The Photograph shows a pair of them sat on my mantleshelf.  I think they are Father and Son although, frighteningly, they bear a certain resemblance to me.  I think it's the grey beards and the red noses.  

Most turners seem to make these in four pieces !!! They make the body, then the hat, then the bobble on top of the hat and finally the nose (not including the faux fur at this stage)  I simply make the body hat and bobble out on one piece of wood, turn a small nose, glue on the beard then glue in the nose.  Simples...

I suppose if you really wanted the body and the hat in different wood species then fine, but at the end of the day they are just a whimsical little novelty,  hardly an heirloom type ornament. Each to their own.

Apart from that I haven't done much.  A bit of work for the Wood turning club,  have I mentioned we have a web site - www.pendlewoodturners.co.uk  -   there is a GIF (whatever that is?) on the front page of me making a few shavings fly off a piece of wood.

You can also find pics on Instagram  look for howardjones641.

Back soon

Winter Chill

 Thursday 20th Jan, and the Temperature has dropped quite dramatically,  still we are at least more than halfway through January so artound six weeks from now we will be in March.  I always think that by the time March starts the cold weather is behind us and we can look forward to lighter nights and the onset of Spring.

I was reminded last night that two or so posts back I used the phrase "Pics to follow" and I have consequently upset my loyal fans (Both of them) that I didn't follow up with the promised pics...  I had made some wooden sheep:-

So here they are.

Last night I was at a meeting of Pendle Woodturners and Carvers, in Burnley.  One of our older (Or should I say longer serving) members did a superb demonstration on making pens.  Most of us wood turners make pens from time to time, but I always find it interesting to see another turner at work and glean some information re his methods.  The member in question actually used the Lathe to press the component parts of the pen together.  I have always used a small bench vice. The problem using a vice is actually lining up the parts in perfect line.  The Lathe does that naturally.  The next pens I make will be assembled as Bill the demonstrator did his.

If you are interested look at www.pendlewoodturners.co.uk

I have made pens in the past.

It is quite a satisfying part of turning, as even doing a one-off, a finished article can come off the Lathe in about 30 or 40 minutes.

Now I haven't forgotten that I also said a Pic would follow of a Hazel Bud vase I made, unfortunately that bud vase formed a nasty split a couple of days after I brought it into the house.  I am now waiting for it to settle down to decide whether to try and fill the crack or just put it into the firwood basket...We shall see.

I hope both my loyal followers will return to find the ultimate fate of Hazel bud vase.  To be continued....

Chess

 It is just coming up to 12 months since I started playing Chess again.  A long time without playing as Lynne and the Girls had no interest or aptitude for the game.  I would occasionally work through the games published in the Saturday issue of the Daily Telegraph, apart from that it must be 30+ years since I had a game.

Last Christmas at Helen's house, I was challenged to a game by Daniel (middle Grandson) I won!  Big bully thrashing an 8 year old !  Shortly after that Andrew and I started playing regularly on Chess dot com. I think the current tally is 17 games to 16 in Andrew's favour.  I am really enjoying the mental challenge so much I have 'joined' said web site, so I can now play about 20 puzzles a dayand watch alsorts of instructional videos and live games.

Linked in with the wood turning, on the Folksy site I spotted a seller was turning basic bottle shapes and mounting a bottle opener in the base. In a rare flash of inspiration I thought of making Chess pieces with an opener in the base.  There are 3 on Folksy at present, I haven't sold any yet but I was a bit late for the Christmas shopping period. I live in hope.

Here are some Pictures

These are all on Folksy.com at present.   https://folksy.com/shops/HowardJonesWoodBits

 Beech

Black Walnut

 Mahogany

Happy New Year

 With the "Festive" season behind us we can get on with our lives again...or we could if it wasn't for the corona virus.  Spent the last couple of days hiding away in my shed.  Last Thursday, I went for a Birthday tea with No 1 daughter, one of her college friends and all the children.  Saturday I was informed that said college friend (or her Daughter) had tested positive.  

The doubt lies in the administration of the tests, it wasn't clear which of the two had tested positive.  I haven't got any testing kits, so I am going nowhere for a few days, just in case.

So the shed beckons.  Yesterday I made three wooden sheep,  a photo will follow in a day or so when I get round to putting the pics on the PC.  Made a bud vase out of a very weirdly shaped piece of Hawthorn, again pic to follow.  Plus other little sorting out jobs.

Last night I ended up binge watching series 2 of "The Bay"  a police drama set in Morecambe.  I have been meaning to watch it for ages and as series three starts in a few days I thought I would catch up.

Today is frosty but dry.  December is now on record as being the greyest month on record.  the average in the UK was 27 hours of sunshine for the whole month

Just a pic of some Penguins I made last year.  

Back soon with more pics.