Woodturning Baby Rattle with 3 Captive Rings

Well after my first attempts at woodturning i went to a demonstration at Joe Lairds Woodturnings (www.joelairdwoodturning.com) where he was demonstrating making baby rattles.

So when i got a chance to make one and having 2 children both under 2 years of age i jumped at it. I started by getting some 6 x 2 x 2 beech which is a safe wood for baby rattles as well as most fruit woods, stay away from exotic woods if you plan on making children's toys.

My New Lathe Axminster AWVSL1000

Well after ordering my new lathe early January it finally arrived last week. the package i got comprised of the Axminster AWVSL 1000 as well as an Axminster Clubman K10 Woodturning Chuck & Accessories

Irish Woodturners Guild Craobh Cuig Deag

Well last night i attended my first monthly meeting of the Irish Woodturners Guild (http://www.irishwoodturnersguild.com)

at the Blanchardstown Chapter (http://craobhcuigdeag.org/)

To be honest i didn't have a clue what to expect, sure i haven't even got a lathe yet to do any wood turning! But i have one ordered and hopefully it will be arriving shortly. :D I'll do another post on that when i get it.

Anyway, i arrived for half 7 to a room already packed with beginners and experienced wood turners

My Hand Planes

Since i started out woodworking not too long ago i always wondered why every workshop you see has a load of hand planes in it. Well the answer to me is.... It's addictive buying them!!! Not new... but 2nd hand!! the first pieces of hardwood i bought were Rough cut Walnut 4ft boards, one was 7inches by 2 inches and the other was 6 inches by 1 inch. there was a horrible bow in the 7 inch board so i said that no about of sanding would get that down so i purchased my first plane. I bought this one new... A Stanley 102 block plane.

Jewellery Box

For my next project i decided to try something i had seen on www.thewoodwhisperer.com, this website is excellent and i strongly advise taking a look. loads of video's and good reading here.

I am limited with the told i have compared with thewoodwhisperer but decided to give it my best shot and created this which is a variation of the one on the site.

I started by purchasing some walnut for this project, bought it from Strahans in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin. I bought 2 4 foot lengths in both 1 x 6 and 2 x 6 i wanted enough so i had some more walnut to mess around with after this project. Good thing i did cause i botched the first effort, i was still learning the basics of the tools i had so it didn't upset me too much.

Third Project (Shelves for Baby Room)

For my third project i decided to start scaling up a bit. I was now quite comfortable using the scroll saw so i tried to incorporate still using it into a bigger project so i came up with the idea of a 4 shelf unit for my sons room. I decided on a unit that had the letters A, B and C on each side.

My second Project (Scrollsaw Name)

Well after my first project of the scroll saw horse shoe i decided to tackle something similar. I have a 1 year old son and back when i made this we had put him into his own room so i decided to tackle another simple project and that was a scroll saw cutout of his name "Dean".