Waste not, want not.

The workshop is generally pretty full of wood these days, which is useful and fine when the pieces are sufficiently 'big' to make serious stuff from, but lately I've collected piles of offcuts. I've resisted putting them in the woodburner box, but something needs to be done if I'm not to disappear under a mountain of the stuff.

I've long thought I ought to have a crack at turning lidded boxes. Not sure why I've avoided the challenge for so long, but the time was right to have a go, and a piece of Utile left over from a client project last year seemed the optimum place to start. It's a lovely wood to turn - a modern alternative to the much less sustainable mahogany (which I saw in situ for the first time in Mauritius a couple of years ago, and really is a beautiful, long-lived if slow-growing tree). Utile is rather more acceptable as a wood for turners, with a similar colour and grain texture.

Cracking on, I managed to turn a sweet little lidded box and create a glossy finish quite easily and quickly - not bad for a first attempt.

I'm not sure what these things are useful for, but this one was passed on to the boss here as a late birthday present, and I'm sure I'll soon discover one of its many applications if I just keep an eye on the dressing table.

Emboldened by the relative success of my first attempt, this morning I found a small part-turned apple branch, chopped in 2018 and seasoned in the shed until last December, when I prepped it and used a part for a 'wonky christmas tree' (wonkiness will undoubtedly feature in a future blog). This small piece had been lying around in the offcuts box since then, but looked perfect for another box attempt.

I particularly like the effect created by retaining the small element of bark, to add a bit more interest to this one. Also, chamfering the bottom 'edge' of the box ensured a smoother finish than on yesterday's Utile version.

The boxes provided the first opportunity I've had to make use of my new branding iron for logo application. The smell of charring wood isn't always a good thing in the workshop, but it does the job and is better than having to persuade my pyrographer-in-residence to create the logo manually on every piece.