Tuesday 2 April 2013

Turning


I took a photo of a charming little Staffordshire Bull-Terrier dressed up as an old Moroccan woman last night in the pub for you, but accidentally deleted it, so here is a picture of a piece of white, statuary marble which I am turning on my lathe right now. Please don't show it to any Health and Safety executives, as they would have a heart attack if they saw how dangerous my lathe is to operate.

It used to have a specially made grille to cover the belt-drive, but it fitted so badly that it rubbed against the pulley wheel, so I took it off. As a concession to compensate for this foolhardy act, I repositioned the off/on switch so I did not have to lean over the moving parts to switch it off. I still have to concentrate very hard not to get tangled up in it though, and this - coupled with concentrating on the job in hand - can be quite exhausting.

Progressing from the slate backing-plate forwards, you can see the remnants of two other turning jobs - one large one in Bath stone, and the smaller, darker one in Ham Hill stone. The anvil is at an extreme angle because with a stone as hard as marble, the initial vibrations cause the unsupported ends of it to flex, and that does not give a true circle. The further the anvil is away from the job, the more likely the chisel is to get caught downward and pulled out of your hands at about 100 MPH.

Bloody hell, the things we have to go through to make a few quid.

11 comments:

  1. I used to know a Moroccan woman who dressed up as a Bull Terrier; at least I presume that's why she looked like one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. CAREFUL!! I'd hate to have an important part of Tom turned to stone just because he got his on and off switches mixed up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wold have preferred to see the bull terrier x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hang on a minute - why am I being so understanding with you, when I ploughed my way through your post about cat-vomit, dog-snot and lathering animal's arses with some medication - all before breakfast - with mentioning that I would have rather have read about Auntie Gladys???!!!

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  4. Yes, the bull terrier, please. There's always today; I judge it's about 7 pm in Bath right now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like I said, the photo's gone forever. Yes - it is exactly 7.00 pm as I write this.

      Delete