If anyone remembers that batch of half-rotten spalted holly that I bought, they'll remember the splits, cracks and bark inclusions that it was riddled with. There were just a few pieces left over and they were destined for the log-burner, when I was asked to make 4 more Christmas tree baubles, one each for family members of the farmer on whose land the holly grew. Now, nobody in their right mind tries to turn spindles from wood like that, But I felt impelled to try (clearly not of the right mind, then, am I?).
The first two pieces went fairly well and needed a few minor adjustments to allow for splits. The next two pieces got dumped half-way through because they were just too awful to carry on. Then the fifth piece seemed to be going well and I was just roughing out the neck-end, when it started to wobble frantically. What I needed was something to hold the tail-stock end to stop it throwing about. To the rescue came a rubber door-stop that I'd bought this afternoon from a hardware shop when I'd been browsing around the shelves picking things that I had no immediate use for, belt felt might just come in handy one day.
Such a simple solution...perfect for the job!
Not one of the four baubles will win a prize....they were made just so that 'the kids' could each have something simple made out of that huge old holly tree.
