Poppies, a making Story

[Bryan Milham]

I was asked by a friend if I could make 100 poppies for the RBL branch he's a member of. I turned up a dozen and gave them to him as a sample to show around before committing him (and me) to any great expense, they said 'Go Ahead'.

I had some difficulty getting enough sycamore but eventually found someone with a felled tree who would sell me 3 slices 2½" thick. These I cut down into the widths I needed and have started cutting then into blanks.

[Bryan Milham]

Next, working as batch production I started turning the backs, and then the fronts.

The tenon on the front is cunningly disguised as (what will be) the black button in the centre of the poppy.

[Bryan Milham]

Turning finished I had to remove bits to shape the petals,
I made a Jewellers saw bench and clamped it to my bandsaw, so i could work in the natural light.

[Bryan Milham]

Sanding, smoothing off the sawn edges and finalising the shape of each petal.

I made a jig to speed this up but it still took several hours to do all 48 of them.

They ended up looking like this.

[Bryan Milham]

Colouring.
Here they are with the red stain applied.
Tomorrow I'll stain the central button and a coat of oil.

[bodrighywood]

I admire your patience Bryan.  As ex services I am sure this job meant a lot to you.

Pete

[Les Symonds]

What an excellent project. Well done Bryan for seeing it through....do you have any idea of the total number of hours dedicated to this?
Les

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Well done Bryan.

[Misa]

Fabulous work. I hope you (and us) get photos of the installation.

[Derek]

Nice job Bryan, I am sure they will be very pleased. Do you have any idea what they are going to do with them.

 I made one back in 2013 but with no colour and donated that one to the RBl

[Bryan Milham]

So here are 40 of the final poppies.

I've already started the next batch, 40 more blanks cut and corners removed, ready to start the backs tomorrow.

[Bryan Milham]

Thank you for the reply's so far, to answer some of the questions:

Pete,

yes you're right. Help for Hero's has rather taken the front seat in recent years but the Haig Fund (poppies) run by the RBL is still the main and my preferred military charity.

Les,

Not really timed myself making hem, if I had to hazard a reasonable summing up, those 40 took me about 10 - 12 hours over 4 days. Only 2 days on the Lathe, 2+ hours cutting the blanks from the planks and once turned there was all the sanding/shaping and staining/oiling.

Misa, Derek,

I'll ask my friend if he can get me a couple of photos, but I know that they are to be sold off afterwards in aid of the charity.

[Bryan Milham]

Thought I'd add one more photo.

This job is basically bowl turning and as with all bowl work there is a lot of shavings made and in need of disposal.

This is some of them, bagged up and under guard by Charlie & Georgie, who find them very comfortable.

As you can imagine, curly wool coats attract the shavings and they wind up all over the house, of course, it's all my fault! 

[John Plater]

Coming a bit late to this one but what a brilliant idea. Power to your elbow ! There is a great piece of production turning with real meaning.
ATB John

[hughie]

wow impressive venture, But its coming along really well, well done.