I’ve been combing Pinterest for ideas on things to turn on my lathe, and I came across the Scottish Spurtle. A turned rod used for stirring porridge and stews, a spurtle is special because it doesn’t gather a wad of foodstuff like the bowl of a spoon. I really liked that some of the designs mimicked the Scottish Thistle for the handle. I made this spurtle from apple wood from my Dad’s wood pile, sanded it down to 400 grit, then painted a small apple on the end of the handle (not only to mark the handle end, but to identify the wood). I finished it with many coats of tung oil, since it is a food safe finish.

I love the beautiful grain on this spurtle. I have to disclose that this is aged apple wood. It has sat in my garage for years, and sat in my Dad’s wood shed for years before that.

I picked up an early present from my husband, as he ordered his early present for delivery. We’ve been married awhile. The wood turning book I’m reading recommends getting high quality hardened stainless steel tools, so I figure I will start collecting. Pictured below are a roughing gouge, a square edge scraper, and a bowl gouge. Let the wood chips fly!

My lathe is up and running! My husband got a new hammer drill to make the drop-in anchor holes in the concrete slab, and bolted down the lathe in the garage so it can be used. Joy! Now I have to relearn how to use it. The first two attempts were very frustrating, and resulted in two broken spindles. After consulting the schematics, it turns out my tool rest support was upside down (cue forehead slap), which meant the tool rest couldn’t get close to the surface, which increased the chatter and force applied to the wood as it spun. That fixed, I was able to turn an OK spindle, but the proportions were not to my liking. I had made the neck thicker to help avoid breakage there, but made the head wider as well, which made it hard to flick into motion. Attempt four proved again disastrous and the spindle broke on the lathe. Well, I had the tension too tight with the center supports and put undue pressure on the wood. Attempt five went better. My chisels could rest close to the work, the wood was balanced better in the supports, and I switched to sand paper when I started getting nervous about the diameter of the neck. I am not comfortable parting the work on the lathe, so cut the support ends off with the spindle off the machine and finished the tips on my band sander. I used my favorite spindle as a guide, but need to work on my precision as my finished dimensions were not the same (honestly I eye-balled it, I do have rulers and gauges to make the process of reproduction consistent).

I’m very excited to be back to wood work!