Repairs and a Project

I have been doing repairs for 10,000 Villages for a couple of years and usually the repair/ is a box. However this week I got to repair a didgeridoo. The repair was not difficult but how many of you have repaired a didgeridoo?

bamboo didgeridoo about 3.5 feet long.

The didgeridoo was cracked, which I filled and stained to match
the original finish. The repair is not invisible, but pretty close.

 The next repair  was necessary because my original design wasn't very good.

  I turned this small bowl last winter and have been using it with my shaving soap. Since the bowl is half cedar, half pine it has done will with the wet/dry cycle of its life. The design flaw is I put a foam bottom on it. 

  The bowl sits on the bathroom counter and its bottom stays spongy and wet for too long.

  Having a wood working shop means that I have the tool for every eventuality. A Dremel tool and a dura-grit rotary burr were used to clean out the base of the bowl making it convex. I finished with a some small diamond grit points  to smooth things out.

  Finally I drilled nine 1/8 inch holes and drove pieces of dowel into the holes. The bottom of this shaving bowl now stands on nine 1/8 feet so that it will dry out when sitting on the counter.

  Repairs are always a funny thing. Many people would just throw this out, after all there are no shortage of small bowls in a house with a wood lathe in the basement.  I also have it on my 'to do' list to make a lid for this bowl. I like to keep things working rather than just toss them out. 

  Last week I made a pattern, today I made a trivet. In the fall our church has a bazaar to raise money for projects and there is a table of wood working stuff. I can but this trivet on the table and the church can charge what ever it wants. It is a good idea to have an outlet for your projects. It is nice to make things and see them put to use.

  A teapot will fit nicely on this leaf engraved into a spruce board. Once again I used my Dremel with various fine point tools. A variable speed Dremel is nearly indispensable for wood craft projects. 

  

 Cheers, ianw