This is a rattle I turned for my step daughter, that also happens to look like a princess’ scepter (which is very fitting ;)). The whole thing is made from a single piece of wood, no glue or anything like that, I made captured rings for the rattle part. I’ve had some minor luck making rings just using a skew, but I decided to make some miniature “round nose scrapers” using some cheap hook-picks from Harbor Freight—worked like a charm! The heart on top started off as a turned apple-shape, then I cut, filed and sanded the sides down to get the heard shape.

In order to keep it non-toxic in case she decides to chew on it I used maple and mineral oil, nothing more, nothing less. I couldn’t find a large enough piece of pear or cherry to use for it, or even walnut, but this figured maple came out looking pretty good (in my humble opinion).

Fun project, highly recommended for anyone with a kid … or a lathe. ;)

I just got a lathe back in July (my very kind and very forgiving wife decided to give it to me for our 13th anniversary), and in order to practice every day I gave myself a simple project: make one wooden mushroom on the lathe every day, exploring the various skews, gouges and scrapers, play with eccentric turning, large pieces, small pieces, burning wire, etc. The project has kind of taken on a life of its own, and I’m currently up to 86 mushrooms! The smallest one, which you can see in the third picture, was actually put in an envelope with my step-son’s birthday card!

I’m using a variety of woods, from some rather green branches of apple-wood, maple and pine from a back-yard trimming to simple pine scraps, cedar, and a selection of exotic wood cut-offs I buy by the 10-pound box (purpleheart, mahogany, zebrawood, tigerwood, bloodwood, and a few others). This gives me a change to see how the tools react to different species.

I never aim for perfection with these—the natural world is hardly ever perfect. I try to go for something that catches and pleases or intrigues the eye.

Anyway, I said I’ll do this for one year, and that’s what I’m doing. 86 down, 269 to go!