I was 98.5% done with the turning when I caught the tool on the edge of the bowl and ripped the bottom segment off, as you can see. I haven’t done it yet but will add another piece of beech and finish it soon.

Some of his work.

More of his work.

Some of our crafts on display in a local coffee shop in Phnom Penh.

A closet full of woven rugs for sale. Some make it back here to the states and the proceeds go back to the mission.

One of the ladies, Touen, preparing some of the scrap pieces for weaving into rugs. Her young daughter is in the hammock next to her.

This is a pic of the makers of a very typical woodworking tool in Cambodia/Vietnam. Very few woodworking shops do not have one of these of one size or another. I call it a multi-tool. A single 3-5 HP 220V motor runs to a single shaft that drives a table saw blade at one end, an over-and-under jointer and thickness planer, and at the other end, a drill chuck and positioning table for mortising. Although crude, it works fairly well. Not so accurate but very practical. None of the safety bells and whistles with this either. I’ve nicknamed this one “Big Blue”. It was delivered to our shop next day.

With the jointer table hinged up, you can see the drive rollers and main spindle of Big Blue.

The ladies are putting together the comb assembly after we remade the comb frames in the wood shop. They were all cracked nearly the length of the comb.

The ladies that work at the orphanage are not always so exuberant about their mushrooms. They have just started growing mushrooms for profit and they were showing us what they looked like at harvest. They are selling them to locals in the market and it looks like it will turn a modest profit back to the mission. They tasted pretty good as we had them with our lunches several times.

Some of the kids at the orphanage.

The mission project includes an AIDS hospice called “Garden of Peace” where families dealing with AIDS infection can live together in their last days. Availability of meds thru the Gates Foundation are having a positive affect. Nearby is the orphanage called the “Garden of Joy”. The community center and parsonage is separate from this in the next village (2 miles away). This is where the vocational center is too.

Attaching some pics for those interested. We are also looking for volunteers that could go over there and work a project with them, a furniture piece with drawers and doors. If interested, let me know. Otherwise enjoy. Questions welcome. More photos to follow in future blog entries.

These are some of the small crafts they have done.

A simple table. This was our first. Several of these and other tables were made for a local orphanage in the next village.

They are getting better at bandsaw boxes and they have some really nice wood to use. This is an earlier, simpler box.

Spatulas. One of the first lathe/bandsaw projects we had them do. They have gotten pretty good.

Initially, since we don’t have electricity to the site, we considered treadle-powered equipment. Since they anticipated power at some point, I attempted to convert to treadle power some typical powered tools such as this small Jet lathe. While it did work, it was difficult and required a lot of maintenance. After a short while we converted back to electrical and used a gas/diesel generator, which also provided power to the office, parsonage, and the community center on site. This was the lathe in my shop before disassembly and taking to Cambodia on our first trip.

View of the new shop.

Lumber shop home delivery.