A fruity legacy.

It’s long been my aim to turn ‘fruit’. When I took up woodturning, some years ago now, I looked at the apples and pears I’d acquired over the years, sat in a ‘live edge’ walnut bowl on our coffee table, and thought ‘that looks easy’. But I’d never got round to turning such items myself.

Having investigated a bit more in the autumn, of course I realised I’d need to invest (yet more) ££ in turning equipment. New jaws for my chucks, buffing wheels & finishing waxes and other little bits & bobs. In addition, I decided to book myself onto a 121 day course with Colwin Way - I’d been retaught to turn by Colwin down in Axminster back in early 2019 - & so Jen & I booked ourselves a stay in the town in late January, & whilst she went fossil-hunting on the Jurassic Coastline (in a storm), I spent a very happy & fulfilling day re-learning techniques AND turning fruit.

Fast forward a month or so, and with the relevant upgrades to the workshop procured & installed, it was time to turn.

It’s a relatively involved, if quite straightforward process to turn ‘fruit’ from timber. First stage is to mount the block and turn the shape, finishing with sanding sealer. Then the piece is taken out of the centres and remounted in a ‘jam chuck’ (I bought myself some soft jaws from a maker in Cumbria) to turn the bottom & top of the piece.

It’s then time to turn the ‘stalks’ from a different timber, finishing them with a slant on the sanding wheel, & then to buff & polish with various compounds & carnuba wax to achieve a high-gloss & lasting finish. Finally fit the stalks and a clove into the base, & the job’s done.

One of the reasons I’ve been so keen to turn these items is nostalgic - we have various pieces of timber retained from tree work at the cottage, & it seemed a great idea to turn ‘fruit’ from this timber as a nod to its history.

So for starters, three apples 🍎, two from a branch of our 700+ year old Yew Tree, finished with Bubinga stalks, and another from (appropriately) a lump of pruned apple tree, finished with a walnut stem.

Another reason I wanted to turn fruit is because daughter #2 asked me for some, to fill a bowl she’s been given. First three ✅.