Hi Allen. I'm on the hunt for new lathe. The one I have now is a 14 X 43 King Canada. Is there a brand that you recommend?

A little late to the party. Thats a good looking bowl. I live in SouthTexas and mesquite is as available as a loaf of bread is. I mill a lot of it into lumber.Mesquite is one of the most stable woods i have come across. The younger mesquite is a lighter pinkish red, the older the tree thedarker it gets. Old seasoned mesquite can be a very dark reddish brown. It's one that you can literally cut and machine/turn without fear of warping and checking like most species. Dont find mequite hard to turn at all though there is always exceptions. Its always going to have a stress crack no matter the size, you just have to work around it. Its often riddled with holes caused from ants and beetles which often enhances the beauty and perfect for epoxy work.

You just made it complicated

Hello Alan. Great video and nice pictures of your kaleidoscope. I have made a small one from a Woodcraft kit. I would like to see you elaborate on how to make one like you have in your video. Unless it is a copyright thing. Or a video explaining how to make one like you demonstrated. Great job. Thanks for sharing.

I have been looking at other videos and thinking there HAS to be an easier way that I like just as much. Your video is exactly what I wanted, makes much more sense to me to add the mouth piece and the base after the body is finished. I also like how you do the side decorative pieces. I am going to try your method - I have some beautiful walnut for the body and maple for the other two parts. Thank you for sharing. Cheers

Otherworldly Alan,top job👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😎😎😎😎😎😎

I must just have to try this, great idea. However, would a cone live centre do the same steadying job? Keep ‘em coming! Best wishes, Mike

Segmenting is fun. Very nice video Alan. Thank you for sharing

Absolutely outstanding images. A beautiful project. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and continue to remind us to be safe.🙂🙂

Cool project, thanks!!!

My wife took a similar class in Jerome a few years back. We stayed in a bed-and-breakfast just down the street from the kaleidoscope shop in Jerome. It was fun! But, our house has way too many kaleidoscopes! She hasn't made a side-window kaleidoscope, so I won't be making a similar 'side-window-kaleidoscope-enhancer' for her, nor will I be sharing your video with her.

Great idea, Alan. Bill

Good to see

Very helpfull!

Thanks heaps for your video. I have a Vicmarc chuck and will be using your concept for sure! I have not got a lot of spare cash for more jaws etc for 1 off projects so your video has saved me a lot of money.

What size bowl gouge in the roughing stage

That's neat, Alan. What would it look like if you used a spiral line to mark your offsets? Just wondering. Bill

Offset turning is alot of fun. Very pretty. Thank you for sharing Alan. See you next time

Saw a similar turning video by someone else a couple of years ago. No, I don't remember the name of the poster. He posted exactly how he made it with measurements. That made it very easy to copy. A fairly easy but satisfying project. My daughter collects Christmas trees so she liked it. And those who aren't turners can't usually figure out how you get it to bend. That's a bonus. It's always nice to try something new. Thanks Alan for posting this. I'd forgotten about making this. May have to re-visit it for this season.

Well done Alan. That's a pretty little tree. Nicely bent.🙂🙂

Thanks, Alan!

Great job. I like this string steady much better than most of them that I’ve seen. I can’t turn one very long because of the short length of my lathe, but what you’ve shown is fully doable. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the ideas and the inspiration Allan. Would you share the type of chuck/jaws you are using?

Nice wand ,love the feather in end, too many different steps. Can you make a video of a wand with a lot less steps.

Thank you for sharing Alan👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😎😎😎😎😎😎

Excellent work and Like the dowel idea. Do you have an stl file of the 3D printed string steady you can share?

Wow what a amazing Idea and peace of work. You have such a gentle touch. Thanks Tim

Pretty cool method Alan. I was at the AAW as well but missed this demo. Gary

Thanks, Alan! As always, your imaginative solutions are a joy to watch.

Nice, Alan. That string steady was a great idea. I don't think starting with a dowel is cheating. I'm pretty sure you know how to turn a square piece round when you need to lol. Bill

My friend Jan Pennel turned one 2.4m or 8ft long. She was an amazing woman. ❤

very stylish scoops, thanks for sharing the process.

Enjoyed that thanks. I was expecting the off centre scoop that I saw on Instagram yesterday, but see that I missed that a few days ago. That's next on my viewing list. I noticed that you were using the skew ""toe down", which is something I still have to learn. All of the teaching videos (that I have found at least) show "toe up" turning, so what's the best way to go about learning to turn "toe down" with a skew? A more frugal way to make the string steady is to fit it directly onto your partly extended tailstock quill. This also has the advantage of being able to pass a few inches of the spindle inside the quill and gain a few inches in maximum length.

Alan, this is an outstanding piece of work. I love the steady rest. Quite innovative. The results are beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and continue to stay safe. Thanks to your reminders I know I will.🙂🙂 Looking forward to meeting you at SWAT.

Do you have a video of the offcut chuck shown at the end of the video

Thats a beautiful platter. Its nice to see you have mistakes also and not edit them out

Alan, very good tip on drilling the rubber stopper. I was having trouble doing that. Not any more. Thank you. Roger D.

The tough part for me was getting the top and body edges to fit flat together. Fun project.

This wood looks like Redbud to me. Here in North Carolina it blooms with small purple blooms in March, almost before everything else. Its seed pods look like small flat pea pods, and it is extremely prone to checking. The leaves are green, but there is a cultivar that has reddish purple leaves. The light colored sapwood checks easily, but the heartwood is pretty stable. Here's a link to the Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cercis_canadensis

I agree with the previous comments! I'll definitely be giving this a go to add another dimension to my one-piece scoops.

Allan - your videos are exceptional! You get to the point, no fluff, and all the information is very useful, not to mention mostly inspirational! Will you be selling your bushings?

Love to "dabble" in offset turning and seeing your cute little Eccentric Scoop makes my day for another fine Alan Stranton project to tackle.......Thanks once again.

The scoop is very nice. 👍👍 I understand the method of turning the sphere end and the offset turning on the handle. However I think the fixtures you 3D printed are the most interesting. My biggest interest is how you set up the printer to make those fixtures. As in how to tell the printer what to make. Someday a video on the procedure please. I wish I could have been to Portland. I will be at SWAT in August. Will you be there? Take care and continue to stay safe, I will.🙂🙂

I have done quite a bit of off set turning but I have never made a scope. This was a very enjoyable video Alan. Thank you for sharing. I will look for you next week

Nicely done - as usual. You've about convinced me that I need a 3-D printer. Thanks. I know that your weekly production takes planning and effort.

is the pvc handle generating alot of heat? hows it holding up?

Thanks for the inspiration....

alan , is there a reason molly recommended 20 gauge wire versus 16 or 18?

This wood looks very similar to the Russian Olive tree I cut down.

Osage Orange better known as hedge apple