There's not really a theme here, I may try to create more of a narrative later.

There are some photos from Dad's old workshop, purpose built on the garage when they were having that built, and with room for a large bandsaw, a bench, a lathe, a table saw, a planer/thicknesser, and round the end Mum's small pottery kiln and a space for her wheel and some shelves. I am just in my garage, but I built shelving into it with timber and block board, and was able to adjust one of those to make a space by the south facing window for a lathe bench. I used the top from an old desk I had as a bench, and the space from the old bench became more shelves. A nook gave some space for the home brewing (beer on tap in the workshop, but only to clear the dust from my throat when I am done turning) and a pillar drill that a friend's father generously donated to me. I lent my Bosch GEX150 to my daughter's primary school when they were revarnishing the gym benches, and in return got a voucher for Dennis Wilson of Glenavy so I nipped down there and bought an 8" grinder and a box of Draper medium sized turning tools that were on offer after Xmas, not that I really needed more turning tools after Dad gave me his.

In July 2017, with his eyesight in decline, Dad gave me the Coronet No 3 lathe he had bought around 1989, and on which I had learned to turn (well to turn wood, I learned basic metal turning in Short's Apprentice Training Centre during my 12 week stint there as a young graduate engineer). I also inherited the turning tools and all the wood from under the bench, although about half of that had woodworm, so it got bagged up in a bin bag with woodworm killer, and used first. Sadly two nice pieces of elm burl were totally riddled with worm holes, but luckily with oak they just attack the sapwood. Beech also gets riddled, and a lovely half log barely had enough decent wood to make a honey dipper.

At the time my daughter had just started pre-school, and I was working a 32 hour week with Wednesdays off, so over a month of Wednesdays I built the lathe bench, installed the lathe, and made a tool rack (that drill press came in very handy!). After the Covid lock down ended, during which I had been lucky enough to work from home as a computer systems admin, I couldn't face the thought of sitting in traffic jams for two hours every day, so I took early retirement, and since then I have been working my way through Dad's pile of wood, a piece of old oak lintel Mum found in the cellar that must have been around 100 years seasoning, and I recently cut up a poplar tree that a friend had to fell. We also get hardwood firewood bags from Luke's Logs and there's often a piece in that bag that just calls out to me to be put to one side for the lathe.

I bought an Axminster AC1400B bandsaw. It's a nice little job, but only has a 3" (75 mm) depth of cut and 8" (200 mm) throat, and really a 6" (150 mm) depth of cut like Dad's old Electra Bekum would be more suitable. Meanwhile I get by by planing down anything I need to put on the bandsaw using an old elctric planer, or just roughing out the blank with a chainsaw. Most of the poplar slabs I milled at 3" thick for this reason.

Latest project was the trestle bench to give myself a better work surface for assembly when I need one. We recently replaced the boiler with a new Worcestor Bosch condensing oil boiler. It uses a lot less oil, but it means the workshop is colder in the winter!