LDJ Woodworking

Spent a little time cutting and prepping these mulberry blanks.
I'm so excited to turn these into crochet hooks and magic wands 😍🖤✨️

There are old white mulberry trees along my fence. They were planted by the previous owner decades ago and have grown into the fence, so we have an arrangement... as long as they don't go crazy, I'll just keep them small and not try to completely remove them.
Today, this branch needed to come down. A big storm was coming and it was definitely going to thrash around and do some damage to itself and everything around it.
I've never been so excited to do yard work!!
Now that I'm carving, this all looks like free material!! A few pieces are even big enough for me to turn 🖤✨️

So, tell me about working with mulberry. Does it work better green or dry? Is there something you love or hate about it?
I need all the advice 😊

Excited to be back at it after 18 months away... 🖤✨️

I just want to give a shout-out to my favorite wood treatment for my crochet hooks,

A few months ago, my friend, , suggested I try it. I applied it to the hook I was actively using, then finished crocheting my project.
The difference was so great that I immediately treated every single hook I had. Now, it's just part of my process.

This isn't an ad. They don't sponsor me. I just love their product so much!! They're even local to me here in Pittsburgh, which is just a cool bonus 💛🖤💛

If you're looking for a natural, food safe wood finish, give Tried and True a chance 😊

It's !!!!

You can't turn wood without a lathe, so let's talk about lathes today.

A lathe is a tool that spins a workpiece. Modern lathes are motorized, but there are also lathes that use a foot-operated pulley system.

I have a benchtop lathe. I received mine for Christmas last year, and I think it's a great starter option. At only a few hundred dollars, it was a much more affordable way to start turning wood than most full sized models, which can range well into the 1000's.

Two important numbers to look for when choosing a lathe are the distance between centers and the swing over the bed.

My lathe has a distance between centers of 13", which means I can turn pieces up to 13" long. It has a swing over bed of 8", which means I can turn pieces up to 8" in diameter.

This lathe is also variable speed with a k**b control, meaning I can easily adjust how fast my workpiece is spinning.

There is so much more to know about lathes, but I hope this was a nice little introduction for those who don't turn wood yet but might be interested.

To learn more about turning, check out the other amazing woodturners who are also using the hashtag, including some of my favorites

For the last month, my shop has been taken over by this behemoth 12" sliding compound miter saw, and all my free time has gone to emergency home repairs and renovations.

It's work I enjoy, but we had a crazy amount of work to do in a really short time, and partway through, our deadline got moved up by almost 3 weeks 💀

I don't have a dust collection system, so the entire shop became a sawdust snowglobe.

Now that we're down to just detail work, I spent the weekend cleaning and reorganizing the shop. I also scheduled myself a nice chunk of the day today just for turning some hooks.

It feels so good to be back in this room. I missed the peace this place brings me ✨️

Is your wood shop your happy place, too?
If not, do you have a place that quiets the chaos in your head?

What do you think of this treatment rack I made for my crochet hooks?

I saw the rack that uses, and I immediately knew I needed to make one!

I made it using furring strips from , and I assembled it using wood glue, my brad nailer, and some corner clamps.

I'm really happy with how it turned out!
What do you think?