G'day, I'm Duncanbootmaker

[duncanbootmaker]

G'day All,

I hope I've got this worked out and this is how I do an introduction

My lovely wife and I live in a small country town in the bottom right of Australia. I'm a bespoke shoemaker using pre-industrial hand methods, including all hand sewn, due to a constant fascination with the old ways of hand-making stuff, the more intricate the better, which, coupled with an engineering turn of mind, leads towards being interested in Watchmaking   My wife has given me over the years, a small 1950's Flexispeed lathe, and an 1800's, L. Hugoniot-Tissot Turns. The clockmaker we bought the turns from recently gave me two others that were rusted solid, which I subsequently oiled, dismantled and cleaned, and I've made a drive frame for them based on antique brass ones I've seen on the 'net, but out of wood. Am slowly collecting a growing array of tools and parts and knowledge. Just on the edge of the watchmaking 'pond' at the moment, but enjoying the direction it's going.

Due to my work commitments, and life in general, I may be fairly erratic in my participation, but look forward to coming here.

Here are some photos of my turns (and a couple of Jacots), before and after cleaning, and drive frame, and a bit of practice turning.
Cheers
Duncan

[oldhippy]

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum. That is a nice bit of turning.

How do you cope with all those poisonous creepy crawlies?

[clockboy]

Welcome, Enjoy the forum.

[ecodec]

Hi, welcome and all good wishes. I gave all that gear away years ago that was left to me as I will not get into that depth of work !. Nice bit of turning. If I cannot obtain an essential spare part the job does not get done. Best regards, Mike the Jobber.

 

[Geo]

Hi Duncan, welcome aboard.  

I love the wooden frame that you have made for driving the turns an rather stylish piece of micro turning.  You are obviously a craftsman with stylish artistic flair, and I look forward to seeing more of your endeavours in the future.

[duncanbootmaker]

Thanks Guys,

oldhippy, when you grow up with the poisonous creepy crawlies you learn to know what to watch out for and respect your surroundings. We've had several Tiger Snakes, that we've known of, in our yard over the last 18 years, which isn't bad considering we back onto a creek. And that same creek brings us wallabies and water birds, so that's a definite bonus. Too much sun exposure is more of a worry, and killer, in this country

ecodec, It's the making of things that drives me

Hey Geo, I didn't have the brass for it so... A friend of ours gave me the, then rusty, bobbin winder for an antique sewing machine to turn into the drive wheel. I drilled a shallow hole in the bottom of each foot and inserted a crepe rubber plug that just protrudes by less than a mm. This stops it from moving in use, while not making it 'wiggly' on the rubber.

Here's a view from the other side showing the adjuster slot for the belt tension and, if you look closely, you can see a nail that goes through both clamp jaws (tight in one and free in the other) that I hook the 'tail' of the turns under. This makes the turns very secure, even before tightening the two wing nuts on the clamp.
Have a good night guys.

Cheers

[Tmuir]

Welcome from the other side of Australia.

I look forward to your posts