Woodturning & Wood Stuff – Graeme Skinner

Box 5 – writing slope

Graeme Skinner — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:37:27 +0000

This one took a while as I could only work in short bursts. Made out of Sycamore (apart from the pen tray insert and tenon pegs which are walnut wood). There’s a 1946 farthing set into the lid, as this is a 80th birthday gift the pen was also turned from the same Sycamore.

Moonshot

Graeme Skinner — Mon, 04 May 2026 11:41:37 +0000

Well, more precisely one small step…

This is a small step to be used in the kitchen to reach those higher shelves, made as a housewarming gift for a friend. It’s made from oak (with the exception of two small walnut pegs), the joints are all hand cut as I wanted to try and see if I could do them all without assistance the text on top was engraved on the laser. I decided to add some rubber feet to stop it sliding around.

Dimensions are 36cm wide, 16cm deep, and 21cm high.

Box #4 – Hugo

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:02:42 +0000

I didn’t think a month after making a box for Kai’s ashes I would be making one for our Hugo’s ashes, I’m calling this his temporary ashes box as I struggled making this one – dodgy arm meant I had to do a lot of it left handed and it was awkward Anyway, the top insert is made from Maple with a footprint inset into out of resin, the sides are made from Oak. The inside of the lid has a laser engraved detail

Stepping up

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:05:39 +0000

A little step to help folk onto a massage table, the top is Elm and the legs Oak, logo was engraved with the laser do da.

Box #3 (Kai)

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:24:12 +0000

When a friend lost their beloved pooch I decided to make a little box to keep some of his ashes in, I ended up making a personalised lid with a dog tag on, and made a sliding lid for a change.

Lid is made from Wenge and the sides from Ash.

Box #2 2026

Graeme Skinner — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 09:05:32 +0000

Made from Beech, Steamed Pear and Burr, with Sapele splines in the mitres.

Shall I prepare the guest room…

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:48:11 +0000

Well, the best laid plans and all that I decided to have a practice making a box using mainly hand tools (I’ve still not sourced a planer thicknesser that I can use/afford) so I shaped an off cut of Elm for the lid which was good fun, then dimensioned some Maple for the sides by hand and shaped the sides. The workshop was rather cold when I wanted to glue it up so I ended up using a large cardboard box and a fan heater pointing into it to keep the glue at a reasonable temperature to work/go off. Sadly I was rushing too much and didn’t check the box was square when I clamped it up and stuck it into the cardboard box, so when I returned today to finish it the box wasn’t square and the lid didn’t fit correctly. Still, you live and learn

Fun with a plane

Graeme Skinner — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 09:54:30 +0000

We thought it would be a good idea to make a charcuterie board as a Christmas gift, I had some nice timber that was waiting for the right project but I still don’t have my planer/thicknesser working which meant the timber had to be planed and dimensioned by hand….

The Oak was really nice to plane…

Though it wasn’t as fun to plane as this Maple….

In the end we had a nice pile of shavings to get the fire started for a few days

Laying out the timber we decided not to use the maple and went with some Oak, Ash, and Walnut. Once it was glued up, scraped to a nice surface, edges rounded over it was time to zap it on the laser…

Serving board, I forgot to measure it before we wrapped it, however the longer edge was around 42cm

It was finished in several coats of food safe mineral oil and rubber feet added to the bottom.

Box 8 2025

Graeme Skinner — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 14:55:55 +0000

Or maybe it should be called a tale of two workshops I started this box some time ago as a birthday gift for my dad, unfortunately our landlords decided we really should live somewhere else so before I could finish the box I had to dismantle the workshop and finish it in on the edge of a bit of wood surrounded by packing boxes we haven’t had time to unpack yet

This one is made from quarter sawn oak and wenge, I’ve not used wedge before but it was interesting to use.

Box 7 2025

Graeme Skinner — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 15:57:15 +0000

Box made as a wedding gift using sycamore and walnut…..

Dimensions – 29cm wide 8cm high and 19cm deep