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Andy Webber
Crafts

Crafts

Wood and metal turning, woodwork, metalwork, silversmithing, rope and wire work. That's an odd collection of crafts, isn't it?

Well, my father was a chartered mechanical engineer (specialising in fatigue) and a sailor. So I was brought up with sailing (and hence rope and string) and with odd lumps of (usually broken) bits of metal. I was also brought up with cars that spent a reasonable portion of thier time in bits; part of the price of being able to borrow one of the cars was to assist in the maintenance of the 'fleet' (a couple of Austin 1100's and an A40).

Wirework is just using wire rope instead of 'normal' rope. I gave this a try as an experiment, and it is quite interesting how differently wire behaves. I also tried this in silver wire (including twisting my own silver rope from wire strands).

In addition to my upbringing, a friend of mine ran a precision machinist's company for a while. That got me interested in machining components that previously I had merely assembled. Apart from using different materials for tools and speed of cut, there are surprising similarities in working metal and wood (both turning and other working). But two things that I have not yet tried that I would like to have a go at are metal spinning and casting.

Mostly I do these things for the fun of it. Quite a few of the things shown have been given to friends and family. I occasionally sell things at fairs or based on a commission. Seeing other people enjoy some of my creations is what gives me motivation to try new tings out. The odd sale helps to cover the cost of tools and materials.

For more details about each craft, please follow the links in the navbar.

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