Hand Held Mirrors > . . First Try

[William Young]

After making a couple pens this afternoon I decided to try a couple hand held mirrors . I got this lot of 20 nice four inch mirrors with beveled edges from ebay . They arrived on Monday and I finally got around to trying a couple.



They are super easy to make and just one more of the gazillion useful and fun things that can be made on a lathe .
The handles are rock maple from a big bag full of 1" x 1" sticks a friend gave me and the rest of it is from a pile of partly spalted horse chestnut (buckeye) that a neighbor gave me last summer .

These should be good craft sale sellers and I can foresee all kinds of possibilities with different kinds of wood and laminated wood .


These two are nothing special but they were good practice to give me ideas for the other 18 left to do.

There is no finish on them at all yet so the nice spalted wood grain does not show. I am still deciding which type of finish to put on them.
I might d show an updated picture after I get around to finishing them.

I took pictures of both front and back views.






Comments and suggestions welcome as usual .

W.Y.

[JohnB]

G'day Bill,
Those are really nice mate.
I'd reckon any woman would be proud to display one on her dressing table.
With a smaller mirror, I could see a very nice compact mirror in a velvet bag, or if you could figure a methods for a hinge and clasp mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[oops99]

Hey Bill,

Very very nice work, just one question...................
When is the last time anyone in your family has seen you??? You are always turning out work, Do you ever sleep?
Just kidding, but it seems to me that you never stop working, and believe me that is a good thing

Tom

[William Young]

Tom

When is the last time anyone in your family has seen you??? You are always turning out work, Do you ever sleep?
Just kidding, but it seems to me that you never stop working, and believe me that is a good thing

Tom

That's what keeps me "Young"

Actually, I spend very little time in my shop . I am just well organized and get a lot done in there when I am enjoying my shop time.
I seldom ever go in my shop before noon. After checking out a few sites I drive to town practically every morning to meet with a large coffee crowd at the ten oclock shift at our favorite fast food restaurant. . There are betwen 10 to 20 of us depending on the day that meet at the same time and we spend a full hour there. Every time I turn something on my lathe I take something there and do a little show and tell and quite often it turns into sales. These mirrors will be no exception once I put a finish on them.
I have two "ancient" sister-in-laws in town and I do all their maintenance repairs and yard work incuding mowing grass and looking after their back yard fish pond. I do it for free because I love doing it as well as my own yard maintenance and garden. .
Then of course I have my own WWF multi board discussion board site and that takes quite a few hours of my time every day.
I am looking into buying a Kayak on sale next week to go fishing at least once a week because a car top boat or canoe is too heavy for me to lift up on the racks on my pick-up truck so that will keep me even busier.
Life is great and so are 99% of the people I know. I am typing this at 1.15 AM because for some strange reason I only require six hours sleep. I used to require eight.
W.Y.

[PuzzledMoose]

Very nice Bill. I like the idea of putting handles on them.

[Mike Crosa]

I wondered where you found the time, now I know. You don't need much sleep.

[doodle1]

Very nice mirrors Bill! I'm sure you will sell many of them since they are so beautiful. Your morning coffee group must be well stocked with all the wonderful things you turn.

[William Young]

Thanks for all the kind remarks.

Ian.
That 8" mirror plus the turning for it to fit into that I showed a week or so ago seemed to be too heavy for a personal mirror so I put a wall hanger on the back of that one . These four inch ones are just right for a personal mirror because they are only 5.5" overall in their housing so a handle seemed the best way for them..

Sherri;
I just got back from town and put a third coat of wipe on poly on those two .
Will take a better picture (I hope) to show some of the wood grain in them.
Out of the twenty I will make from that order of mirrors , some will be gifts and the rest will be sold at craft sales.
One of my sons and his family is coming here from Alberta for the 24th of May long weekend . Our grand daughter is at the age that a mirror is a necessity so I will give her one while they are here and she will probably go ape over it
W.Y.

[William Young]

I put three coats of wipe on poly on them . The gloss looked a little too much so I rubbed them down with 0000 steel wool with Johnson's paste wax as a lubricant. They are smoother than a baby's bottom and no longer need sun glasses to look at them
I took a better picture outdoors on my porch.
W.Y.

[doodle1]

Bill, those look beautiful all finished! Your granddaughter will be very happy to receive one. Just one question though, where is your snow? We got almost 2" over nite here!