Tag: woodturning

budstikke replica woodturning

Blue Ribbon Budstikke

Posted on by Tod Raines

What is a budstikke? And why does it have a blue ribbon.

Well, a budstikke is an ancient message stick used in Viking era Norway. It is a hollow tube with a spike. The message would be placed inside and then the budstikke would be thrust into a wooden post for the receiver to find. The post could be an entry door jamb of a house or a post in the village center. This is like a portable and reusable post box.

By the way, if your Google budstikke you will get results for Norwegian and Scandinavian newspapers. This gives a good idea of why budstikke means ‘message stick’. Huh!!

Continue reading “Blue Ribbon Budstikke” →

Woodturning retreat – So much turning fun …

Posted on by Tod Raines

So I got to know Ron Campbell (owner of AZCarbide) and his wife Lana at SWAT last year. They are great people. I found out that Ron has organized Campbell’s Hands on Woodturning Retreat for a few years now. It is held on his property near Cedar Springs Michigan once a year. This year was the forth year and it was held on July 26-29th, 2018.

It takes a bunch of effort and people to pull something like this off – so hats of to Ron and Lana and all of the volunteers that helped create this event.

My wife and I drove 16.5 hours each way to attend, turn, make friends, eat, have fun, turn some more, have fun … well you get the idea.

Tod Raines demonstration at Campbell's retreat

There were about nine of us instructing about 15 different topics to about 70 people turning on 36 lathes. Boy was there a lot of chips flying …

Check out my Facebook page for some posts and links to the event. Also, check out ‘Campbell’s Hands on Woodturning Retreat‘ on Facebook.

I taught two rotations of a natural edge end grain bowl class using the product below.

  • T1 HSS Teardrop Cutter Blade, large size

    $30.00     Add to cart
  • hook turning tool

    Hook Tool by Michael Hosaluk

    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $40.00     Add to cart

  • Hook Tool Bar by Tod Raines Tools

    $45.00     Add to cart

  • Half Round Bar by Tod Raines Tools

    $45.00     Add to cart

I will (or already have) posted a video on my Facebook page that shows some of the demo I did after the Thursday night reception at this woodturning retreat. Check it out.

Thanks for the patronage and encouragement

Posted on by Tod Raines

Just a quick note to say ‘thank you’ to all of my customers who have purchased products. The first half dozen customers where very gracious with their help while I diagnosed and fixed some issues with auto-generated emails. Thanks again for your help.

Also a big ‘thank you’ to all those that have sent emails or comments showing their support and appreciation. I have received numerous comments thanking me for keeping the newsletters going. I hope that the newsletters I create and send out will be entertaining and fun to read. I hope they are also somewhat useful or can help inspire others in their woodturning journey.

I also received many ‘thanks’ for keeping the Elio drive product available along with the promise of new products (read other post for product announcement).

Here is an excerpt from one comment I received from Chester, “Once again, best wishes to you and your wife in your new business venture and thank you again for continuing on the tradition and expanded on what Gord and Brian started. Can’t wait for your first newsletter to arrive.”

It is great to hear and I am very appreciative for the support. It reassures me that I am on the right path.