Darn it !

[Alan Arnup]

A neighbour asked me to make her a "Darning mushroom"
so after a quick search of "Google" I made one for her.

The stem has been hollowed to allow for storage of needles.

The wood is "Wild Cherry" and the item measures 10cm
high with a 7.5cm diameter.

Sanded to 400, a quick run over with 0000 steel wool
then three coats of Shellawax.

Hope you like it.

Alan

[John C Lawson]

Very nice! The needle storage is a smart touch.

[Curt Stivison]

Very nice! Prettier than the light bulb my grandma used.

[Al Launier]

Very nice! Prettier than the light bulb my grandma used.

Much safer too! Nice piece of work!

[Jeff Nicol]

Nice, but how did you find someone who still fixes thing by darning? I would suspect that if you took a poll of 100 people at a mall you might get 10 that knew what "Darning" is!

I enjoy fun turnings like this and may have to steal it for the future.

Jeff

[Thomas Canfield]

280877That looks like a nice project. My grandmother had a darning "spool" that looked like a large egg, I think about 3" max D x 8"L w/handle, handle attached to the small end. The one here was from my wife's aunt and much smaller, about 1-1/2" max D x 6" L. The removable handle for needles is a neat addition.

[Eric Holmquist]

Nice attractive and practical turning. While I am one of the small number of folks mentioned by Jeff who knew what darning was, I must admit I never knew what specialized items were used in the process.

[Mel Fulks]

Alan,that's nice treen ware. You should sign and date it ,and if it's a gift I'm sure she would be delighted to have it inscribed to her. I can remember when the dime stores all sold darning stuff .As for using a light bulb for darning....incandescent is still the best.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Nice one Alan 280879.

You'd be surprised of how many older folks know and actually still do some darning, anyway I have made a couple of them and have two pictures of one I made and gave as a present to a friend that was visiting our place, not the best pictures but you can see it a bit as she is handling it.

Never thought to drill it for holding needles, that is a good idea, and one I will try next time :cool:

I made it in one piece (endgrain), from Maple.

280881 280880

[Alan Arnup]

Thank you for your kind comments.

Jokes have been made by fellow turners that they were too poor to afford a
mushroom darner like mine and their mothers had resorted to using a light globe.

I said that I had never seen a mushroom darner but on reflection we were so
poor that we never had socks. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (lol).

Alan