Mother's Day Presents for the Mom who does Wood Working

Hi Everyone,

Well, I apologize for not posting but I've been incredibly busy getting ready for a farmer's market here locally that I plan to sell some of my work at. As I'm having some electrical issues in the shop at the moment, I thought I'd write up a list of suggested Mother's Day presents for the mom who does wood working!

SWW Top Ten Suggestions

1. Hey, get your mom a lathe! That's not as crazy as it sounds. Wood turning is a rather unusual type of wood working and not many people have tried turning. There are many small and mid-sized lathes available these days and quite a few things can be turned on lathes of this size.

2. If you're going to get her a lathe, a good set of turning chisels are the next thing she needs. I use Robert Sorby tools and they are really good tools. Something to think about. If your mom is already a wood turner, ask her what chisel she would absolutely love to have but doesn't.

3. A good set of twist drill bits-and I don't mean the crummy, on sale ones at home improvement centers. Spend a couple of bucks and get some good, high quality stainless steel ones. A couple of Forstner bits wouldn't hurt either.

4. Decent shop lighting-I know this is a big one, but some new lighting in her shop would be a very considerate thing to get.

5. If she has a table saw, some well made table saw attachments would be nice to have. Those can really extend the functionality of a table saw.

6. Safety glasses in her current eye glass prescription.

7. Wood-take her to a good quality lumber yard and purchase some lumber for her. My husband did that for me several years ago and it was great. For the same price as flowers I got some great quality hickory.

8. Shop shelving-you can never have too much shelf space.

9. If your mom enjoys wood carving, a good quality hatchet or a new carving tool would be very thoughtful. I know that sounds a little crazy, but if she harvests and uses tree trunks and branches, a good hand axe is a welcome thing.

10. And if you are really at a loss as to what to get her, ask her if you can use her shop and go down there and make her a cutting board out of some scrap lumber (trust me, if she works with wood, she has scrap lumber). If she's like me she probably uses scrap lumber as a cutting board in her kitchen and I just know she'd love it if you made her something out of wood that she could really use. And be sure and clean up when you're done.

See you all soon,
VW