It started raining today and Basil has been kicking his hooves in the workshop watching me turning bottle stoppers. After the tenth one he says “This is getting boring. Can’t you make something else?”.

That wouldn’t be very efficient I tell him, so I take him into the office and show him the blog post I had just written on The Tool Rest. “It’s a collection of videos from YouTube about woodturning. Have fun!” I say, and leave him to enjoy the show.

I thought that would keep him happy for a while, but within minutes he was back wanting to know where the popcorn was. So I go make popcorn and fetch a couple of cold ones from the fridge.

That occupied him for an hour or so, then he was back.

“That was cool, but I bet you anything I can make a pawn faster than that guy on the video.”

“Stand back,” he says as he pushes past me and throws a log on the lathe.

I wish I had had a video camera so I could show you how that little exercise went.

Tags: youtube, woodturning, basil, where is basil, toolrest