Have you ever wondered what a truck driver might do to unwind and relax? Jet’s very own Frank White uses his time away from work to hone his incredible hidden talent…
Frank has been working at Jet Plant for more than half a decade but has been practising woodturning for about a year. Despite never having tried it before, he saw various videos online that prompted him to purchase a lathe, and he took to it instantly.
“I kept getting these videos that were of woodturning and it just looked so relaxing. It’s mesmerising, you know, watching people turn wood into bowls and such.”
Having only taken up his craft within the past year, Frank has become particularly skilled at creating bowls, candlesticks, goblets, and even tabletops which he uses resin to turn into beautiful pieces of furniture. He has found an affinity for using resin within his work, skilfully navigating the difficulties that come with such a complex material.
“You’ve got to be careful with it, especially how you mix it. You’ve got to have patience, you can’t just mix it and then start working, it’s got to be left before you use it. It can be quite effective for finishes too, when you make a mould or use bits of wood and resin. Once it’s cured properly, it can be put on the lathe, and you can make quite a pretty looking bowl.”
Although he doesn’t sell his work, keen to keep it as a hobby rather than earn a profit, Frank is happy to make pieces for friends and family as Christmas and birthday gifts. With every piece being unique, there are a few that stand out for him.
“The very first thing I made was small, lidded pot. It's not really very good, but it was the first thing I had a go at doing. Then the first thing I made that I thought ‘I quite like that’ was a very simple candlestick. I was quite pleased with how that came out.”
Frank explained how he takes on multiple projects at once, working on different ones on different days. The last thing he completed was a bowl made entirely out of colouring pencils, finished with a coat of resin to make it shine. Amazingly, a friend of his purchased the item from him for his wife as a present.
Conducting his hobby from a brick shed in his garden, Frank finds solace in the focus that is needed when woodturning. He mentions that while he may not have a plan for every piece of wood he picks up, he enjoys seeing what that project will end up like.
“I just sort of see where it goes. It’s about what the wood looks like as you’re turning it. You might want to expose the grain, or you may think you don’t want to take too much off because you like how it’s looking. That might dictate what kind of bowl it may be or how it’s going to be shaped.”
This pastime is reminiscent of his role at Jet, never sure where the next week will take him. Truck driving is not typically regarded as an exciting job, however Frank explains how working at Jet is very different.
“I’m not just spending all day driving from A to B, then B to C, and so on. I take a machine to a job, you do the job, then you go back or go onto the next job of the day. It’s more interesting as I don’t always know where I’m going or what I’m doing the next week. You never know where you’re going to end up.”