dave thanks for the reply and that razor picture... not enough words! beautiful... (and this is from someone who collects pocket knives)

@timeggers: what about thin porcelain cups instead of using glassware? ie. sake cups or tea cups or maybe silicone? guyot design squishy travel shots (1.5 oz, food grade silicone, temperature resistant to 400F)

A Quina portafilter and tamper


And a Lacewood (also called leopard wood) portafilter and control arms for an ElektraT1


I have not cut the studs down to length yet which is whey they look so long. These are the last two pieces to come off the Lathe for the next few months. Man will I be glad to have my new workshop set up. I am going to go crazy with nothing to do in the evenings.

Well, my workshop is in a big 53 foot trailer now. But, before D-day I decided to up the ante on my skill test. This is a gemstone pen. Yes that is real stone, and yes it is very, very hard. The manufacturer recommends a metal lathe. I did it on a wood lathe with hand tools. It took nearly 3 hours to turn having to stop every 5 min to sharpen my tools. But man, is it awesome looking. That is black stone and gold veining. Wet sanded up through 12000 grit micro-mesh and 3 coats of renascence wax. Photos dont do it justice. What does it have to do with espresso machines, well, nothing. But it wanted to share it (and brag a little).

Simply stunning Dave, nice job.

Just wanted to offer my congratulations to cannonfodder on some amazing work. Everytime I see new posts in this thread it is immediately opened with the hopes of seeing new photos of his work.

I am officially in Pa now. Moved to my little apartment until the house is finished yesterday. Lucky for me, someone does not know how to set up their WiFi router so I am spoofing off their internet. Hint for all you non computer folks. Enable encryption on your wireless router, and change the default admin password.

It will be a couple months until the new place is finished and ready to move in. Those emailing me asking about some custom work, I will be back in business. But right now my house is a bunch of sticks...

Well, my move is over, the new workshop set up and I am back at it. One of my regular commercial customers ordered 50 units the day I told him I was up and running so it has take some time to get through all those.

I just finished this set for another HB'r. It is Brazillian cherry in gloss catalyzed urethane. The steam/water controls used a large threaded insert so I could not turn the handles. Instead we went with a wood cap to replace the stock chrome cap that goes on the handles. The small groove in the plug is to hold the OEM O ring from the chrome caps to hold everything nice and snug. Turned out nice IMHO. Two portafilter handles, the caps for both valve controls, a tamper handle and the brew lever handle.

I am glad you are back in business. One day I will invite myself to see your setup!

Awesome, great to hear that you're up and running again. That set looks very nice.
By the way, did you ever have a chance to look over the pics I e-mailed?