A fid for a friend

I am back on the ship, and this time our sailing schedule is to do evening cruises in and out of Bergen, so I have the rare pleasure of a functioning Internet connection that comes with being alongside in our home port.

Some might think that evening cruises are a bit dull, but just like all woodworking can't be ebony inlay, once in a while you need to build the casework that will house the inlay.

These cruises with paying guests are part of our bread and butter, and in addition to providing the ship's foundation with some needed cash to run the ship and keep her well maintained, these cruises actually give the residents of Bergen a sense of ownership of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl.
So it is part of our strategy to be active visible and accessible in our home port for two months of the summer every year. That way people feel proud of the ship and recognizes it and feels that it is "their ship."

The incredible support that we have from the local community can not be overestimated, so it is only fair that we do our part in giving back to the community by doing these small evening cruises.
And just like in woodwork, it is difficult to say that one operation is more important than the other.

Since there are comparatively few tall ships on a world wide basis, often young people who wants to work in this field have a difficult time finding a ship to do it on, we usually have 6-8 volunteers sailing with us, who have completed their basic training on a training ship.
One of these volunteers told me last time I was on board that his birthday was tomorrow, (we discussed it because it was close to the date where I was signing on again).
Now these volunteers get room and board and that is it, but they do an incredible job on board, so I thought that I would make him a small birthday gift.

So a week ago I took the time to head into the shop and I turned a fid for him. It is made out of some dark exotic wood that I once purchased, and I think it might be mahogany, though I am not sure.
Turning a fid was pretty straight forward, and in the end I tried to polish it with some Carnauba wax. I have never tried this before and I was so impressed with the look of the surface that I ended up making yet another fid for him. This time a bit smaller.
He doesn't read this blog, so it will be safe for me to post a picture of the large fid here. I forgot to take pictures of the smaller one.

The large fid has a length of almost 12", and the thickness at the fat end is something like 1.5"
I can't remember the size of the smaller one, and it is already gift wrapped.