doug's wood

Quina Wine Glasses

2012-02-19T11:59:00.001-06:00

The bases of these wine glasses are turned from Quina, a South American wood. The black band on the one glass is Burmese Blackwood. They are finished with Waterlox. The glasses stand about 7 ½" tall and are 2 ¾" across at the base.

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Another cherry baby rattle

2012-02-09T10:27:00.001-06:00

Here is a second cherry baby rattle (Sp = sonajero) that I turned for Francie. This is the more traditional style rattle, with a hollow drum on one end in which the rattly items are enclosed. Dimensions are roughly 5 ¾" long by 1 ¾" diameter.

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Cherry baby rattle with captive rings

2012-02-07T10:13:00.000-06:00

We just returned from visiting our daughter Erica, her husband Brian, and our newest grandchild, Frances (two months old), in Quito, Ecuador, which inspired me to turn the pictured baby rattle for Francie. The rattle is about 6" long; the ends and rings are about 1 ⅔" in diameter. Kiln-dried cherry blank; finished with food-safe (and baby-safe) Butcher Block Oil. (CPSC regulations require that rattles have ends this large to avoid the risk of choking.)

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Cherry Burl Shawl Pin in Use!

2012-02-02T12:05:00.000-06:00

We just got home from a trip to visit our daughter, her husband, and our new grandbaby (a real sweetie!). We gave the cherry burl shawl pin (see previous entry) to our daughter as a birthday present, to use with a shawl my wife had knit for her. I think the results are great!

Cherry Burl Shawl Pin

2012-01-22T10:08:00.001-06:00

I turned the circular part of this cherry burl shawl pin from a small cutoff from a cherry burl vase project (not quite finished as of the moment). The stick pin part was turned from a piece of regular cherry. The round piece measures just over 2" across; the stick pin is 4 ½" long.

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Cherry Burl Bowl

2012-01-13T15:48:00.001-06:00

I'd had a piece of cherry burl sitting around the shop for at least a couple of years and hadn't been able to figure out what to do with it. I think it was the product of one of our club raffles. Part of the problem was its odd appearance: it looked like it had been hacked out of a tree with a hatchet - had no discernible shape, and many hatchet-chop facets all around - and it was impossible to tell what it had originally looked like. Inspired, I guess, or maybe just made a little braver by the success of the cherry burl hollow form I'd just turned (see previous entry), I cut flats on the ends, put the chunk between centers and started turning for exterior shape. Ultimately I turned a 100mm tenon on one end to mount in a chuck for hollowing, and just kept at it. The completed piece (finished with Watco Danish Oil - Natural) is pictured here. There are a number of bark inclusions and some gaps that run all the way through from outside to inside, which is one reason I didn't try to make the piece any thinner. As a result it's a little heavy in the hand, but not too bad, and I think the overall appearance came out pretty well. It measures about 6 ½" across and is 4 ¼" high.

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Cherry Burl Hollow Form (Vase)

2012-01-04T09:28:00.001-06:00

In the gift exchange at our club's Christmas party I received a couple cherry branch sections with large burls. I turned this hollow form from the smaller of the two. (I put the branch ends between centers, rough turned the outside and put a tenon on one end; then reversed the piece, gripped the tenon in a chuck, finished turning the outside, and hollowed it out; finally I reversed the piece again, used the chuck in expansion mode to grip the opening by the inside edges, and turned the base.) Since the wood was still green there was a lot of movement in the surface when it dried, as you can see in the pictures, which lends a very organic - even ancient - look to the piece, I think. It measures about 7 ½" tall, and 4" across at its widest.

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Silver Maple Vessel

2011-12-27T11:29:00.002-06:00

Our friends Bob and Pat had a Silver Maple taken down in their back yard recently and asked me to turn something for them from a piece that they had saved. Since it had a flare out at the base I decided to try to keep that more or less intact, and turned this vase-like end grain vessel, instead of cutting the piece in two and turning a couple bowls. What with the extensive bark interstices it ended up pretty interesting. Bob and Pat liked it.

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Sorry for being away so long - new stuff to come!

2011-10-24T18:36:00.003-05:00

Obviously I haven't been keeping this blog up to date for quite some time, in spite of my resolutions to do so. Partly I spent the last several months working on a variety of house projects, and wasn't doing a lot of turning. But, most recently, we had our annual show at Olbrich Botanical Gardens October 23 and I got busy and started working on some pieces for the show. I'll get some of them posted here as well, but for now take a look at this Facebook link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150361496247435.368421.839692434&type=1

I'll be back with you soon!

Box elder hollow form

2011-02-13T11:13:00.002-06:00

My friend John Nicholson - a very skilled wood turner - makes a lot of these nifty hollow forms (vases), and is a great hands-on teacher. These photos show my version, turned in his shop while he kept at least half an eye on what I was doing (and told me what to do next!). This vase is turned from box elder and hasn't yet been finish sanded or had any finish applied - i.e., it's in the "raw" state. It stands almost 8" tall and is 5" across at the widest point. The most interesting thing about turning these - here's the magician describing the trick! - is that they are turned initially in one piece; then cut into two pieces, each of which is separately hollowed; then are glued back together; and then are finish-turned to final shape, detailed, etc. Can you tell which groove hides the glue joint? I used John's Derry Tools hollowing system to hollow the bottom part of the base. Let me know if you want to hear more about that.

Colorful Salt/Pepper Grinders

2011-02-09T17:07:00.003-06:00

Our challenge for our last Badger Woodturners' meeting was to turn a salt/pepper grinder. I turned three, using some laminated dyed beech wood blanks that I had won in a raffle at a meeting last year. As you can see, the color and the effects of turning this material can be quite striking. The mechanisms in these are ceramic crush grinders; these adjust for fineness of grind with a knob at the bottom of the grinder. In the tall grinder (to which I also added a captive ring) there is a stem which extends from the grinding mechanism in the base up into the turnable top (which simply pulls off to fill the grinder with peppercorns or salt chunks). In the two smaller grinders the tops directly press onto the grinding mechanisms in the bases. The tall grinder is 11" high. The green one with the pointed top is 6" high; and the short, round one is 4 1/2" high. All of them are about 2 1/4" in diameter at their widest.

Zebrawood Coffee Scoop

2010-12-19T15:06:00.002-06:00

At our last club meeting one of our members displayed on the show-n-tell table a coffee scoop which was composed of two turned parts - bowl and handle - which had been fastened together to create the final piece. I decided to turn a coffee scoop out of a single piece of wood, and picked zebrawood to maximaize the effect of the striking grain. This process requires first turning the handle and the bowl end as a sort of "lollipop" shape (see first photo, on table top). Then you remount the piece "sideways" (in a jam chuck turned for the purpose), so that as the piece turns the handle is flying around and round in the same plane as the scoop-to-be. Then you hollow out the scoop part just as if it were a tiny bowl. The finished scoop measures 5" in total length, and the bowl is 1 1/2" in diameter. It holds approximately one tablespoon. You can find instructions online for turning either the one-piece or the two-piece scoops.

Bernie's Birthday Bowl

2010-11-23T11:51:00.001-06:00

I turned this large cherry salad bowl as a birthday present for my wife. It measures 13" across the rim and is 5 1/2" deep. (Holds quite a lot of salad!) The bowl definitely looks taller than 5 1/2" - I believe that is the effect of the sweeping curve from the rim to the relatively small base.

More laminated off-center pendants, but no pics

2010-11-22T22:03:00.004-06:00

For reference, see the April 25, 2010 post. The laminated off-center pendants proved to be a best-seller at the Olbrich Gardens show. Unfortunately (?) they all sold out, and I didn't get any close-up pics of the display - you can see some of them in one of the table photos in the Olbrich post, below. I only had a chance to turn one pendant out of the brightly colored, laminated gun-stock material (see the bottle stoppers), which also sold. So I'll have to do some more, I guess....

Bottle stoppers revisited - 2010

2010-11-22T14:37:00.001-06:00

I turned a number of new bottle stoppers for the Olbrich Gardens show, some of which were pretty colorful. These were turned from laminated, dyed beech gunstock material provided by a member of our club (and which I won at a club raffle).

Olbrich Gardens Show

2010-11-22T13:50:00.012-06:00

For the past several years, in late October, Badger Woodturners, my turning club, has gotten together with the Madison Area Woodcarvers for a show and sale at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens. On the woodturning side about ten of us had sales tables, and the club also ran two demo lathes throughout the day, and also had a raffle of a large number of turnings donated by members. This year's show was very successful, and most of us who had items for sale did reasonably well. Smaller items tended to sell better than larger, more costly ones, reflecting the overall state of the economy.

In the "Links" column to the left I've added a link to the Badger Woodturners' recently created website, where you can read our newsletters (which also include photos of members' work) and find out a little more about the group.

Harbor Athletic Club, where my wife and I work out, permits members to post advertising displays in a couple of windows in the club lobby. I used the opportunity this year to advertise the Olbrich show and my participation. The display drew a number of nice comments.

Natural edged cherry crotch bowl

2010-11-22T13:24:00.004-06:00

This a natural edged cherry crotch bowl which I turned earlier this year. "Natural edged" means that the bowl was turned with the center of the trunk forming the bottom or base of the bowl, and the bark on the outside of the trunk forming the top or rim. (This is the reverse of the orientation in which traditional bowls are turned.) A "crotch" is the intersection where the trunk splits into two or more sections, or a limb branches off from the trunk. You can often get some very interesting figure there. This bowl measures about 9" across by 4" deep. I sold it at the October 2010 Olbrich Gardens show (see next entry).

Unusual Pens

2010-09-09T21:24:00.005-05:00

We had a pen making challenge for our September meeting, and I turned a couple of somewhat unusual pens for it. While most wood-turned pens incorporate hardware kits, with all of the metal pieces provided, I'd seen a demo some years back involving the turning of a 100% wood pen that incorporated the innards of a simple Bic stick pen. Here's the process: you drill an appropriately sized hole in the end of your blank, turn your pen, pull the innards out of the Bic, and insert them into your pen. Voila! Pretty simple, and allows for lots of variations. [If you're interested in the turning details, drop me a note.] I did two pens, of slightly different styles, both pretty long (8 1/2" and 9 1/4"). I've discovered that long pens are less likely to disappear on the desk or be mislaid. The longer of these two pens incorporates a "captive ring" (see last photo), which I turned using old dental scrapers I'd acquired from Sue, the very kind hygienist who cleans my teeth (and to whom I have since given the pen)! (Basically a captive ring is just a ring of wood turned loose, in place, from the same piece that holds it; they're a little tricky to do, at least with a tight fit.)

I didn't turn this, but I wish I had - Japanese Winged Box

2010-08-29T09:01:00.004-05:00

Last week end I attended the Chicago Area Woodturners' three-day symposium, "Turn On! Chicago." As in 2008, it was held at the St. Mary's on the Lake Seminary campus, in Mundelein, IL - an incredibly beautiful campus setting. About 220 of us were there for a series of ten rounds of demonstrations by professional and very talented amateur turners. There were five alternative venues for each round, so there was a great deal of picking and choosing. Among the sessions I attended were three by Jimmy Clewes (originally from New Castle, England, and now Las Vegas, NV) and three with Cindy Drozda (of Boulder, CO).

At the charity auction following our Saturday night dinner, I had the good fortune to bid in the demo piece that Jimmy had turned at one of the sessions I had attended - the Japanese Winged Box shown in the photos below. He turned the base from a solid piece of cherry 10" x 4" x 2" mounted on a screw chuck and running at an incredibly fast 3200 rpm. It sounded like a close-up airplane propeller! For purposes of the demo he also made the box lid (turned from a separate block of cherry) snap-on tight, so you have to pry it off. (You wouldn't do this for a gallery piece, but this was a show-off piece for turners.) And he did all this in less than an hour and a half while talking about what he was doing and telling stories at the same time. really amazing!

I've added a link to Jimmy's web site in the links column to the left.

Cherry burl finial box

2010-07-04T12:30:00.002-05:00

A professional turner named Cindy Drozda specializes in turning very small boxes with very delicate finials; they are exquisite. (I've added a link to her website in the "Links" list in the left margin.) My friend John Nicholson has studied the techniques she teaches, and has turned many similar boxes himself. A couple weeks ago he gave a step-by-step demonstration of this process for a small wood turners' group, and I went over to his shop to handle the video camera for him. After watching the demo I was inspired to try one myself, and these photos reflect the result. My box is not as small or delicate as the professionals', but I think it came out pretty well. The main wood is cherry burl; the rim and foot are bloodwood. This box is 2 1/8" in diameter at its widest point, and 4 5/8" tall.

Ellsworth-style birch closed form

2010-05-11T17:10:00.006-05:00

In April David Ellsworth, one of the best and best-known professional turners in the US spent a three-day week end with our group, talking, demonstrating, teaching and critiquing. On Friday night Brent English had a reception at his Robust Lathe shop, where David showed slides and discussed his work. On Saturday, at Dave Hiller's shop, about 50 of us watched David do all-day demos of his techniques, during which time he turned a standard bowl, a natural edged bowl, and a closed-form vessel. (In the photo he's working on the last of these.) Then on Sunday he held a hands-on class for 8 turners. I attended the Friday and Saturday sessions, but could not attend Sunday's. I did, however, attempt to emulate David's technique in turning a closed-end form, and the photos below reflect my result. The piece is turned from an old birch log, and is unfinished and mostly unsanded. It is about 4" in all dimensions and fully hollowed. I've generally described the process by which this is done following the photos. I've also added a link to his studio website in the Links I Like section in the left-hand column.

Here's more than you want to know about how this is done. David's approach to turning such a piece (and the technique which I used here), is to mount the log blank lengthwise between centers on the lathe, and turn it into a cylinder of roughly the diameter of the piece you want to turn. You then turn the piece as fully round (ball-shaped) as possible, leaving only tenons on each end where the piece is held on the lathe. Then you take the piece off the lathe, turn it 90 degrees, and mount it between centers again, this time on the surface of the round ball. Then you turn off the remains of the original tenons (achieving a nearly round shape) and turn a new tenon at one end, shaped be held in a chuck. Finally, you again remnove the piece from the lathe, and remount it with the new tenon held in your chuck. Then you hollow it out! (Why do all of this? You don't have to if you want an end-grain vessel - i.e., one where the grain runs vertically from the base to the opening in the top. But the technique shown and described is used if you want the grain to run across the piece instead of up and down. Also, it's the best way to get a really round shape.)

Laminated Off-center Pendants

2010-04-25T12:19:00.005-05:00

In February I did a demo for our turning group on how to turn laminated, off-center pendants. This process involves first, laminating together layers of the woods and veneers you want to include in your pendant and then band-sawing the blank to rough size. Then you mount the blank on the lathe glued to a wood waste block, which is mounted at an angle in your chuck. That way when you turn the block you will create a thinner side (the top) and a thicker side (the bottom). After that, you move the waste block slightly to one side in the chuck, and turn the center hole, which will be offset because you moved the block over. Make sense? If not, take a look at the photos and you'll see what I'm driving at. There are several additional pendants shown in the listings at my Etsy store. Most of these pendants are 2" to 2 1/4" in diameter. All of them are mounted on a leather necklace with a metal spring clasp.

My dougswood Etsy Store

2010-04-24T14:14:00.005-05:00

One of the things I've done over the past few months is set up an online store on the Etsy website. Etsy provides a storefront set-up for craftspeople to sell their creations in a relatively low-overhead environment. Take a look and let me know what you think! Just click the title bar of this post and you will go to my Etsy store page. Then click your browser's back button to return here. (Or, you can click with your right mouse button to open the Etsy store page in a new window or tab, and then just close it when you're done.)

Blogging Again! Large Cedar End Grain Bowl

2010-04-24T13:53:00.004-05:00

Since I've been away from this blog for several months I'll go back and pick up some of the things that I've done in the interim, but not necessarily in the order I did them. This first entry is one of my more recent pieces. I won a section of red cedar tree trunk at one of our club raffles, and decided to try an end grain bowl with it. As you can see from the pictures the wood is spectacularly colorful. Cedar, however, has a notorious tendency to crack, and you can also see evidence of a number of repairs which were made as the bowl was turned. This bowl measures about 9 1/2" across at the rim; 10 3/4" at its widest outside diameter; and 6 1/2" deep. It is finished with semi-gloss polyurethane and buffed.

"Trivet Pursuit" - Update

2009-07-11T21:23:00.001-05:00

The trivets pictured in the July 5 post won the challenge at our meeting.

Exotic Tape Measures

2009-07-05T17:50:00.006-05:00

In the Summer 2009 issue of American Woodturner (p. 28), there was an article by John Giem titled "Transform Your Tape Measure." So, of course, I set out to do so. The two smaller examples in the photos below reflect my result using the techniques described in the article, which is quite clear and complete. The technique involves the initial turning of a jig on which to mount the three component parts of the "box" as you turn them. The author's technique incorporates the tape and spring from an easily obtainable, inexpensive metal 3' tape measure, which must be carefully removed from its carrier and held "poised" in its wound-up position until you are ready to insert it into your turned piece. This, as I learned on my first try, can be an adventure!

The third tape measure in the photos - the large one - involves an approach of my own devising, which incorporates the entirety (case and all) of a four foot tape measure with a cloth tape and a retraction button on the side. In essence, I "buried" the tape measure in the three-part wooden case (well, four parts if you count the button).

The small tape measure with the light-colored sides (the one that looks like a mini-burger) is turned from spalted birch (the 'buns'), and redheart (the 'burger'); it measures about 2" across an is 1" thick. It is finished with Watco Danish Oil - Natural, followed by buffed Renaissance Wax. The sides of the other small tape measure are turned from padauk, and the center ring from hard maple; it is just over 2" across and is only 3/4" thick. It is finished with buffed Renaissance Wax only. The large tape measure has padauk for one side, and purpleheart for the other, with hard maple for the center ring. Oh, the button - which is fully functional - is also purpleheart. It measures 2 3/4" across and is 1" thick. It is also finished with buffed Renaissance Wax.

"Trivet Pursuit"

2009-07-05T16:47:00.012-05:00

Last month at my woodturners' club one of our members demonstrated how to turn the sort of trivets depicted here. The techniques (and jigs - see below) are described in an article titled "Trivet Pursuit," by Reuben Everett, in the March 2004 issue of Wood magazine (p. 70). As is our custom, last month's demo became this month's challenge - for our July 7 meeting. The photos show what will be my entries in the challenge. The trivets are 6" in diameter. Two of them are just under 1/2" thick; the third is just over 1/4" thick. They are finished with Watco Danish Oil - Natural.

I constructed my trivets from four different woods (padauk, walnut, birch [I think] and a mystery wood [the lighter "orangish" one in the center]). The separate pieces were jointed, planed and glued together on their long sides, then re-planed. This long, flat blank was then cut into squares about 6 1/4" on each side. Then for each trivet two of the squares were glued together face-to-face, with the grain directions of the two pieces at 90 degrees to one another. After this, a miracle occurred.

Actually, the author of the article is responsible for the miracle (except for the part dependent on turning). The final photo shows the jigs (described in the article) which he devised, and which you must first construct and use in order to turn the trivets. I'll leave you to figure out how they are employed. I have some variations in mind to try when I can get around to it.

Multi-Sided Bowls

2009-05-10T15:39:00.011-05:00

Last week I did a demo and show-and-tell on multi-sided bowls for our wood turners club. This was our first meeting in our new location (the Monona Grove HS wood shop), and was well attended. I demonstrated how to turn one type of multi-sided bowl, and did a CD/slide presentation of all three techniques. I won't go into the turning details here, but will post some examples of each style of bowl - they are very different.

The first technique involves turning the multiple sides (three to as many as you can construct) by using off-center axes, and then turning the inside and outside of the bowl proper on the center axis. Here are examples of a 3-sided cherry bowl and a 3-sided walnut plate done this way:

The second type of bowl is a three-sided bowl that is turned from a precisely cut cube of wood. (This technique can be used only to turn a three-sided bowl.) Two opposing corners of the cube are cut off with a band saw sled having very exact angles, in order to mount the blank accurately between centers, and you go from there. Here are three examples: the painted ones are cedar; the natural one is birch.

The third style also can have as many sides as you want, from three on up. In this straight-sided design, the polygon is drawn on the blank (or on a glued-on paper template) and then the sides are cut off with a saw; accurate layout and cuts are essential. The bowl is then turned, preserving the straight sides. In the examples below (both cherry), the straight sides form the rim in the 5-sided version, whereas in the 3-sided bowl the wings have been "dropped" part way down the side of the bowl, and are also curved down.

"Rock-A-Bye Box" - Mark St. Leger Class

2009-04-12T11:48:00.005-05:00

Last week end my wood turning group had a two-day demo and class session with Mark St. Leger, a professional turner from Virginia, and an excellent teacher. Click here to see his web site.

On Saturday around thirty of us watched as Mark demonstrated how to turn a toothpick (!); carve and decorate a holder for it; turn an egg; turn an oblong endgrain box (with a natural end); turn a spherical box with chased threads (with wood-burned baseball lacing); and turn a three-sided "Rock-a-Bye Box." And, in this wonderfully packed day, he also showed us how to turn some jigs to assist in these projects.

On Sunday, seven of us returned for a hands-on class, in which we each turned a Rock-a-Bye Box, hollowed it, and turned a lid and a finial for it. We did not have time to fully finish-sand and apply finishes to our boxes, so the photos below show the project in its unfinished state. The box measures about 3" across and 1 1/2" high; the finial is 1" tall. The box and finial are hard maple; the lid is wenge.

The box is hollowed as far as I could reach with the tiny curved scrapers I brought along, but is still pretty hefty for its size. The idea of the "rock-a-bye" box is that it has a completely rounded bottom, so that it will rock back and forth when tipped, and the lid (which is turned slightly undersized) will slide from side to side in the opening, making a tick-tock sort of sound. The unusually shaped (golf club?) finial was turned on a jig that permits turning one end on two different centers, which allows the offset shown.

All in all it was a great couple of days!

Tiny Top

2009-04-12T11:33:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago our niece, her husband and their two kids came up from Chicago to visit for a couple of days. Since tops are always a favorite with kids at wood turning demonstrations, I thought I'd give one a try. (Amazingly this was something I'd never done before!) Six-year old Morgan and his dad came out to the garage with me to watch. Morgan then added the colored lines with markers while the top was turning on the lathe. Must have done it right, because it spins like the dickens!

Napkin Rings

2009-04-12T11:11:00.005-05:00

About a year ago my wife gave me a present of some quilting lessons with a local area quilter (Jean Henson - a very talented and patient lady). Eventually I managed to turn out two quilted place mats, and more recently (much more recently!) to finish the set of six. Plus some napkins to go with. The napkins, in turn, naturally called for napkin rings, so back from the sewing machine to the lathe. I turned a set for us (mystery wood), and then continued and made another (from redheart).

Redwood Lace Burl Bowl

2009-01-03T09:11:00.017-06:00

In December I had a wonderful opportunity - I was commissioned to turn a bowl from a many-years-old redwood lace burl blank. The blank had belonged to my client's late father-in-law, and for years had served chiefly as a base upon which to display other art. My client had seen my work at the Olbrich Gardens show. The burl was identified as redwood lace by Binh Pho and several members of my turning group at the class discussed in my November 22, 2008 post.

The burl was extremely dry and dusty to turn, but for all that it turned and sanded very easily. I finished it with several hand-rubbed coats of Butcher Block Oil. The client was quite happy with the result (and so was I).

I also turned a wine bottle stopper for them from one of the scraps of burl.

Spalted Birch Kitchen Utensil Holder

2008-12-26T09:57:00.004-06:00

When I was preparing for the Binh Pho class I turned a thin-walled vase-like spalted birch piece, but misjudged how deep I'd gotten and went through the center of the bottom. (The wood came from one trunk of a 4-trunk birch tree in our front yard that had died and needed to be taken down.) Then I thought to to add a weighted base - walnut, with two large steel washers for weight, and a felt bottom - and voila! A kitchen utensil holder, which made a nice Christmas present. It's finished with Butcher Block Oil.

3-Cornered Bowl - How do you do that?

2008-11-28T12:17:00.004-06:00

At the Chicago Woodturners' symposium last summer, "Turn-On! Chicago 2008," I had the opportunity to see demonstrations by a number of very talented turners. One of them was Barbara Crockett, of Columbus, Ohio, who showed us her technique for turning a 3-cornered bowl out of a cubic block of wood. I decided to give it a try (from a piece of 8" x 8" cedar post), and here is my result. The bowl is about 7 1/2" across and 5" high to the points. It is painted similarly to the bowl in my 02/29/08 post, except here I came over the top with the black after I'd done the red on the inside.

Binh Pho Demo and Class

2008-11-22T09:55:00.003-06:00

Two week ends ago I went with another guy in my turning group to the SOFA ("Structural Objects and Functional Arts") exhibition at Navy Pier in Chicago. Most of it (about 75% I'd guess) was glass, but there was a lot of very good and extremely artistic wood turning on display, and some good demos, too.

One of the professional turners represented at SOFA was Binh Pho, who lives just outside Chicago, and who is one of the dominant artists in the turned wood area today. His specialties are thin-walled turning, air-brushing and piercing. His whole website is well-worth a look - he has a very interesting story. To see his work online, just click here - its fantastic! Then click on the "gallery" heading at his web site.

As luck (or shrewd previous arrangement) would have it, Binh came up to one of our member's shops for a 2-day week end program this past week end. The first day was demonstration only - about 25 of us attended that session. He demonstrated how to turn a thin-walled (1/16") bowl, air-brushing technique, and piercing. The second day was a hands on class for only six people - and I was fortunate enough to be one of them! We split the day between working on air-brushing (about 2/3) and piercing (about 1/3). Piercing is a technique using an air-driven drill (about 400,000 rpm) very similar to a dentist's drill, and tiny burrs, to cut decorative holes in thin-walled wood objects.

I'd never air-brushed or pierced before, but I had a great time, and thought I'd pass along a couple of photos. The first is my air-brush project, which was done on 1/16" birch plywood. The second reflects my piercing efforts on objects I'd previously turned (cedar vessel and walnut plate), each of which had walls about 1/16" thick. It was a lot of fun, although I think I inhaled too much wood smoke in the piercing part.

A bunch of bowls

2008-11-21T16:31:00.009-06:00

As I mentioned, since late summer, after getting my shop moved to Middleton, I've been doing some turning. Here are some of the bowls I've done since then:

Spalted maple salad bowl - 11 3/4" x 4 1/4" Finished with Mahoney's heat treated walnut oil. I have had this blank for more than four years - collected it from a tree taken down by the city.

Natural-edged spalted birch bowl - 7 3/4" x 3 3/4" Finished with General Finishes Wipe-on Urethane. This wood came from a birch tree in our front yard.

Large butternut salad bowl - 12 1/2" x 3 1/2" Finished with Mahoney's heat treated walnut oil. This wood came from a raffle at Badger Woodturners.

Cherry burl bowl - 6" x 3 1/2" Finished with Mahoney's heat treated walnut oil. This bowl was turned from wood left in a pile by the city after it had cleared a small cluster of trees.

Apple bowl - 10 1/2" x 4 3/4" Finished with Deft Clear Wood Finish. This bowl was turned from the same apple tree trunk as the apple bowls pictured earlier in my blog.

Spalted Maple bowl - 11 1/4" x 4 3/4" Finished with General Finishes Salad Bowl Finish. Also from a trunk section I collected about four years ago.

The past few months...

2008-11-21T14:50:00.009-06:00

My last post was all the way back in February, and since then a lot has happened. We moved from Madison to Middleton last May, and a couple months after that I moved my shop from Winnebago Studios on Madison's east side, to my Middleton garage. So I'm in a much more compact space - but very conveniently located, and no rent! Everything but the lathe is on casters, and at least semi-movable, but so far the space is neither insulated nor heated, and the amount of turning I do this winter may be limited by the chill. I have done a fair amount of turning since the move, and over the next few days I'll post some photos of what I've been up to.

Last July I went to a three-day turning symposium sponsored by the Chicago Area Wood Turners, in Mundelein IL. While I was there I bought a bunch of nifty stainless steel stoppers, and after I got home, turned a bunch of bottle stoppers - tulip wood, walnut, cherry burl, and a light brown mystery wood. These are pretty elegant, if I do say so myself.

Painted Ash Bowl

2008-02-29T12:07:00.005-06:00

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. This ash bowl - otherwise quite pretty - developed a nasty crack all the way across the base and up into the sides. While I was able to fill and secure it quite well with a mix of CA glue and sawdust, it nonetheless was quite noticeable and did not, shall we say, lend to the beauty of the piece. So I added a little paint, and I think the result looks okay. The bowl is 9" across and 5" tall. The wall thickness is 1/8".

Small Elm Crotchwood Platter

2008-02-29T11:59:00.003-06:00

The crotch in a tree - where the trunk splits into branches - usually has very interesting, and often quite beautiful, figure. I think this small elm platter nicely brings that out in this case. It measures about 9" across and 1" deep. The finish is natural Watco Danish oil.

Cedar Yarn Bowl

2008-02-29T11:52:00.002-06:00

Cedar is a good moth repellant (hence cedar chests and cedar-lined closets), and my wife knits using wool yarn. So a cedar yarn bowl seemed like a good idea. The piece is unfinished (except for the colorful stripes) and smells great. It is about 10" in diameter and 4" tall.

Ivy Thin-Stemmed Goblet

2008-02-29T11:44:00.004-06:00

Here is my third thin-stemmed goblet. On this one I used a little decoration - an ivy vine - painted on with indelible marker. This little goblet stands 9 1/2" tall; the cup is 1 1/4" across. The oversized close-up photo is a little coarse - like looking at your face in a magnifying mirror (well, my face anyway).

Honey Locust Bowl

2008-02-29T11:32:00.003-06:00

This shallow honey locust bowl was turned from the same tree trunk as the bowl in the April 22. 2007 entry. I also had rough-turned this one about a year ago. It measures about 11 1/2" across and 2" deep. I really like the wild figure in the wood.

Thin-Stemmed Goblets

2008-02-02T12:18:00.000-06:00

One of our wood turning club members gave a demo last month on how to turn tall thin-stemmed goblets. The secret (other than using very sharp tools and avoiding catches) is to start from the cup end and work your way back to the base (toward the head stock), turning the thin stem only about 1-1.5" at a time. As is usual after such a demo, our "challenge" for February's meeting is to turn a thin-stemmed goblet ourselves. Two of my efforts are shown in the photos. They are turned from maple and from maple and padauk (the red-colored wood), and stand 11" and 12" tall, respectively. The stems are about 1/8"D. I'm also working on a smaller (9 1/2" tall) goblet with ivy drawn on it, but it is still in the shop.

Figured Asian Satinwood Bowl

2008-02-02T12:11:00.000-06:00

This small bowl (about 5"D x 2.5"H) was turned from a blank of figured Asian Satinwood (a wood I'd never heard of before seeing it at the store). My wife gave it to me as a birthday present! The figure is not easy to see in the photos (blame the photographer - me), but dances when you look at the bowl itself.

Two Spalted Bowls

2008-02-02T12:05:00.000-06:00

These two bowls are turned from different spalted woods - Sweet Gum (the bowl on the right in the first picture and on the left in the others) and White Bay. They are a little over 7" in diameter and stand 3-3 1/2" high.

Multi-axis Cherry Vase

2008-02-02T11:53:00.000-06:00

This vase is turned from a piece of cherry (actually half of a piece I'd been saving for a bowl, but which split as it dried), and stands about 11 1/2" tall (not counting the iris). The bottom end was variously mounted on three different centers, resulting in the off-center configuration. (Same techniques as the multi-axis candlesticks posted earlier.)

(Yet) Another Cherry Bowl

2008-01-08T16:23:00.000-06:00

The chunk of cherry from which this bowl was turned came from a former neighbor's tree and had been in the firewood pile. The wood has a fair amount of burl and figure and also had a branch coming out of it. All in all it turned into a pretty interesting and attractive bowl. 8 1/4"D x 5 1/2"H.

Small Sycamore Bowl

2008-01-08T16:15:00.000-06:00

This pretty little bowl measures 6 1/2" across and is 3 1/4" tall. I like its line.

Laminated Rolling Pin

2008-01-08T15:53:00.000-06:00

I turned two similar rolling pins from a variety of hardwood pieces which I had glued up and then cut on the diagonal to make the blanks. The brightest red colored wood is bloodwood. There are also maple, walnut and purpleheart. I contributed one of the rolling pins for our turning group's raffle at a show in October 2007. All of the turnings donated by group members comprised our "challenge" for that month's meeting, and my rolling pin received the blue ribbon. Our cat seemed to like it, too.

Walnut bedside table lamps

2008-01-08T15:39:00.000-06:00

I turned two identical walnut bedside table lamps from some walnut that a friend gave me. It had been well dried, so it turned and finished quite nicely. The bases and vertical sections were turned separately. The glass globes and hardware came from a mail order vendor. (Unfortunately the globes developed cracks after about two weeks, but they still look okay.) The lamps are about 17" tall at the center.

Multi-Axis Candlesticks

2008-01-06T13:51:00.000-06:00

These candlesticks, which stand about 9" tall, were turned from poplar. In each, the end that became the top was variously centered on three different axes (as well as the center axis); the bottom end remained in the center axis. This technique results in an eccentric turning, because the different axes cause different parts of the turning blank to rotate more closely to the tool rest, and the portion cut shifts accordingly. In turning the first candlestick I followed a very helpful article in the most recent issue of the AAW magazine. All together I turned three similar candlesticks. (The third one - not pictured - was a door prize at the Badger Woodturners' holiday get together.)

Spalted White Bay Bowl

2008-01-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

I've been away from the blog for a while (but not from my shop), so I'll be adding a few newer items over the next little while. This footed bowl is turned from spalted white bay, a wood from Florida. The base is turned from wenge, which provides a nice color and grain contrast. The bowl measures 7 1/2"D x 4"H. The grain and spalting lines in the white bay are fantastic - its amazing what nature can do! (This bowl was a Christmas present for my wife.)

Maple butcher block platter

2007-06-30T18:12:00.000-05:00

This 15.5" platter with a small walnut stripe was turned from a section of butcher block counter top. (It could have been bigger, but my lathe will only handle a 16" maximum diameter blank unless I turn outboard, and at this point I don't own the necessary outboard tool rest.) (Wedding gift to nephew.)

Apple and InLace bowl and stand

2007-06-10T15:35:00.001-05:00

This small apple wood bowl was turned from the same piece of wood as the "Natural-edged apple vase" posted on May 9. In chain-sawing the log, however, I had sliced off a small section of what would become the rim of the bowl, so I decided to try some InLace to fill the gap. The InLace material is described in "Large cherry bowl with InLace," also posted on May 9. I also turned the bottom of this bowl completely round, and then created the lttle InLace "stand" for it to sit in. This bowl measures about 7" in diameter by 2" high.

Cherry burl - Bowl interrupted

2007-06-10T15:25:00.000-05:00

The piece of cherry burl from which this bowl was turned had several very deep bark inclusions. They were too unstable to keep intact, so I just turned them out as the bowl developed into this interesting shape. It was necessary to add a piece of cherry to make the base, since the foot of the burl turned out to be too small and irregular to support the piece solidly. The bowl measures about 9.5" across and 3" high. (Christmas gift to brother and sister-in-law.)

Small birch platter

2007-05-09T11:13:00.000-05:00

I turned this small platter from a slab of birch acquired at a meeting of my woodturning club. It measures 9" across and is 1.5" high at he rim. (Gift at Badger Woodturners' Holiday Party gift exchange.)

Large cherry bowl with Inlace

2007-05-09T09:31:00.000-05:00

This cherry bowl measures about 12.5" across and is 3.25" high. The wood came from the trunk of a tree one of our former neighbors took down. When I was turning the inside of the bowl I discovered a hidden bark inclusion that turned out to be not only large but quite unstable. I removed all the bark and filled the space with InLace, a liquid resin inlay material that comes in many colors, and also in a clear version to which specal dyes may be added. (I used the clear material with copper dye.) It dries very hard and may be sanded and polished. I liked the effect, and am planning to try InLace in other project applications. The fourth (bottom) photo shows the InLace inlay in close up; the third photo shows where the InLace carries through to the bottom of the bowl. (Christmas gift to brother and sister-in-law.)

Another honey locust bowl

2007-04-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

This shallow bowl is 2.5" high and 10.5" across at the rim. I turned it from a piece of honey locust trunk that I won at a club raffle. (I had rough turned it last summer and then finish turned it a couple of weeks ago.) This piece of wood has a lot of nice color variation.

Natural-edged apple vase

2007-04-22T10:40:00.000-05:00

This natural-edged apple vase stands 10" high and is 6" in diameter at the rim. The blank was cut from a piece of apple trunk (from a neighbor's firewood pile). The circular bark edge occurred where the tree had (long ago) grown out around the place where a limb had been removed. I tried a number of hollowing tools at a friend's shop in turning the inside (I liked the Rolly Munro Articulated Hollower best and have ordered one for myself). Apple wood turns nicely, but has a tendency to crack - you can use a lot of CA glue! This piece had a lot of nice color, grain and figure in it. (Sold at October Open Studio event.)

Bowl-bottomed Mandolin

2007-03-07T09:05:00.000-06:00

The challenge for our March 2007 Badger Woodturners' meeting was to create a musical instrument incorporating wood turning. I had turned a maple bowl from green wood, which had taken on a slightly oval but symmetrical shape as it dried, and decided to try using it as the base for constructing a mandolin. I consulted with a local guitar store, researched some books on building musical instruments, obtained some parts, and went to work. To simplify this first project, I decided to go with only four strings instead of the typical eight. I did not have enough time to send away for fret wire, so the fingerboard is currently fretless. (I hope to change that in the near future.) The resulting instrument is pictured below. It actually sounds pretty good, although it is very difficult to finger chords without frets (at least for me). And, I was fortunate enough to win the March challenge!

Honey locust bowl

2007-02-22T21:51:00.000-06:00

At a meeting last year I acquired a couple of chunks of honey locust, which I cut in half and then rough turned (to about 1.25" thick) and then let dry that way for about nine months. I recently finish-turned one of them, which turned out pretty nicely, I think. It is about 9.25"D x 4"H.

Small birch bowl

2007-02-22T21:45:00.000-06:00

I turned this small (6"D x 3.5"H) birch bowl from a piece of birch I won in a raffle at our last woodturners' meeting. It has some nice figure, some dramatic spalting, and a branch which grew out near what is now the bottom of the bowl.

Spalted Elm Bowls

2006-12-17T13:53:00.000-06:00

These bowls were turned from some elm wood that had been sitting around for quite a while. One piece had a lot of worm holes in it. Each is about 10" in diameter and 4 1/2" in height.

More Cherry Bowls

2006-12-17T13:34:00.000-06:00

Here are two cherry bowls that I turned from a limb from a tree a neighbor took down in his back yard. Each is about 10" in diameter and 3" in height. These bowls were turned green, and one reflects the natural distortions which sometimes occur as the wood then dries.

Goblets

2006-12-17T13:18:00.000-06:00

Here are two somewhat different goblets that I turned this Fall. The larger, dark colored one (walnut and cherry), is a chalice I turned for the 10th anniversary celebration of a friend's ordination as a Lutheran minister. The photo was taken in her home. The other goblet was turned from a piece of a maple branch that had another branch growing out of it.

Castle Spinning Wheel

2006-12-17T12:57:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've posted any new photos, and while I've turned a variety of items since my last post, I thought I'd start off here with my most recent project, a small castle-style spinning wheel (including three bobbins and a Lazy Kate). Construction of this spinning wheel involved both wood turning and woodworking techniques. Basically, everything in the photos that is round saw some time on the lathe - including the drive wheel, which was on the lathe for three separate steps. Remarkably, the spinning wheel actually spins fiber quite well. The wheel is made principally from cherry, hard maple, and red birch.

Large spalted maple bowl

2006-03-08T16:44:00.000-06:00

Spalted maple is often very beautiful. The trick is to show it off to best advantage. The spalting in this particular piece of wood made that easy! 5.75"H x 10"D.

Inside-Out Ornaments and Vase

2006-03-08T16:18:00.000-06:00

I made these for this month's "challenge" at our woodturners' group. The ornaments are maple (4.5"H x 1.5"D) and walnut (5.5"H x 2.5"D). The vase is also walnut (7.5"H x 2.5"D). The flowers are dried daisies. But how do you create the open space inside the objects? The title gives a hint - sort of.

Segmented vase

2006-03-08T16:03:00.000-06:00

This vase or urn is composed of six rings, each containing twelve identical segments, plus a disk for the foot - 73 pieces of wood altogether! The woods from the top down are padauk, maple, cherry, maple, walnut, maple and cherry. It measures 6"H x 4.5"D. The small pieces comprising a ring are cut on a "sled" on my table saw so that each piece in the ring is of identical size and all pieces are cut at exactly a 15 degree angle at both ends. The pieces are then glued together to form the ring, and the rings are then glued together to form the rough shape to be turned. Then the vase is turned, inside and out. (There are a couple of tricks along the way....)

Miniature Birdhouses

2006-02-01T09:08:00.000-06:00

Here are a group of miniature birdhouses that I turned as part of a "challenge" in our woodturners' club. We typically have a demonstration of a particular type of turning or project at our monthly meeting, and the next month try to produce the project on our own. These are the first birdhouses I have tried; it's actually a lot of fun to do. The sizes range from 1.75" x 1.75" (the little feeder) to 1.75" x 5.25" (the 3-level condominium).

A second - even more different - square bowl

2006-01-10T12:54:00.000-06:00

Here's another cherry bowl turned using the "flying corners" approach (see preceding post). I didn't find the shape of this one particularly attractive when I was done, so I glued up and turned the multi-colored cap from some scraps (from the bottom up: walnut, maple, cherry, bloodwood, and cocobolo; the knob is cherry). The result is certainly unusual, whatever else you may think of it! It measures 8" from side to side; the center "dish" is about 3.5" across.

Another - very different - square bowl

2006-01-10T12:40:00.000-06:00

The square bowls in the last (Dec. 18) posting were turned using a technique in which scrap pieces are added to the sides of a square blank, and this larger blank then bandsawed round. The bowl is then turned, as if the scrap pieces were the edges of a round bowl. When that is done, the scrap pieces are bandsawed off, leaving a bowl with straight sides. This bowl, however, was turned with just the square blank mounted in the lathe - so there were sharp, flying corners for the entire turning. Tends to focus one's attention. This bowl was turned from 8/4 cherry, and measures about 8.5" from side-to-side.

Square bowls

2005-12-18T13:37:00.000-06:00

These two bowls are made from cherry; the stripes are bloodwood (red) and cocobolo (brown). There are at least two ways to turn square bowls, but for now you'll just have to speculate. I gave one of these to my father for his 90th birthday.

Curly maple bowl with lid

2005-12-08T15:58:00.000-06:00

I turned this bowl from curly maple. I then turned the lid from walnut, and cut a rabbet on the under side of the rim of the lid to fit into the base. Finally, I turned the knob from purpleheart.

Cherry boxes

2005-12-08T15:36:00.000-06:00

Here are two cherry boxes that I turned. The bullet-shaped one was my first box. Each of these boxes is turned from a single piece of wood. Once the outside was turned, the cylinder was parted off between the top and bottom sections; each of these was then hollowed; and the join between the two turned to fit. These boxes are 4" tall. The larger is 3" in diameter; the smaller one is 2.5".

Turning a Box Elder Bowl

2005-12-07T13:36:00.000-06:00

Here's the basic process in turning a bowl - in this case a fairly large bowl from a beautiful chunk of box elder. In the first picture the block of wood has been mounted on a faceplate, and because of its size, also supported by the tailstock.

In the second picture the blank has been turned round, but has not yet been shaped. Subsequent to taking this picture I turned the outside shape of the bowl and turned a tenon on the base so that I could reverse the blank and grab the tenon with my chuck. But I forgot to photograph this step!

Here the blank has been reversed, and is held by its base in a 4-jaw chuck. Since it hasn't been hollowed out yet it is still very heavy - so I'll bring the tail stock up again to support the blank while I start turning the inside of the bowl.

I'm now turning the inside of the bowl. When I've finished it can be re-mounted the other way around so that I can shape the outside of the bottom of the bowl.

I've finished turning the inside of the bowl. Now I'll re-mount it to turn the bottom.

The bowl has now been re-mounted with its rim held in the chuck-mounted Cole jaws (which have adjustable rubber buttons to grip the rim). I've also taped it down with duct tape so that it can't fly off the chuck. This can happen all too easily, I've discovered. Now I'll turn away the tenon and shape the base. The tailstock will be taken away after the tenon has been turned down to a small diameter.

Here is the finished bowl. Box elder often has some beautiful color, as this piece shows. This particular bowl was purchased by a neighbor.

Ash Platter

2005-11-15T16:12:00.000-06:00

One of the advantages of belonging to a woodturners' group is that members frequently will share their "extra" wood. One of our turners brought in some ash last spring, and I obtained a slab piece about 14" across and a couple inches thick. This platter was the result.

Green Ash

2005-11-15T16:00:00.000-06:00

Last summer the city cut down a green ash tree a couple blocks from us, and I obtained a section of the trunk. I chain-sawed it into smaller chunks and turned the pieces which appear in the pictures. As these were turned "green," they distorted as they dried. In fact, the platter with the dark brown "blaze" is radically curled at the ends - it just doesn't show well in this photo.

Cherry bowls - 7

2005-11-14T17:47:00.000-06:00

Here's an extreme example of a cherry burl bowl with bark inclusions. In fact, there's so much bark here that there was a lot of question whether the bowl would stay together on the lathe. Fortunately, it did (mostly). This bowl is 6.5" across and 2.5" high.

Cherry bowls - 6

2005-11-14T17:38:00.000-06:00

Here is another winged bowl, turned from a section of a branch. There's some burl on the near side in the photos, and a natural bark edge along the side. This bowl measures 8.75" across the wings, and 1.75" high.

Cherry bowls - 5

2005-11-14T16:49:00.000-06:00

This is a "winged" bowl, with natural edges. It was turned from a "crotch" in the cherry tree, where the trunk divided into two limbs. It is 8.25" wingtip to wingtip, and 2.75" high.

Cherry bowls - 4

2005-11-14T16:28:00.000-06:00

Sometimes nearly the entire bowl is turned from a burl. Here's a simple, small bowl that I think is very pretty. It is 6.25" across and 2.25" high.

Cherry bowls - 3

2005-11-13T21:24:00.000-06:00

Here are two smaller cherry bowls, each about 6" in diameter and 3-4" high. They were turned from a piece of firewood that had been lying under a neighbor's deck. The grain really shows up in these (as do the worm tracks!).

Cherry bowls - 2

2005-11-13T21:02:00.000-06:00

Here is another cherry bowl with a very different shape, also with some burl and some bark inclusions.

This bowl is about 10" across and 4" high. You can see the shaping of the rim that occurred as it dried.

Cherry bowls - 1

2005-11-13T16:17:00.000-06:00

Since I got started turning I've tried a number of different woods, and a variety of turned shapes. In my opinion, one of the loveliest and most interesting woods to turn is cherry, and particularly cherry burl. I'll put up photos of some cherry bowls over the next few posts. This bowl is cherry burl, with bark inclusions. It's about 7" in diameter and 4" tall.

First bowl

2005-11-11T18:15:00.000-06:00

This is the first bowl that I turned, in the Fall of 2003, during a short course I took from an experienced turner. I then decided to keep going on my own. This bowl was turned from a piece of "green" spalted maple. By "green" I mean that the wood was still wet when the bowl was turned (the tree had just been cut down a couple days before, in fact). Bowls that are turned green often dry in unusual ways.