4” wide head, 9.5” long handle, 4.5” wide strike thing. Not much else to say. I made one of these about 27 years ago in middle school shop class. I had to make a jam chuck for this one. I know I didn’t do it that way in school but I can’t remember how both faces of the head were finished back then.

A friend of mine wanted a wooden egg for his mom. It was not for me to ask why, because I don’t need to know why, I just need a reason to get on the lathe. Ash, analine dye, poly finish, grade A extra large.

This is a commissioned piece. My client wanted an urn for her dog made from dark wood and something lighter for contrast. I was originally going to do a solid maple feature ring but my piece of walnut that was thick enough for the urn had a pretty big defect that I had to cut out so I “stretched” the walnut with maple segments. The defect basically determined where the ring went but I would still be interested in what you all think of the proportions. The name plate medallion on the bottom is the waste from the top of the top so the grain matches perfectly. I’m sure that I’m the only one who would ever notice but it’s kinda fun to geek it out a little. Also, I did not do the name and date carving. I paid a guy with a lazer to do it.

This is a follow up project to my vine inspired bowl. This one has a two fold story. I wanted to do another legged bowl and I decided that putting the legs in the middle of the bowl would be the most challenging. A friend of mine who makes three legged stools told me he always uses three legs on his projects because it is the easiest way to keep all of the legs on the ground. He said “That’s why they don’t make six legged chairs.” So of course I made a six legged bowl. The sap wood on this had some swirls on it that if followed made me think that the legs would look like they were struggling under the weight of the bowl. Once carved out however, it looked like a big bug to me. I showed a non wood working buddy of mine and he said it scared him because it looked like it was ready to jump at him. I haven’t decided if I like it or not yet. Again, no joints, no glue, just wood. All comments, especially criticisms, are very welcome. Seriously, you won’t hurt my feelings.

For most of my life I always thought that the huge vines (we always called them grape vines when I was a kid) hanging from the trees looked like they were sinister things trying to pull down the trees. One day on a hike I saw a tree that for some reason looked to me like it was being held up by the vines rather than being torn down. After that I started looking at the vines as if they were propping up the trees and they stopped seeming sinister. I wanted to try a turning/carving combo project and my helpful vines were the inspiration. It is made from a solid piece of cedar, no joints, no glue, just wood.

I found the wood for this at the local mulch site, my favorite place to “shop” for project wood. It was a bulged out part of a branch that I was hoping would be a nice burl. I have no idea as to species. It turned out to not have alot of character but tons of rotten, wet, buggy slop inside it. A huge larvae of some sort came shooting out of it at one point and landed right on my shoulder. Not being one to give up I kept turning. I stopped to check my work and when I pushed on a spot on the side that looked a little punky it fell right out. Again, I kept plugging along and I ended up with a bowl that won’t hold a darn thing but looks good on a shelf. i couldn’t have designed it if I tried but the bugs and rot did a fair job on it.

Well, my insert for my chuck still hasn’t arrived and thinking about my new lathe just sitting there all alone was killing me so I turned another sphere. I really need to think of some projects I can do between centers. I usually only use my tail stock to support the chuck or when preparing a blank for the chuck. Anyway, its still fun to share, thanks for looking.

My ten year old lathe gave up with a bang and a cloud of smoke a couple of weeks ago. I got my new Powermatic 3520B on Friday, assembled Saturday, and discovered this afternoon that I have the wrong insert for my chucks so I couldn’t finish any of my bowl or vessel projects. After staring at it for a few minutes I decided to make an oak sphere. No idea what do do with it other than roll it around but it was pretty fun to make. Now all I have to do is make a few more and a nice big bowl to display them in.

I turned this a few years ago from a solid walnut log, turned green. It is about 12 inches tall. It took several sessions to complete so I stored it in a five gallon bucket full of shavings between times at the lathe. Once it was complete I finished it with several coats of polyurethane to prevent it from drying out and checking. Almost ten years later and not a crack.

I’ve made rattles for several friends when they have had babies. My first rattles were for my kids when they were babies and they were much larger. It is make from a piece of mulch site wood that had some character but I couldn’t tell what species, and padauk. I have found that this is about as small as I can get and still have the babies fingers fit comfortably in the handle.