Yes, that’s what I’m calling it…a round obelisk scuplture. It’s about 20” tall with the base. The finish on the spalted hackberry is 6 or 7 coats of rattle can laquer. The rough sawn oak base was burned with a propane torch and then while it was still a bit hot I put some wax on it and then buffed it immediately. That gave it a deep dark somewhat shiny finish while still leaving a natural rough sawn look…it also made a mess of my hands and shirt.

Comments and critques are always welcome.

Haven’t posted anything here for quite awhile…this is a 13” X 7” bowl from some cherry I got from the grounds crew at work. Possibly the larges bowl I’ve ever turned. I turned it green to finish and wrapped it in a couple paper bags for a week. I took it out for some pics and stuck it back in for a few more weeks. Only a few small cracks have shown up and I filled them with sanding dust and CA glue. It has already been claimed by the wife for use in the house as soon as I do a little more sanding and add a few more coats of danish oil. Sorry for the cell phone pics, but the real camera was in use elsewhere.

Woods used are: spalted hackberry, mullberry, spalted maple, cherry and peach.

Stoppers are from Ruth Niles.

This a piece from a group that I was comissioned to make recently. I tried an inlaid butterfly that is kinda ugly. I had to add some sanding dust and CA to fill around it, but it did stop the crack! the black circles are ebonized with vinegar and steel wool after I put a spiral in them with a dremal tool while running the lathe. It is about 13” wide and 10” tall at the tip. I also made a stand for it out of a wenge dowel and a small piece of spalted maple. Comment and critiques please.

Maple and Cherry cutoffs that I picked up for almost free. They had laying around since last winter when I intended to make it…just uncovered them in a pile of other stuff last week. I think more boards will be on the way soon…

I managed to finally finish a bench I’ve been building for over a year. I couldn’t find anything to make the top out of, at least not in my price range (free). We rearranged a few things in the house recently and needed to downsize the computer desk. I had made it out of an old table and some doors long ago. The table top is made from 1.5” strips of pine…now I have my bench top!

The drawers were salvaged from Drake University when they rehabed some dorms and were giving away built in desks. The rest is just 2X material that I found at building sites. My dad gave me the vice, he found 3 of them when packing up his shop in KS! It’s 46” wide, 28” deep and 38” tall (I like tall benches)

This is the other half of the log that also produced this bowl. This one is a little smaller in diameter, only 10” but just about the same height, 4”. Pics were taken quickly because I was running late to a house warming party, and I needed to get pics taken fast. It now sits atop a counter in a friends newly built home and they want some more pieces too! Comments/critiques please!

This bowl was turned from a large bunch of elm I picked up from along the road about a year ago. I had cut a few of the logs in half, sealed them and then just put them on a shelf. I was going to rough turn a round bowl, but the wood seemed to be stable enough to just turn to finish. I decided to leave the shape the same as the bowl blank because there was some interesting grain from a small branch protruding out of it. I did add a little CA glue to hold that bit together, but the rest is holding on. I will be drilling a hole and adding a brass rod in order to enable this piece to stand on end as the last photo below shows. 13” side to side and 3” tall with 4 coats of danish oil.

Comments/critques are always encouraged and welcomed.

While cleaning up the shop a few weeks ago I found a buried crotch log that my dad gave me last year. I cut it in half and turned this with one side. 11” wide and 4” tall. Finish is danish oil.

Comments/critques please.

Finally had some time at the lathe in the shop…this one is spalted maple, 8” wide and about 3” tall. Finsih so far is just one coat of danish oil, but more finish sanding and some more oil are in its future. The wood was punky and I almost gave up on it. Comments and critiques please….

I saw a thread by Bill Wyko, a very accomplished segmented turner, over on SMC about a month ago and decided it would be a great project for a Christmas gift for my BIL. He enjoys a good cigar with a drink out on the patio during the summer months. Made from a scrap bin cutoff of 5/4 walnut, it is about 7” round and 3” high. I was going to try and the slot for the cigar on the router table but after some tense moments on trials with scraps and just about not being able to count to ten with fingers. I’ll stick to turning I think. I took out my old ryobi dremel knock off and “carved it out” Finish is friction polish as that is what Bill Wyko used on his. He is a cigar smoker and said it works well.

Comments are encouraged please….

8” tall and 6” wide at the rim. If your interested, you can see more pictures and learn more about it here.