Had a hankering for some pizza a few months back so decided it was time to make a pizza peel. Then I thought, “Why make one when I can make six?” :)

Each peel is made from Maple with a contrasting handle made of either Walnut, Jatoba or Paudul (I made two of each).

The paddle part measures approx. 13×14 inches with a 6 inch handle.

This was a great project, makes an excellent kitchen addition and, as you can see from the last photo, they work well! :)

I have more info here on my website http://www.woodworkersguide.com/2012/03/27/pure-pizza-peel-pizzazz/ if you want to build one (or six) for yourself.

Here’s some spatulas and spurtles that I turned recently. They are all made of Maple and painted to spiff them up a bit. I make these for the craft circuit and they have proven to be quite popular.

In addition to a nice product or gift they make a great exercise in turning beads, etc.

All comments appreciated.

This is a Southwest style pot that I made for my wife last Christmas. It is made of Cherry and it is approximately 10 inches in diameter and 7 inches tall.

The lower portion features a ‘swirl’ pattern that was made by using pyrography tools. Both the lower portion, the rim and the inside were dyed black. The dyed parts were buffed with steel wool to give them an antique appearance.

Working with Cherry is always enjoyable (except that it makes me crave Cherry pie! :)). I was able to get a consistent wall thickness that was reasonably thin therefore giving the pot an acceptable lightness when handled.

This was a fun project, especially since it was to be a gift. Yes, she was very pleased.

Thanks for looking. Comments welcomed.

Here’s a piece that I recently finished that I call ‘All Pent Up’. I don’t usually name my pieces but because it was heavily decorated with pentagrams and star shapes I thought that in this case it was appropriate.

The piece is made from locally harvested Black Cherry and it has been heavily burned and carved. It is painted with milk paint and finished with beeswax. It is approximately 7″(18cm) in diameter and 3″ (8cm) tall with the lid on. The moon disc is a found piece made of bone.

The real challenge was to turn the lid so that it would fit flat against the base. Because of the star shape the lid had to follow the curve of the base exactly or there would be a noticeable gap between the lid and base. Likewise, the lid ring had to fit into the cavity correctly. Turning this was one of those moments where it was obvious that God was guiding my hands – it was achieved on the first attempt!

Although I had a vision of this piece painted you can imagine my dilemma at the point above where just a finish coat or perhaps a bit of stain would have made an equally appealing piece.

This was certainly a fun project and a challenging one. It brought together a lot of different aspects of art and craft that I been working on lately. I look forward to doing more pieces along this line.

Thanks for looking. Comments always appreciated!

Here are three segmented pens that I made a couple of month’s ago. It had been a while since I made any pens so I thought it was time to do a few special ones.

All three are made with the Sedona style pen kits. Each of them feature a different plate finish. One is in Gold Titanium, another in Black Titanium and the other is in Sterling Silver. They are finished with a CA finish and then buffed to a satin glow.

The Gold Titanium rollerball pen is made with Padauk, Maple, Walnut and African Blackwood.

The Black Titanium rollerball pen is made with Purpleheart, Maple and African Blackwood.

The Sterling Silver fountain pen is made with Padauk,Cherry and Walnut.

Thanks for looking. Comments gratefully accepted :)

Happy Easter, Lumberjocks!

Here’s what the Easter Bunny left me…

Here’s a disk sander that I recently made for my lathe that works really great!

I don’t use a disk sander all that often but it’s certainly nice to have access to one when I do need one so I decided to build one as a lathe attachment. This way, I’m not taking up valuable shop floor space or have the expense that I would with a stand alone disk sander. When this unit is not in use I can throw it on a shelf, under a bench or hang it on a wall out of the way until I need it. Setting it up consists of screwing the disk on to the lathe spindle and clamping the table onto the bed of the lathe – it only takes a few minutes.

I made the disk and the table from plywood and the faceplate out of Maple. So that I can easily add and remove different grit sanding disks I incorporated SIA’s Siaklett Disc system, which uses a handy hook and loop method to adhere the sanding disk.

If you’d like to make your own I have more photos and instructions here:

http://www.woodworkersguide.com/2012/04/03/a-disk-sander-for-the-lathe/

Hope this helps! Any questions, please ask.

Take care.

It’s been so long since I posted anything…

Here’s a wall bed that my wife and I built around this time last year. We ramped it up a notch and did it in the style of an armoire to further disguise the fact that it was actually a bed.

The panels are made with Oak plywood and the cabinet style frame work is all done in solid Oak. It’s about 80″ tall and 60″ wide. The wall bed hardware is from Create-A-Bed which we bought through Lee Valley. Although the Create-A-Bed company is adamant in not deviating from the plans we did change the suggested location of the bed legs so that we could incorporate them into the side columns of the framework.

This was a very enjoyable project that will not only will give us a lot of versatility with our room space but also looks like a great piece of furniture.

Here’s a recent turning that I did for our local woodturning competition. It’s called Peyoke Medicine Bowl.

The Peyoke Medicine Bowl is a tribal mortar and pestle. A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind and mix, in this case, medicinal herbs and plants. The mortar, which is almost 6″ in diameter and 3″ tall, is the bowl and the pestle, which is just over 5″ long and 1 1/2″ thick at it’s widest, is the bat-shaped stick that is used for grinding and pounding the herbs and plants in the dish of the mortar, creating either a powder or paste that would be used as herbal remedies.

To aid in holding, both the mortar and pestle have been textured by burning. For the appearance of frequent use over the course of generations these areas have been hand stained to a warm, brown, contrasting with the original Maple.

btw – It placed 3rd in the Novice class! Woohoo! :)

Thanks for allowing me to share.

Well, I finally finished the four piece living room set with the addition of this sofa table.

Like the other three pieces it was made from Red Oak that came from a couple of church pews.

It’s 18″ wide X 47″ long and 28″ tall and finished with a Flecto Varathane Golden Mahogany stain and then several coats of polyurethane.

It took 15 – 20 hours to finish this with about 120 hours in total for the four piece project that was spread over a two year period.

Though certainly nice to have the project fiinshed it was a labor of love. The church where the pews came from no longer exists and was the one that my wife and I were married in, as well as other family members and friends.

You can see the other pieces here and here.

Thanks for looking, take care.

Here’s a small collection of wine stoppers made out of Cocobolo and Zebrawood.

My daughter wanted a couple of pens to give to her Summer work term coworkers as a token of appreciation so I got really ambitious (or really crazy) and went into production and turned twenty of them. When you get into the swing of things they can really zip along. :)

The woods I used are Tulipwood, Purpleheart, Cherry, Hickory, Pauduk, Redwood, Zebrawood, Spalted Birch, Walnut, Ash, Mexican Cocobolo, Kingwood, Bubinga, Tigerwood, Red Palm, Elder Burl and Maple Burl. There’s also a couple of Acrylics thrown in for fun.

I guess I’m one up on the Christmas rush… LOL!

I recently turned this small vase out of Ash. It is about 5″ tall, 3 1/2″ in diameter at its widest and an 1 3/4″ at its base.

As I finished it with the Beall Buffing System and noticed that the red Tripoli gave the grain a pinkish hue. No doubt a concern when using this system but on this piece it was one of those ‘happy’ accidents. :)

Right now this piece is all wrapped up and waiting to go with me this afternoon to a BBQ. I’m giving it to the host who has been very helpful and supportive to me and a lot of others over the years.

On my last ‘rust run’ to Maine in the Spring I was able to pick up 11 James Swan chisels. I recently finished the handles for them.

The handles are all about 5.5” long, except for the two turning tools which are about 12” long. The ferrules are 3/4” copper pipe.

The James Swan Tool Company out of Seymour, Connecticut made augers, awls, bits, chisels, drawing knives, handles and screwdrivers from 1877 to 1951.

The history and quality of these tools will make a fine addition to my shop. The fact that I had the opportunity to make the handles adds to the warm and fuzzy feeling I get when I use them. :)

Thanks for looking.

Whoa, it’s been so long since I uploaded something…

This is a pair of Craftsman Style End Tables that I recently completed. They’re about 20” X 24” and 24” tall. Made from Red Oak and finished with a Golden Mahogany stain and wipe-on poly.

They are parts 2 and 3 of a 4 piece set. Part 1 is the Craftsman Style Coffee Table that I completed a while ago. The next piece is a matching sofa table.

This was a very rewarding project with several things learned:

To be more critical when choosing the wood for different parts. I believe that with a bit more care I could have matched the grain in the legs better so that, at least for when viewing the front or backs (one of the tables is viewed from both sides), the grain would have been more symmetrical and looked quartered sawn.

Second, still working with symmetry and grain, I should have cut the front top and bottom stretchers and the drawer front from a single piece of wide board. This would have then flowed better as one piece.

Third, the drawers. I’m not completely pleased with them. As all drawers, they should have been dovetailed. When I graduate to a dovetail saw and become competent enough with it I hope to remake them… though probably never will, but the thought gets me through the day. ;)

If interested you can follow the build process on my blog:

• Craftsman Style End Tables – Part 1

• Craftsman Style End Tables – Part 2

• Craftsman Style End Tables – Part 3

• Craftsman Style End Tables – Done!

Because of it’s shape I call this a ‘Squat Pot’. The base is made of Birch and the ‘lip’, or spout, is made of Walnut. It measures 7.5″ in diameter and without the ‘lip’ is only 1.5″ tall. Total height is 2.5″.

The entry hole was opened to 1 5/8, just enough to allow me to reach almost to the edge with the hollowing tool. The Walnut ‘lip’ was turned separatly and then later glued on, reducing the entrance hole to about 7/8 on an inch.

The piece is finished with the EEE Cream and Shellawax combo.

Thanks for looking!

This is an enclosed Maple bowl that I recently did (I’ve been a bit remiss in my project postings lately). It is accented with leather lace, turquoise beads and silver findings.

It is approximately 5″ in diameter and 2 1/4″ tall and finished with just a bit of beeswax.

I believe that the deep color grain contrast, the knot and the crack adds to the ‘rustic’ look of the piece.

Thanks for looking!

No, I didn’t build this with a ‘Thoober’ in mind but you might think so! LOL! This was a fun project that I made as an Easter present for my wife (she calls it a Seuss Hoose). It sits in on a tree that the top broke off of a couple of years ago and is in full view of our dining room table (actually it’s pretty hard to miss!) where she delights in watching the many birds that frequent our place. I had to come up with something to top the Easter Bonnet Plant Pot I made her last year, and it sure did! :)

The house measures about 40 inches from the finial to the bottom of the base with a maximum diameter of about 13 inches. It has two levels with two ‘apartments’ on each level. Both the finial and the center portion of the base were turned. The ‘pole’ is around 12’ high.

It was nice to relax a bit and make something whimsical and crazy.

Thanks for looking. Happy Easter everyone!

Here is a fun piece that I recently turned for a ‘Fun Turn’ contest at the woodturning club I belong to. The challenge was to turn something from a 6”X6”X3” block of Ash.

The piece represents a family and their shared heritage. It is symbolic, of course, of a parents hopes and plans for their children and the childs dreams of the future that this positive support gives. (Note the childs outward upward view.)

It stands almost 6” tall and the base is 5 1/2” in diameter. It is finished with wire-burned embellishments and beeswax.

I had a great time with this and got a few more ideas while turning so I hope to create some more.

Thanks for taking the time to look. Comments are most welcomed. (Please be kind :))

Here’s a turned lidded box made out of Cocobolo with an Ebony lid and finial.

It stands 7 1/2” tall from the base to the top of the finial and is about 3” in diameter at its widest. The base is 3 1/4” tall and the finial and lid is 4 1/14” tall. It is finished with EEE Cream and Turner’s Polish.

I call it ‘Vase On Vase’ because I happly discovered while turning that the grain pattern looked like a vase. I continued to turn it, trying to follow the shape of the grain.

The domed lid sits inside the undercut rim of the base and has a concave bottom. The finial was turned separate.

Thanks for looking! All comments welcomed!