Sculpted Cane Commission

 I wanted to document one of my new commissions; a sculpted cane. I am excited about the creative freedom a cane offers. Traditionally, a cane is used as a wonderful palette on which to carve and paint so we will see how true to tradition we choose to stay. First, I did find the length of the raw material was at the capacity of my 35 inches.

 Along the way I measured for an accurate fit with the handle...

and used a new technique with a bowl gouge. I welcomed the challenge to not use my steady rest because it was going to be fully sculpted I was not concerned about the finished surface quality. I scraped with the gouge at about 50 degrees while equalizing the pressure with my overhand to avoid too much vibration. It worked fine for my purposes here. Any thinner and it would be no good, I will thin it up fine through the hand work...

Black Locust treasure

I love the smell of Black Locust in the morning! I have a friend who needed his cane wood replaced so I have been looking for some branch stock. Lots of crotch wood in this load. Look for it in the future!

I love popcorn bowls!

 Failure is an option! Here is a little insight into the process of developing a production piece. First it must be repeatable. The size and profile must be relative. Below are three attempts at a popcorn bowl. The profile and size has been tweaked a bit until the one on the far right looked like something I can move forward on. Blank is cut from a 12" template and the finished bowl ended up a bit under 10" by 6.5" tall. The final model is then weighed every day from the time it is roughed. When the weight is unchanged for a few days, it is dry and ready for finish/carving. Right now it is losing an oz. of water a day. We will keep and eye on the progress. Basement storage will slow the drying. Green turned it will change to a slightly oval shape. The defining characteristic of our 2012 popcorn bowl is full round bottom. This allows the bowl to rock but not fall over.   

Salad bowl model

Our new Salad bowl features Kaiser design across the base and a slight Ogee profile. Measures 16" by 5.5". Thickness is just under 3/8. Finished in polished mineral oil and wax food safe finish. Heirloom carved details and utensil sets are always available!

We have a new Salad Bowl 2012!

Tip of the day- Bowl Blanks

Tip of the day August 15th, 2012

1. Always chainsaw 90 degrees from your pith line
    because you can never get a quality finish cut
     hitting end grain at an angle.
2. Band saw using a set size of circle templates with
    a hole in the middle. Hold it in place with an awl.
    After it is cut, flip the piece and use the awl to
    register the center on the other side too. Now
    you will have a much easier time centering your
    bowl on the lathe.
3. If one of your sides of the bowl ends up being a
    section that was closer to the pith line, your bowl
    may warp more than you rough out thickness can
    compensate for.
4. I have always had great success drying blanks in
    paper grocery bags. They fit up to a 14 inch bowl.
    Put it in the bag and pack with shavings, then slide
    another bag over the open end. If you stack up a
    few of these bag sandwiches in the corner it is even
    better. The idea being to just slow the free water escape
    and keep the open air off the rough blank.

Let's get into that Walnut

Not for the timid, a 30 pound piece of Walnut crotch from my journey on Tuesday. It is set up to be pretty special so far. I did finish the rough out last night. The figure is spectacular! I look forward to a wonderful large salad bowl or Coffee Table piece by Christmas time. What a gift!

A day of Walnut...and other things....

 Fell into some excellent Walnut today. Drove 45 minutes north but it was totally worth it...at this point. I would have no idea how the day would unfold from this point.

 Well, here is what came next. Twenty minutes later one of the tires shreds on the busy freeway which makes it so wonderful to change to the spare....






Of course, the spare was fairly flat and I had to pray to make it to a gas station, which I did. Then off to Farm and Fleet I went... $176 dollars and an hour  later I had two new tires, and lots of really nice Walnut!

Time to relax and paint the ends of what I am not going to get to for a while. Here's a little advise, always drill into the pith a bit before you paint so you can line up to cut down the pith at the band saw later. All said, it was a great day!

Oak Bowls

One of the great things about the business of woodturning is that even in failure, the material still has use. On an unusually cool summer night in Wisconsin, these bowls serve their noble final purpose on the back patio.

"The specific point of failure is the most opportune time in a mans life. Greet it with eyes wide open. Recognize the good in all things, and be a servant the teacher herein."
                                            Thomas Edison

Magazine photos of my selections- Turn-On Chicago 2012

Bottom View Open Hurricane

Maple hurricane bowl

Standard hurricane Bowl (Standing)

"Guarded Treasure" Oak Twisted Tail Piece

Stuart Batty- Fundamentals of woodturning

1. What  makes woodturning difficult is because it has grain which translates our skill.
2. We are always trying to cut side grain, no matter how the wood in orientated in the chuck.
3. Chucking- 2 elements- accurate and secure. Must re-grip tightening often as wood fibers will compress.
4. Elements to a sharp tool-
Angle of the edge- Lower to number of angle the more the tool self feeds
through the wood. The higher the angle number the more pressure is required in the cut. 40* is the primary angle which is considered neutral.
Shape- 40* on the bevel
5. Practice makes permanent- good or bad.
6. Tool rest factors- Angle, height, Overhang/Length of the handle.
7. Have some water at your grinding station- not to cool the metal, but to lubricate the grinding process.

Aesthetics of wood- How to orientate your log

1. Don't be random when cutting your log.
2. Know what you are making before you hit it with the chainsaw.
3. To be balanced in the end, the rough wood center line needs to go from the bark to the pith (face grain turn).
4. Face grain will always be oval. End grain turning will always be fairly round.
5. Big diameter woods will limit drying movement if you are able to stay further away from the pith.
6. Drying wood moves in all directions in different amounts.
7. Green turned wood can't be sanded effectively until free moisture has been released.

What did I learn from stuart batty?

1. How to clean cut never happens by using your left hand on the push cut. The pull cut is acceptable.
2. I have been finishing my turning with my speed way too slow should be at for over 1000 rpm on finiahed cut.
3. Sharpening with a jig does not allow you to control the angle of the wings.
4. Feet position- knee to start, angle of feet equals angle of cur sweep. Long bowl sweep outside foot in finished spot.

More from day one at Turn On Chicago Seminar

John Jordan during his carving seminar

An excellent example of Dixies work

The instant gallery at Turn On Chicago.

Dixie Biggs is my new hero

Her stuff is not really even conceivable in pictures. If you get a chance to pick 1 up and see it you'll know the surface quality is exquisitely detailed.

This one is Sold today for $2,500!

John Jordan hollowing

The first rotation of the day was Johns hollowing demonstration. He had a few of his finished carved work on display. They have more weight then I expected, The finish on the pieces are very nice.

The preparation in over...now comes the fun!

 Coming down today from the pressure of preparing for the event this weekend. It's been to sleep after 1am for the last few days. But, now all three pieces are ready and I am pretty proud of them. Here is a piece of Mulberry I just felt compelled to mess with this morning. Prepare yourself for a massive amount of Blogs starting right in the morning on Friday. I will make all of you feel as if you are there.....

Turn on Chicago- Anyone out there going?

I really would like to meet up with some of you during the Chicago event that starts already next Friday. If any of you are going, click on this post and drop me a comment- remember: two heads are always better than one! Look forward to hearing from you!

And then there was wood burning....

 Here I am getting a little wild with the wood burner pen. This is a good view of my twisted bottoms I am modeling for the first time. I dip the piece in mineral oil and let it sit overnight before I begin burning. This softens the wood and intensifies the color by increasing the heat of the pen.

Here's the life of an artist. Huddled in the corner with one light, burner, and a fan vent......

A beautiful day for a little carving....

Pfeil carving knives. Don't you dare buy anything else. Taking advantage of a beautiful day outside today to finish carving my links on this piece of quilted maple. I'm getting to the end so the pressures on after investing over 10 hours into the piece. If you have never invested that amount of time into something 1/8th of an inch think, I do recommend it. As the quote goes, "It changes a man". But seriously, a lot is learned when dealing with gallery pieces like this one.

It's never too early....

Good morning, Sadie! 6am and Sadie was interested in what was going on in the shop! She thought it was a great time to clean up, do you like her outfit? Have a great turn everyone!

Glass cabinets

Took some time to put these glass cabinets together but when they're all finished they look pretty nice . Here's 1 of 2. 60 dollars for the pair on craigslist what a deal!

A messy situation

 Is it wrong to have your 10 year old daughter clean up the waste if it is taller than she is? Well...she did give me some homemade clean up the garage coupons for clean up (very cute). As I look closer at them there is no stipulations on volume of chips.....(:                                                                                                                                         

It was a "rough" night last night.

Flame Box Elder- Excellent maple cousin....

Flame Box Elder Natural Edge 11 inches

 Here's some great flame Box Elder natural edge bowls from todays work. There are some woods that just do well as a certain form. Flame Box for instance is excellent as a natural edge because its decorative figure and coloring screams non-functional. Box Elder, if you haven't worked with it is a dream to work wet. It is like butter. When it dries it sand very easily and takes a great finished luster.

Figured Maple Closed Vessel

Hey! Finished piece 8x8 Figured Maple.

Really would like to work this top a bit more on different forms.
Ripple makes it look like it's swirling. Luck or chance?
 I think not my friends!   

Can't see it but I left a little tail at the bottom to indicate'
that it should be presented on its' side. Mineral oil and
Brushing Lacquer polished with 0000 wool.

Comments now open to all!

Sorry, folks. It seems that I had the comment ability restricted. Should be open to all now. Thanks for your patience with my electronic inadequacies! Look forward to hearing from you!

Organic top on a closed form

Its been hotter than a two dollar pistol here in Milwaukee. I have felt such a sense of shame the last few days for not giving the shop the attention it deserves. I was up at 4:30 this morning (it was only 98 degrees during that time) to finish this piece. It took about 3 hours to do the rough sculpting as you see here. I like the organic look of the top and may advance it to my next piece and see how it goes. That's what it is all about, find out what is working and move it into the next piece to see how far you can push it.