Beginner ideas

Bowls bowls bowls and a whole lotta wood shavings

Hi Everyone,
Today Im continuing to work on the walnut bowls and on the laminated Brazilian cherry/black ash fruit bowl from yesterday.

The walnut bowls continue to progress. The bowl that is going to the friend that gave me that giant walnut log earlier this year, is going well. Im done cutting it and Im sanding it smooth right now. Heres a picture:


It is dry and stable and in a couple more days it will be ready for a finish.

Several weeks after cutting this bowl, I cut another bowl. This bowl has been much more problematic: it warped badly and it had some cracks in it. I fretted over this critter for weeks and wasnt sure that I could save it but I gave it a shot and it is turning well too. Ive cut away a lot of the cracking and the bowl has been trued up inside and out so I think this one still has a chance. Ive finished cutting it as well and have begun sanding it. I dont have a picture of it at the moment but I will post one soon.

I also began a bowl a week or two ago out of laminated brazilian cherry and black ash and its turning out super. Here are some pictures:


Black ash, so called because its darker than white ash and often has black streaks in the heart wood, is a wonderfully hard, dense wood that cuts and finishes like a champ and the same can be said of brazilian cherry. They also have a wonderful scent-black ash has a sweet, hickory-like scent and brazilian cherry smells like bath soap. My shop always smells like something (I work right next to some very large, smelly trash cans) but today it was really pleasant. And as I cut down, the black streaks in the wood began to show. Very nice. This will make a really nice Christmas present for someone.  I can hardly wait to put a finish on this bowl. Wow!

Lastly, I dont think there are many occupations that are messier than wood turning. If you look at wood turning shops on line you often see the wood turner standing in mountains of wood shavings and saw dust. I dont let my shop get to that point, but I do put out the shavings in prodigious amounts:


And I just produced this in the last 2 days! Does anyone have an idea as to what I can do with all of this wood? I should have a contest-hmmm....maybe I will.....Ill give it some heavy thought. In the meantime if you would like to have all this wonderful wood, let me know. Its going in the trash if I cant find a use for it.

And tomorrow Im going to have a little procedure done on my back. It seems my MRI horrified a few of my doctors ( and me too!) so Ill be resting tomorrow. But Ill be back soon with the bowls and other adventures in the wood shop so get some coffee, put your feet up and stay tuned.

Thanks for dropping by,
VW.