I’ve had a bag of turquoise dust in stock for a long time and finally decided to use some of it. This piece would be a nice little change dish to store contents of your pockets. The contrast between the walnut and the turquoise is quite striking to say the least. I did figure out a few things that will make the next piece a bit better (there are a couple of tiny voids in the dust that should have been filled after sanding). I did manage to sand it very flush despite the rock-hard quality of the dust. This piece is about 6″ in diameter and has a few coats of lacquer followed by a good rub down with 2500 grit and then a few coats of wax.

One of the best gifts you can receive is lumber – you just can’t go wrong with that. My son came toting 2 nice cherry boards Christmas. He thinks I am a hard one to gift but he hit it on the head with this. I have already tore into that wood and have several projects in progress. I have totally depleted my stock of lidded pots thanks to the giving season so I need to build my stores back up.

I did go out and buy myself a dust collector for the shop — that was my gift from me to me and to my health. I am on vacation this week so set up will be interspersed between having fun turning.More Views and comments

Sorry, I have not posted for a while — I went off on vacation and had other projects that needed to be done when I got back I usually do what I call “hybrid-segmented” bowls but I wanted to do one in all segments for the challenge. A friend brought me a walnut board 2″ x 11″ x 12′ so the least I could do is turn him a bowl out of that piece. All walnut, 6 rings of 10 pieces each and a solid bottom with a shellac and wax finish. It is as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

Maybe no wood is actually junk. I grabbed this small log of walnut out of the wood room for practice. The shape was dictated by some damage to the wood, sap wood and the general shape of the log. I have to confess the longer I turned on it the more I liked it. The bowl is only about 5″ in diameter. I liked the purpleheart for the lid until I looked at it for a while and now not so much — but it’s not like I’m going to replace it at this point. The spindle is Brazilian Cherry.

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This bowl started out as a short bowl with a rim right above the ash banding. I thought the proportions were way off so I cut the rim off and added another layer of walnut and shaped it out like you see here. At 8″ diameter it is a bit larger than the pots I usually turn. I did have multiple requests for one of these so the design must be acceptable. I did learn a few tricks on this one that should speed up subsequent pots. I decided that maple would be a better wood for the banding though since the grain in the ash is a bit too grainy.More Views and comments

Another bowl for a silent auction – this one for the Trappe Volunteer Fire Department silent auction to be held the weekend of June 26th. This bowl is canary wood, the lid is cherry and the finial is walnut. I had never even heard of Canary wood but it turned beautifully and the color is spectacular. I may have to go and bid on this bowl myself so I can get it back.  The grain on the cherry lid seems to curl around the finial – totally unintentional but a great effect that I would have planned if I thought of it!

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