I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I certainly did. I received a power carver which i will be using to embellish pieces in the upcoming turnings. I do need a bit of practice on it but with practice comes proficiency. I may have mentioned that my son is a metal artist and blacksmith so he made me a miniature lathe out of steel. It measures about 5″ in length. The amount of detail in this is phenomenal right down to the log being turned and the bowl gouges laying on the bed — we’re taking about a long labor of love. Thanks Nick!

Due to a touch of the flu I only spent a couple of hours out in the shop this weekend — and I didn’t feel well enough to complete any projects. I just poked about and did some planning for when I when I was back to normal again (well as normal as I get). I did try to visualize this piece as my next coloring project. I see the knot looks like a heart so it may get saved for Valentine’s day. I also had the batch of goblets to finish but once again I couldn’t even do small projects like that.  With working a full-time job losing a weekend is like losing a best friend. More to see next week — I promise!

I have a new venue for my products now. I had made a candy bowl for my wife to have at work (in Oxford). No one noticed it until the candy was gone and then everyone wanted to know where she had gotten it. She suggested I try to get some of my stuff in the Treasure Chest down on Morris Street street where Joan Nubie stocks lots of locally hand crafted products. Stop in and see her as the inventory is always changing and the work is “gift worthy”.

I had an old practice bowl sitting on the Wall of Shame that I gave to my son’s dearest one to practice her wood burning on. I had no idea I would be getting it back — with added embellishments. Quite the art piece! Thanks Britni!

Sycamore is one of my favorite woods since I found a pallet made from it a couple of years ago. I don’t normally make vessels primarily out of white wood except for an accent or feature ring but who knows. A friend trimmed a great big Sycamore tree and brought me some very nice sized branches. They sat there for a few weeks but I noticed just a small amount of checking so decided it was time to debark and seal them before losing the whole lot. I did turn him a nice little vase which I dried with the microwave technique. I was able to get the moisture level down to about 9% which is as low as most of the wood I turn. Time will tell but I turned it 2 weeks ago and it has not warped or cracked yet.

My wife likes the little birds that nest on the front porch and we do have a couple of small birdhouses out there already but her birthday is next week and I wanted to surprise her with something that didn’t take up more counter space in the house 🙂 I turned this one in the shape of an acorn from a sycamore limb (a big limb!) with a walnut top. There is a little drain hole in the bottom. I wasn’t sure how big the hole should be so I took a wild guess. Also the sycamore was still a bit wet so hopefully it won’t warp too much. I did nuke the wood in the microwave a few times after rough turning.