Over the Christmas holidays I had the chance to spend a day in the shop with my daughter. As you can well imagine this was a great thrill for me and more importantly, she enjoyed it too!

The day in the shop came about as a Christmas present from her the year before. She had asked me what I wanted and since the only thing to get a man that has everything is ‘time’ I told her “something that we can do together”. So one of the things she gave me was a “coupon” for a day with her doing anything of my choice. When I received the gift I quickly said, “Shop time!” Try as we might throughout the year our schedules just didn’t mesh but she stayed with us over the holidays this year which gave the perfect time to redeem my coupon.

In addition to the great time we had she also a very productive day turning. She was able to turn a pen, a wine stopper and a bowl!

We started off the morning with some instruction on safety and tool use and then proceeded to practice the various tools that included the roughing gouge, the skew and spindle gouge.

After lunch she began her projects, beginning with a Sierra style pen made of Red Palm:

Continue reading 'A Delightful Daughter Day'

Here a fruit bowl made out of Ash that I made for my daughter for Christmas.

Well, I didn’t actually make it for her but when she saw it she showed so much interest that it was obvious that she wanted it. I was more than happy to give it to her as a gift.

The bowl is approximately 11″ in diameter and just over 2″ high. It is finished with several coats of Tung oil and then buffed with the Beall Buff System. This gave a very high-gloss surface, much glossier than anything else I had done, which I expect what made it so appealing to my daughter.

Here’s a few more photos:

Continue reading 'An Ash Fruit Bowl'

Last month I finished the Craftsman Style Sofa Table, the final piece of the four part living room set that I made from the Oak of a couple of reclaimed church pews.

It certainly is a welcomed addition to the coffee table and the end tables that I completed in the months before.

With the experienced gain from the previous three pieces the construction went quite smooth and somewhat quickly. The funny thing about it was that I tried to do this table as fast as I could and I did, almost. From stock to a standing table it only took about 12 hours over a three day period. However, it stood in the shop for almost four months waiting to be sanded and the finish applied! So much for getting it done as fast as possible.

The finished size of the table is 18″ wide X 47″ long and 28″ tall. It is stained with Flecto Varathane Golden Mahogany and then several coats of polyurethane was applied.

Here’s a few more photos:

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style Sofa Table Completed!'

Here’s a small bowl that I made from the Old Man Maple that I mention in previous posts. I made this one specifically for my mother-in-law who’s backyard the Maple tree used to reside in. She was quite pleased with her Christmas gift, certainly one that she will cherish for the sentimental meaning it plays part to.

The bowl is approximately 6 inches in diameter and about 5 inches tall and finished with a simple buffed beeswax.

The walls of the bowl were turned quite thin with a thicker ‘rolled’ rim, giving the walls more stability and strength. There are several spots of spalting that, with the beeswax finish, gives a rustic look and feel to the piece.

Here are a few more photos:

Continue reading 'Mom’s Old Man Maple Bowl'