Here’s a wooden canister that I recently made of Ash. The 9″ sides are tapered slightly from its 4″ diameter base to an approximate 3″ diameter lid, which is topped with a Cocobolo knob.

It was finished with tung oil and then buffed and shined with the three step Beale system.

The grain of the Ash really accentuates this piece, making it appear taller and the sides more tapered.

The lid fits perfectly into the base with a 1/4″ tenon. It’s not too tight and not too loose.

Here’s a few more photos:

Continue reading 'Ash Canister With Cocobolo Lid Pull'

Now here is an interesting item. It’s a small vase made of Ash that has a flute made of Pauduk. It is about 5 inches tall, 3 1/2 inches in diameter at its widest and an 1 1/2 inches at its base. The Pauduk flute is 1 1/2″ tall.

The interesting thing about this project is that it may look a bit familiar. I originally made the flute for another project but when the size ended up being incorrect I thought I’d save it for another project. As I was trying it on other pieces I have around my home, just to get some ideas for future projects, I tried it on a small Ash form that I made last fall and it fit perfect! I couldn’t have planned it any better, if I tried. Really.

Here’s a few more photos:

Continue reading 'Ash Hollow Form With Pauduk Flute'

Here’s the Calabash bowl that I made at the seminar with Mike Mahoney that I attended a few weeks ago.

A Calabash bowl is of African descent and was originally made from Calabash gourds. Today it refers to any round bottomed bowl.

This Calabash bowl is made of Poplar and is around 8″ in diameter and just over 3″ tall. It was finished with a good soaking of Walnut Oil and then when dried it was lightly sanded and soaked again with Walnut Oil. This gave the usual almost white color of the Poplar to take on a mellow yellowish hue.

Because it is made of Poplar the bowl is very light and because it has a round bottom the bowl can be easily rocked but it always rights itself, sort of like a Weeble.

Here are some more photos:

Continue reading 'A Calabash Bowl Made Of Poplar'

Here’s a project that I had in my head for quite some time and I was finally inspired to make it for the recent Nova Woodturners Woodturning Competition. I call it ‘Peyoke Medicine Bowl’.

The Peyoke Medicine Bowl is a tribal mortar and pestle. A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind and mix, in this case, medicinal herbs and plants. The mortar, which is almost 6″ in diameter and 3″ tall, is the bowl and the pestle, which is just over 5″ long and 1 1/2″ thick at it’s widest, is the bat-shaped stick that is used for grinding and pounding the herbs and plants in the dish of the mortar, creating either a powder or paste that would be used as herbal remedies.

To aid in holding, both the mortar and pestle have been textured by burning. For the appearance of frequent use over the course of generations these areas have been hand stained to a warm, brown, contrasting with the original Maple.

Here are a few more photos of the Peyoke Medicine Bowl:

Continue reading 'The Peyoke Medicine Bowl'