Oh yeah! That’s the way to do it!

Paul Moore of Stockroom Supply is one Crazy Canadian Woodworker! Here he is showing us how he does a bit of woodturning:

Back to the shop…

Here’s a neat set of table decorations that I made over the weekend. They are made out of Cherry and finished with milk paint. After burnishing, the milk paint gave these pieces an almost ceramic look.

Yes, they are made out of wood! In fact, these are the first pieces that I have made from wood cultivated from our woodlot located on the beautiful North Mountain of Nova Scotia, but that’s another story .

The tallest piece is 9″, the mid one is 6″ and the smallest one is about 4.5″. They are all about 3.75″ in diameter at their widest. They were finished by buffing with wax to bring out the shine.

Another of the cool effects of milk paint is that it also somehow reacts (likely the hydrated lime) with Cherry to give a bronze look where the paint is burnished through to the wood. Here’s some closeups:

Continue reading 'An Ahmaga Trio'

This is a bowl that I turned for the Nova Woodturners’ Guild Annual Fun Turn. Each year we are given a block of wood for this event, usually 6″ X 6″ X 3″. However, this year the block was 8″X8″X3″. We can turn anything we want. The only criteria is that we have fun. This project certainly fit the criteria because it sure was fun.

The bowl is made of Maple and it is approximately two and a half inches tall and just over seven inches in diameter. After turning it was carved and then burnt. Yes, burnt. I took a propane torch to it (this is where the fun really began ) and charred the whole thing except for the center bowl.

I was really surprised at how hard this was to do. I expected that the wood would go up in flames but it didn’t. I really had to keep the torch on it for a long time to get the charring that I wanted. You can see in the following photos where the flame didn’t char between a lot of the carved grooves. This worked in my favour, giving a neat effect.

Continue reading 'Carved And Burnt Maple Bowl'

Here’s a Southwest style pot that I made a couple of days ago. It is made of spalted Sugar Maple and it’s about 9 inches in diameter at it’s widest and about 6 inches tall.

This is a beautifully figured piece of spalted wood that could only have been accentuated with a bit of turquoise.

I finished it with just one coat of tung oil and then sprayed it with a matte finish to keep its natural look.

The grain and lines created by the spalting are quite mesmerizing. I find it hard to walk by this piece without picking it up and taking a closer look.

Here’s some more photos:

Continue reading 'Spalted Maple Pot With Turquoise'