Woodworker's Guide » Woodturning

Woodturning With A 150hp Lathe

Woodworker's Guide — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:39:38 +0000

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…

Shop Time With My Nephew

Woodworker's Guide — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:55:52 +0000

My nephew, on my wife’s side, and his girlfriend came over for a day in the shop. After recently taking up residence together they realized that they were in need of a salad bowl and a cutting board so these became the projects for the day. Quite ambitious, I thought, but when they went home they left with a salad bowl and a cutting board.

Both of them did really, really well. They took turns at each of the tasks throughout the day, giving them not only the chance to share in the making of their projects but to gain a bit of insight and experience in working with wood. They took instruction well, exhibited confidence and completed the challenge that they had set for themselves. Kudos, kudos, kudos to them!

Here’s some photos of the day:

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An Ahmaga Trio

Woodworker's Guide — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:31:35 +0000

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:

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Carved And Burnt Maple Bowl

Woodworker's Guide — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:21:54 +0000

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.

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Spalted Maple Pot With Turquoise

Woodworker's Guide — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:16:20 +0000

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:

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African Blackwood Boxes

Woodworker's Guide — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:05:56 +0000

Here are a couple of small woodturned boxes made from African Blackwood. The larger one is about 3″ tall and 2 1/4″ in diameter. The smaller one is about 2″ tall and 2 1/2″ in diameter. As you can see, they both have been textured quite a bit.

The taller box has been textured with staggered ‘brick’ to make its cylindrical shape almost castle-like, perhaps a turret .

The smaller box, with it’s fez shape, seemed more suited to be mostly textured with a few bands of plain wood left for contrast.

Both of them have been finished only by polishing and buffed with wax creating a brilliant shine.

Here’s some more photos:

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A Spalted Maple Hollow Form

Woodworker's Guide — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:03:48 +0000

Here’s a hollow form made of spalted Sugar Maple that I finished recently. It was turned while still wet and since it has been finished it has slowly taken on an expected slight ovoid shape, giving it a unique appearance.

It is 7 1/2″ by 4 1/2″ and finished with tung oil. The hole in the top is 7/8″ and the wall thickness was turned to around 3/16 of an inch which gives the surprise of lightness when lifted. The base was stained black.

This was my first attempt with my new 5/8″ hollowing tools from Trent Bosch, which I’m obviously quite impressed with.

Here’s a few more photos:

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Southwest Bowl With Laced Rim

Woodworker's Guide — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:47:09 +0000

Here’s a Southwest style bowl that I turned for my wife for Christmas. It is made out of Maple and it is 12 1/4 inches wide and 4 inches high and features ‘sinew’ lacing around the rim as well as a bit of turquoise inlay.

The rim was first stained a Cherry red and then over 15 yards of ‘sinew’ lacing was laced in a criss-cross pattern around it.

There was a small area on the bottom where a branch had been so I cleaned it out and inlayed some crushed turquoise in it.

Both of these features really accent the Maple, adding a bit of Southwest flair.

Here’s some more photos:

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Godina

Woodworker's Guide — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:58:53 +0000

Here’s a piece that I created specifically for the Nova Woodturners’ Guild Turning of Age Exhibition last month. I call it ‘Godina’, which, loosely translated, is Croatian for ‘aged’. Here, have a look at why I believe the name is appropriate:

The bowl is made of Maple and has been heavily textured. This was helped by the fact that the wood was fairly punky when I started. It was then painted with a metallic type paint and then over-layed with a layer of Verdi Gris. The base was made of Pine and painted with a crackle paint to match the old, decayed look of the bowl.

The diameter of the bowl is almost 7 inches and it is 4 inches tall. The overall height of the piece is 10 inches and the base is between 4 and 5 inches square.

The different textures, the mix of woodturning with woodworking and the finishes were all really fun to explore.

Here’s a few more photos:

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A Charming Collection Plate

Woodworker's Guide — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 13:25:00 +0000

Here’s a piece that I call the Collection Plate, since it is a shallow, flat-bottomed plate for displaying a collection of items. It could be used for a small collection of brightly coloured stones, perhaps some aptly, appropriate old coins or like in this case, just a few glass balls.

While creating it I was struck by the remembrance of ornate silver collection plates that passed through the church pews during my youth, not like the baskets of today. It’s flat-bottomed bowl left a lot of wood in the base, therefore a fair amount of weight. I left this to give the piece a sense of substance, that no matter what is in the bowl it’s worth is substantial, where mass is relative to worth.

It is made of Birch and it is 10 1/2″ in diameter and 2″ tall. It has a 2″ rim that has been textured. It was finished with tung oil and then buffed using the Beale system.

Here are some more photos:

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