My First Bowl

amazonHere is a shot of the first bowl carved on my lathe. I should clarify - this is the first bowl I actually completed. I had more than one piece fly off the chuck and break - one hit the floor, the other broke on a rafter above my head. So please - wear your safety gear - a full face shield really helps.


First, here is the bowl:

It's relatively small and simple in design. However, it's cut from a piece of box elder which fell in my backyard and is riddled with worm holes and truly unique characteristics. I absolutely love the gnarled wood, which brings nature completely into the piece. This is about artwork, right?

I definitely had a learning curve figuring out how to initially mount the blank, and then remount on the opposite side to somplete it. I tried several methods I learned in the books, but none helped me make it to the end

I ended up buying a Barracuda chuck from PSI (off Amazon). It REALLY makes chucking a partially finished piece very easy. I really couldn't do it before I bought it. It's a pretty solid tool and well worth the money.

New Wood Turnings

Here are a few new projects completed on my wood lathe. Primarily concentrated on spindle turning, or turning between centers. As a beginner, this seems a safer, easier way to get the feel for the various turning tools.
These two are basically pieces of art work, meaning I created them for the thrill of doing so, and solely to enjoy. They were fun to create, and I love the feel and color of the wood itself. I saw a picture in Richard Raffan's Turning Wood book, of three turnings inspired by Irish and Middle Eastern Towers. These were inspired by that photo. They were created from a seasoned limb from a Black Walnut tree in our yard. The branch hung over our roof, and had to go.....straight to my garage! Now it sits in my living room!

Here is another shot of two small pieces turned from a burled oak from my backyard:

I thought they might make pretty neat Christmas ornaments. I will say, if you can get your hands on burled and weathered wood, you'll be amazed at the colors, grain and overall look. I'm attracted to the more gnarled pieces and enjoy creating unique pieces.