Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Project updates

Hi Everyone,

Well, it is really warm and absolutely beautiful in the Twin Cities. We've had rain and everything is blooming like crazy and we have flowers everywhere. The lilacs are blooming and we have lavender and pink and red lilac all along the freeways here. I have a choke cherry tree in my front yard that is covered with white blooms and I can smell their perfume in the house. A lovely site.

Warm weather means that glue will readily dry and so it's time to begin laminating wood in earnest.  I've just placed a block of kempas (red)wood, black walnut, rosewood, and hickory in the clamps in the wood shop. This will be a lovely bowl when it's done--and probably as hard as a rock to turn too.

I also have a block out of hickory and black walnut to do next. And I have some small scraps that I'm going to make a little bowl out of for a neighbor's cat--Cedric, you've got a present coming!

In addition, I'm going to make a tray out of laminated white oak and kempas, and I have two solid planks out of black ash and hickory that I'm going to make small trays out of. Our last block is a small block of black walnut and mahogany that I'm going to make into a tea box for a wonderful friend who is having a birthday in about 3 weeks.

The wedding present bowl is having problems: the finish is not going on very smoothly. Most of the bowl has a beautiful glossy finish but there are areas of end grain were the finish was deeply absorbed into the wood and the surface is dull looking. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point...sigh...

We've had a busy spring season and it looks to get busier so get some coffee and hang around the wood shop--you won't be disappointed!

More later,

VW

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