Odds and Ends, Experiments, and no ants...

Hi Everyone,

Well it's a lovely Saturday afternoon here. It's sunny and warm-tomorrow it's going to cool down and we may get snow so we need to get outside to the wood shop for some turning and carving while we can.

Ok first turning: I have a good friend who will be retiring next year and I'm going to make her a small salad bowl that will be just a right size for her and her husband (he's retiring too, on the same day). I've acquired a block of maple and I have some left over Goncalo Alves wood from another project and I've laminated them together to make a turning blank. By laminating the two pieces together I'll be able to make a bowl that uses the entire block of maple for the volume and leave the foot to the Goncalo Alves wood. Here's a photo:

This second photo shows the bowl's rim. I've been interested in reproducing some pie crust and ribbon platters. These platters were popular here in 18th century America. I don't currently have the tools or the skill to reproduce one by carving it so I decided to add a ribbon rim to the turned bowl and this is what it looks like at present:

Maple is a great turning wood. It holds fine details very well and it cuts very smoothly and cleanly. It's my favorite turning wood and this particular piece of wood holds this detailed rim very well. More on this project as I turn it.

I also finished my election night spoon out of red birch:

Actually this came out really well. It's a big, long spoon and I'm going to keep it on my mantel here at home.

I've also made some long promised tasting spoons for a friend of mine out of cherry, black walnut, and Goncalo Alves wood:

I've never heard of a tasting spoon before but apparently they are a spoon with a small bowl and a long handle. I don't know why anyone would design a spoon like that.

And I'm working on a round ribbon platter out of white oak at the moment and I'll show you photos of this in a day or two.

More later,

VW