Hello Everyone-First Day of Summer, Good Day for Turning, The Pecan Bowl, and Happy Birthday to Me

Hi Everyone,

Well, it's an absolutely lovely day to day and of course we all know what happens on lovely days-WOOD TURNING! And as it is your's truly's birthday, I decided to treat myself to a mornings worth of turning.

Here's what I did:

The Pecan Bowl
The first thing I did was to fish the pecan bowl out of it's drying bag and take a look at it. It was still pretty heavy and it felt damp so it's drying out. I decided to true up the sides and bottom and then flip it over and hollow out some. It's a really pretty bowl as it's a peach color at present:

Here it is partially hollowed out. I'm not going to turn it all the way and finish it. I'd rather let it dry out slowly to hopefully minimize the inevitable distortion that occurs in solid wood bowls. And if you look carefully at the photo you'll see that it's going to be a two toned bowl too:

The one thing I am worried about is a crack that is visible on the rim of the bowl. This may close on it's own or it may have to be turned off-we'll see as the bowl is shaped later this summer:

My second project today was to begin a medium sized bowl out of monkeypod. I began turning this but unfortunately a big crack became visible as I was turning and you can clearly see that in the photo:

I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I may mark off the bowl on the lathe and then re-cut it on the band saw to see if I can cut away the cracked area. This is kiln dried lumber so there's no chance the crack could close as the bowl dries out. And it's dangerous to turn wood that is cracked like this so I've taken it off the lathe and will cogitate on this over the weekend.

My last project will begin this evening will be a small fruit bowl out of laminated wood. I'll take some photos so stay tuned.

VW

Check out the Sales Gallery-More stuff added!

Hi Everyone,

Drop by the Selkie Wood Works Sales Gallery-there's more stuff on sale at:

Selkie Wood Works Sales Gallery-More Stuff Added!


See you all soon,
VW

The Selkie Wood Works Sales Gallery is Now Open for Business!

Good Evening All,

I'm delighted to announce the grand opening of the Selkie Wood Works Sales Gallery were you will find all manner of things made by your's truly. I'll be selling all sorts of kitchen ware along with darning eggs and nostepinnes for knitters.
Please take a look around and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

Here is the link to the site:  Selkie Wood Works Sales Gallery

Thanks,
VW

The Pecan Bowl-continued

Hi Everyone,

Well, I'm at a bit of loose ends today and I remembered the pecan bowl, patiently waiting in the dry bag and needing to be turned some more. So I went down to the shop and put it back on the lathe and turned the outside and began hollowing out the inside. Here are some photos:

Here is the inside of the bowl. I've just dished out the inside and also turned a recess for the bowl chuck in case I have to re-mount it on the lathe:

And here is the underside of the bowl. I've turned a foot, re-shaped the sides, left wood for a band along the rim, and cut a recess for the chuck. The color is beautiful:

If you look closely at the first photograph, you'll see a small crack long the rim at about 5 o' clock. Because of this I've coated the whole bowl with Pentacryl and I'm going to let it soak in a plastic bag until this weekend. Then I'll place it back in the dry bag for several weeks. At that point I'm going to finish turning it.

See you back for this project in a couple of weeks.

VW

The Big Day is Almost Here

Hi Everyone,

Well, I have been hard at work getting ready for my first big public sale of my work tomorrow and I've finished with all of my preparations. I've got a biz card, a large banner, a table and display stuff, and of course all the the wooden stuff I've made over the past year. Here's a photo:

I have just enough stuff to fill the table.

Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow as I don't have a tent (this is an outdoor farmer's market) or get very windy suddenly, which happens here before a storm. So keep your finger's crossed that the weather cooperates. And I guess the rest of it we'll have to leave to the wood fairies.

I'll post later this week how it all went. See you all soon.

VW

Scrap wood projects follow up-Fruit platters

Hi Everyone,

Well the weather here has been absolutely gorgeous lately. We've had a lot of rain and everything is blooming and the trees and grass are a deep green. I bet it's greener here than it is in Ireland! What kind of weather is this? Bowl turning weather!!

Ok, here are the finish photographs for some of the fruit platters I've made over the past week:

From left to right are: the yellow pine and mahogany platter, top is white oak, mahogany and black walnut platter, and the one on the right is white oak, black walnut, mahogany, and red oak platter. All of these platters were made from scrap lumber from a cabinet maker's shop who sells it in bulk bundles:

And this is the yellow pine and mahogany platter. I finished this a short while ago. The pine in the platter came from a home improvement store and the mahogany I had in stock:

This last project is very doable in terms of sourcing the lumber needed and the skills and equipment you will need to replicate this platter in your shop. It's inexpensive and it's a great project for those of you who haven't been turning very long and whose skills need honing. If you're careful you can produce a really nice platter or bowl that you'll be really proud of and that makes a really cool gift for someone special. And nothing succeeds like success-if you produce a platter like this, then you have the skill and the tools to produce other things. So go for it.

Ok, I have to get ready for next week's farmer's market. In the mean time I'm going to be getting ready for the long delayed dinning room table re-do with a new plumbing pipe base. So stay tuned, grab some coffee and drop by the wood shop. There's always something interesting going on.

See you soon,
VW