Time for Mindfullness.

   When my mind is a little cluttered I switch to things that don't take days and weeks to complete. Here are some live edge cutting boards, some spoons, spatulas and bowl turnings.

 Maple live edge cutting boards.

 Cherry classic cutting boards.

 

 Spalted maple and maple burl spice bowls.

 

  Maple and cherry spoons, ladles and spatulas.

And some bowls......

Maple, one with cherry inlay around the lip.

More spalted maple

 Cherry bowl, I filled the splits with some green sparkly stuff.

And for the pirate in ye this rustic bowl from oak. Ahhhrrrr

As always thanks for having a look.
Ken

Better late than never?

  I have also been working on some oak bar stools that were requested in March.
Ya, I know.....
  I messaged Bob and told him I was on that rush order from March like a turtle onto a highway. Probably not going to end well. To my surprise he still hadn't picked up any. He must really like my work. Ya, that's it! So I pulled my head out of the shell and scampered to the shop.

 Nice used lathe I picked up in the spring. Finally really starting to use it. Took a while to remember what I learned in wood shop at high school. Those were some crazy years.

A few legs turned, testing for uniformity along the way. Hopefully the speed picks up as I go along. Maybe I am being to anal about this. Just relax and enjoy the work.

 Because I have a lot of pieces to turn.

Oh ya, the speed picked up nicely, only half the time to turn the second half of them. Now you can see them coming together after some final fitting of the parts.

Nicely wedged tight. These puppies are rock solid.

Shape the tops to cradle the posterior.

  Some stain then top coat with polyurethane for wear protection.  With out the poly you would have stains on your bottom. Would be good for a laugh though.

Thanks for reading
Ken

If you go out in the woods today........

  Last spring I made a nice find in the local forest. So I enlisted some help from Todd and we dragged five spalted maple logs out of the bush. If the logs hold what I think they do there will by many bowls in the my future.

  (to the tune of 'oh what a lovely bunch of coconuts') 

"Oh what a lovely bunch of spalted logs, there they are a laying in a row. Long ones, short ones, some as long as my.................... blogs!
Give them a twist, a flick of the wrist. That's what the showman said." 

It's tough to take the boy out of the man sometimes.

  While I watched Todd work his Polaris 4x4 pulling the logs out of the wood I noticed some trees that were burled. I planned to return for them even though the weather was turning for the worse.

 Shhhh.......be bewrey, bewrey quite. I'm hunting burls.

  Here I am returning from safari loaded down with my quarries. My porter left me though, he kept mumbling some nonsense about a giant ape. Didn't like the weather, I reckoned.

  We will have to wait to see what the burls hold. I think it will be the new year before I get to those and maybe the logs too. I'll post the results.

  As always, thanks for reading. Oh, and singing along on this one.

Ken

Even with all the Time in the World

  Well the last two months have been busy. Unfortunately most of the busy was outside the shop. We have been through some time eating setbacks like broken down vehicles, replacing water heater, out of town appointments and all the other things that need to be dealt with immediately that I can't even remember now. I did do some furniture repairs and a little refinishing for a few people.

  But in between all those I have still been putting up stuff from the monumental inheritance. Not complaining about that one. I have also been helping out some friends with stuff in their businesses or homes. Nothing more satisfying than helping someone.
No thanks necessary, just the smile on their faces is all I need.

  While all the little earlier mentioned activity was going on I also had some problems with my condition that I am working through. Stupid paranoia and anger popping up. Kind of stuck in a rut I guess. Happily I am back on the smooth road again. Every day makes me better. The past few weeks I have felt like myself again. A self from many, many years ago. But that is all for my other blog.

So on to the woodwork.

  Here is an AV stand I put together for Brent. Just in time for Deneyse's fiftieth birthday party too. So a big weekend for both of them. Lots of smiles and happiness all around.

 As you can see the top had many bark inclusions in it. Perfect for the effect we were going for here. I pried all the bark out with a chisel and softened any sharp edges.

 Just another view. Boy do I ever need to get my DSL camera up and working again.

I used an angle grinder with a wire wheel on it to give the weathered effect. The wire wheel pulls the soft wood off and leaves the tighter, harder grain behind.

Here it is set up in his house. "I make what you want" is the new motto around here. The table cloth behind is used to hide all the wiring. (Marina :-) ) In this picture you can see the hammered steel brackets added to the corners just to spice it up a little.

  Rather than one large post of what I have done in October and November I broke up the action into many short entries. Everyone is so busy this time of year I don't want to hog your time. So more to come.

thanks for reading
Ken