Working Wednesday: New Year, New Project

With a new year, there have to be new projects underway, right? I'm pretty sure that's Scott's attitude!

This one actually started a couple weeks ago and is only partly assembled, but I think its beauty is already showing. Scott put a small amount of finish on it just so we could see how the pinkish pear wood would contrast with the gorgeous Oregon black walnut in the final piece. I think he's got a winner in progress -- what do you think?

Ignore the wood at the bottom, which is simply helping hold the piece so it can be turned on the lathe and isn't part of the project.

Apologies for the photo quality -- it was one of those nights when Scott came in from the woodshop to show me something and I liked it so much I immediately reached for the camera.

The finish is definitely bringing out the color of the pear wood! And oh, that walnut grain is going to be just stunning! Scott did a great job of cutting it so you can see the grain move from one stave to its neighbors.

There is another section that will be added to the top of this one over the ring of pear wood with more of the alternating walnut and pear. Scott will turn the pieces separately to get their shapes the way he envisions, and then glue them together and probably do some final lathe work on the outsides.

Apparently doing stave projects is very tricky. This is the first time Scott has tackled stave construction, and I'm hoping to persuade him to write a blog post about what's involved in the near future.

I never get tired of Oregon black walnut. The colors and the grains vary so much from tree to tree. The wood Scott's using on this piece has some blue tinge in addition to the usual browns and reds

Happy new year!!