Working Wednesday: A Peek Into The Woodshop At Works In Progress

Seems like every time I walk through our garage woodshop, there's something new to see.

This time, I marvelled over some "texturizing" Scott did to help make his solid wood bowls each one of a kind. (Of course, I'm convinced they're each unique simply because Mother Nature makes sure each tree's woodgrain is as individual as a fingerprint.)

Aren't they lovely?

A group shot of others in progress:

Meanwhile, Scott has started working with a slab of spalted maple burl, and we're hopeful that he will be able to stabilize the wood enough to turn it. He already turned a small (~4inch) bowl that is stunning:

Just look at that grain! Here's another view:

I'm tempted to tell Scott that we need to keep that one. Or at least one of the ones he makes from that gorgeous slab.

Here are the other bowl blanks he roughed out from that slab:

Scott has taught me that the messiest, nastiest looking pieces of wood are actually the most beautiful when they're cut, turned and sanded. By that standard, this is going to be GORGEOUS!

Works In Progress

In my last post, From Board To Bowl, I showed you some of the steps Scott goes through starting with a piece of lumber and turning it into a series of bowls.

He's still working on that stack of bowl blanks he created from a couple beautiful pieces of Oregon black walnut, but I thought you might like to see some of the bowls that have reached finishing stages.

Do note that since I've been nagging him to create some solid wood bowl inventory, he also has a couple non-black walnut bowls that are also in finishing.

The five bowls at the bottom of the photo are all black walnut -- isn't it amazing how just some clear Salad Bowl Finish deepens the color so richly? The reddish-orange bowl is padauk and the light bowl with dark stripes is marblewood.

It just amazes me that even though the black walnut bowls all came from the same tree, the grains and even the colors vary so greatly. I guess Mother Nature knows what she's doing!

Just look at that gorgeous grain pattern!

Three bowls, all about the same size, with three different shapes to them.



Sadly, this pretty little marblewood bowl won't be going up for sale due to checks in the wood that make it too fragile. The upside is that means I get to keep it. :-)

 

From Board To Bowl

Being married to a woodworker has taught me to see the beauty in a raw piece of wood. I've learned that messy tearout on a board often means a beautiful curly or flamed figure. I've learned that (some) woods with blah color are totally transformed with a bit of finish that makes the grain pop.

I thought you might like to see part of the process from a board to a bowl.

The process starts, of course, with acquiring wood. In this case, the Oregon black walnut board came from Goby Walnut, one of Scott's favorite local suppliers.

As a first step to making solid wood bowls, after studying the board, Scott pencils out the rounds for bowls.



One of the things I like best about black walnut is the wide variation in coloring and grain pattern. They're beautiful as raw wood, but a little bit of finish makes them even more gorgeous.  

He tries to capture some of the color, grain and other features that make every board unique so that they're well placed for the bowls the board will become.

And they're quickly transformed from circles drawn on a board to roughed out bowls:

And just like that, they're ready for turning on the lathe. Below is one of the bowl blanks that's been shaped on both the outside and the inside, next to one that has been shaped on the outside and is ready for being hollowed out.

Next comes sanding, more sanding and then a little more sanding, and then some finish. Scott's been using Salad Bowl Finish lately on his solid bowls.

And here's one of his recently completed Oregon black walnut bowls, finished and ready for sale in our Etsy shop:

Keep an eye out for more to be available soon!
 

Crafting Is A Family Affair Here

We have a 7-year-old daughter who always wants to do whatever she sees her parents doing.

When I'm making flowers, she's begging to work on her own. But Ellie hadn't been terrifically interested in woodworking since her first sanding session was declared "borrrrrrrring!" :)

But she's never been to a store where she hasn't found something to beg for, so when she accompanied Scott on a trip to Rockler, it wasn't a surprise that she begged for a block of pretty maple. Scott agreed on the condition that she would make a bowl out of it on the lathe (under direct parental supervision, of course!).

Pretty nice for a first bowl, isn't it?

And on the back:

Of course, Ellie's bowl will not be going on sale in our Etsy store, which will be launching soon!

A family that crafts together, stays together, right? :-)

Making Donations

So one of these days, I'll actually sell my work in addition to donating to good causes!

But a friend made a personal appeal for items for our synagogue's annual auction, so I buckled down a bit and finished a few pieces just for them. 

Please forgive the poor photography -- I needed to get them dropped off in a hurry so I took quickie photos:

They'll be a low-price item for the silent auction, but I know I appreciate having some affordable items when I go to fund-raising auctions; often the ticket price alone means I can't afford to buy anything. So I like to think people like me will be happy to see something they can actually afford to bid on!

I also donated a gift box with a set of four of my dragonfly magnets. I didn't take a photo of the four I donated, but for those who haven't seen them, here's a sample:

And of course we donated one of Scott's bowls too, a solid-wood bowl made of Oregon black walnut, although that won't exactly be a low price point (but I'm sure it will be far lower than the big ticket items!):