This started out as a really ugly log. This is another one where I can’t decide which is my favorite side. I’m over the moon at the figure and coloring in this one.
The wood came from the North Dakota farmstead of my immigrant grandparents.
Boxelder. 5 inches diameter, 4 1/2 inches high. Teak oil, topped of with friction polish.
From a recycled deck post.
I’m sensing a trend here.
Caragana is a shub native to Mongolia and Siberia that was introduced to the United States in the 1700s as an ornamental. It’s common in the upper Great Plains. The wood is beautiful, but it never grows very large. This sphere is barely over 2 inches in diameter, and the branch it came from was about 2 1/4 inches.
Another sphere. This one is from a chunk of buckthorn I cut at my family’s farmstead in Steele County, North Dakota.
3 1/3″ diameter. Teak oil finish.
This was an ugly looking offcut of boxelder that I knew had some real potential, and now that it’s finished, I can’t pick my favorite side. The wood came from the North Dakota farmstead established by my grandparents, Anton and Petrea Jacobsen.
5 inches x 5 inches. Homemade friction polish finish (50/50 shellac and boiled linseed oil blend).
This is my first attempt at sphere turning. The basic concept is simple: Turn a rough sphere between centers, then rotate it 90 degrees and turn off the high spots, then rotate it 90 degrees again and turn off the high spots. But it does take a bit of finesse to make sure you get it properly centered each time.
I’m pretty happy with this one; the way the figuring in this green ash shifts in the light is fascinating.
3 1/2″ diameter, friction polish finish.
A local company salvages timber from buildings being torn down as well as urban trees being removed, and every once in a while they offer some of their “scrap” free for the taking as firewood. Being the frugal (a.k.a. cheap) guy I am, I brought home a load. One piece of poplar looked like it had potential so I chainsawed in in half to find some fun figuring. Here’s the result. 5 1/4″ high, 5″ diameter. Teak oil finish.
