Month: October 2016

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Something to do while waiting

One of my kids’ favorites when they were growing up was the PBS show “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” And one of his songs that we adopted for our own started with the line “Let’s think of something to do while we’re waiting.”

Monday was our oldest daughter’s due date, and from a phone call earlier in the day, we had a feeling that things were going to start happening. So to keep my mind occupied, I mounted a large chunk of green ash (rescued from the curbside in our neighborhood) on the lathe.

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The grain and color is everything I could have hoped for, and when you look inside…

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…there’s some subtle curl.

11 1/2″ diameter by 3 3/8″ high. Walnut oil finish.

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Work in progress: Large green ash bowl

I rescued a few large green ash logs off the curb last week, and while most of it is destined for our firewood pile (green ash is dandy firewood), I sawed a few bowl blanks from one of the larger pieces.

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Update: Here’s the outside cleaned up, sanded to 400 grit, and with an application of walnut oil finish. (I’m planning to add a pyrography texture between those dark lines.)

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Update 2: I didn’t expect to see that much curl figure in this.

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Dough bowl

I modeled this silver maple bowl after the stoneware bowl my mother always used for making bread dough. Mom’s is a bit larger than this, but I think I came pretty close to the basic proportions (although I’m operating purely from memory).

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This was twice turned, and after the rough bowl dried, it was the most lopsided one I’ve done yet.

8 3/4″ diameter by 3″ high. Walnut oil finish.

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Natural edge American mountain ash bowl

American mountain ash (a member of the rowan family) is a common decorative tree in our community, but it’s susceptible to disease if it’s injured. A neighbor was slowly losing theirs, so my wife volunteered me to take it down for them.

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The branch this one came from was about 7 inches in diameter, with a smaller branch coming off the side, making for a mitten-shaped bowl. (I like the oddball ones like this.) The wood cut nicely, so I’m looking forward to doing more of this stuff.

8 1/4″ long by 6″ wude by 2″ high. Teak oil finish.