Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) is a non-native and invasive shrubby tree in North Dakota, and it’s making a nuisance of itself in the woodlot at my family’s farm. This bowl came from a sizable crotch piece that I cut and turned last fall, and finally sanded and finished last week. The wood is lovely, but it has a tendency to crack badly as it dries; this piece was no exception, and I had to fill several cracks with cyanoacrylate glue and sawdust.
9 inches long, teak oil finish.
One of my cousins had a diseased American elm in their yard that had to be removed. Hopefully this bowl (and a couple more) will help them remember the times they enjoyed the shade of this tree.
Last summer, some of our friends had a large poplar branch come down in their yard during a wind storm. I offered to help with the clean-up, and brought home a couple of chunks. Here’s the result.
There’s a bunch of tight curl figure on this one, but it’s hard to get a picture that does it justice. It’s much more vivid than this in real life.
This one is 8 3/4 inches tip to tip, 6 3/4 inches wide, and about 3 1/2 inches high.
Here’s the one from the other side of the log.
This is just a bit smaller: 8 1/2 inches tip to tip. Both have had a couple of coats of teak oil and have been buffed to a satin finish.
This is a “sister” to the previous “Prairie Skies” hollow forms, coming from the same boxelder log.
5 1/4 inches diameter, 4 1/2 inches tall. Friction polish finish.
Here’s a picture of the three sisters.
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.
Willow Lake Woodworks 