The Handmade Gift Guide

Just a quick note... My work has been featured in The Handmade Gift Guide! Woot! Check it out at http://www.thehandmadegiftguide.com/

Old Meets New

One of the things that has plagued me for much of my life is my, "Oh look, something shiny!" -syndrome. I get ideas in my head and they do not tend to go away until they have been explored. For many, this can be a great way to work and play. For me, well, I also suffer from lazy-ass-itis. I will start to play with an idea, work with it, get some satisfaction out of it and then put it away before the idea is fully realized or finished. I got what I wanted out of it and that is good enough.

Recently, I friend offered me a pile of round aluminum bar-stock. Not being one to turn away something so intriguing, I accepted his gift. I used some of it to make tool handles out of (it is wonderful for this purpose) and then a bunch of 1 foot lengths of it began the journey down the lonely road of collecting dust in my shop/studio/pit-that-I-work-in.

One day I working on a pen made out of Manitoba Maple burl (box-elder to readers of American-persuasion) and I managed to blow up what was to be the lower barrel, or body (and bad words were spoken). The cap-piece was finished and looked really nice but now I didn't have a mate for it. I pondered. I thought. I drank coffee. I would have sat down if there was a place in my shop/studio/pit-that-I-work-in to perform such acts.

Eventually, my gaze fell upon a fresh, virgin pile of dust. I had rediscovered the aluminum rods. Ideas began to swirl. Hope and anticipation built up. I began asking questions to my fellow woodturners, many of whom are well-versed in the metallic arts. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, "something shiny" had come into focus.

I cut off a length of aluminum using my grinder. Forget that. I "hacked" off a length of aluminum using my grinder. I managed to get it chucked up on my lathe and set about drilling a hole for the pen-to-be's inards. Glue was applied to pen fittings and I was off to the races.

I found that aluminum turns very much like wood except the shavings are longer and much sharper. Yes, blood was spilled in the creation of this pen. Using woodworking tools of high-quality (http://www.thompsonlathetools.com/, when only the best will do) I was still forced to take very light cuts. In time, this 1" diameter aluminum rod was reduced to about 1/2". Sanding was next. When I next choose to work with aluminum again (oh yes, there WILL be a next time) I will be sure to have a good supply of abrasives which are meant for working metals (wet-dry paper in the autobody shop). As it was, I only had sandpaper meant for wood so sanding took some time. I learned that if you lean too hard into the work, the paper can gouge the aluminum. Those gouges and scratches take FOREVER to get rid of. Eventually, I got down to 6000 grit paper and behold.....

So this is why the title of this blog post is Old Meets New, the old-world look of wood and the new, modern, polished look of the aluminum. I mated these two materials with Sterling Silver hardware. I think this meeting of two worlds works. The pen has a bit of heft to it for those who prefer a slightly heavier writing instrument and, surprisingly, it has a warm feel to it. I am putting that down to to the fine polish but I cannot be sure at this point.

The next time I go this route (sometime after Christmas, I think)...well...let's just say I've got some ¾" round brass bar stock whose purpose had not been revealed to me until now. I am thinking of matching it up with either black titanium or platinum components. Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by.

A Peppermill inspired by Happiness and Love

So far I haven't used my blog to show new creations from my shop. It has been more about how I do what I do. Despite that, I just have to show you this. I am so happy with how it turned out.

It started off as a piece of curly maple, which is really pretty wood. Around the time I wrote my last blog I started feeling really good about things... Hope was high and possibilities were endless. When I think/feel like that I tend to see really vivid colours and I guess that is what prompted me to make this, somewhat unorthodox grinder.

The first step of the colouring process was to use black dye for about the bottom 2 thirds. I sanded the top portion of the dyed area back so it was more grey than black and at the same time I added more black to the bottom. Once dry, I added a brilliant blue to the bottom half and laid it on pretty thick at the very bottom. I lightly sanded the top part of the blue. Yellow came next to the top half in an attempt to make green and yellow. Once dry, all of this was hit with sanding sealer and about 5 coats of lacquer.

Next came the top... Red over the whole thing and yellow about half-way down gave me the orange I was looking for. More red on top to deepen it and then it received the same sanding sealer/lacquer treatment. Add a Crushgrind grinding mechanism to the inside and we have a fully functional piece of art.

I know this piece will not appeal to everyone but sometimes I need to create for me and not for the buying public. This is one of those times and I am thrilled with how it turned out. I know someone else is going to see this, either online or at a art/craft show and feel it was made just for them. They won't ask the price ($125). They will just hand me a credit card and won't be able to put down "their" peppermill. But, if it sits in my inventory for a while, that's ok too. I think I will store it in my china cabinet so I can look at it from time to time.

Thanks for following along.

Happiness and Love

It’s Monday and that means, balloons!!!!
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Spread a little happiness and love on this Monday. I can supply Instant-Happiness with some balloons. Balloons are happy things! The Love comes from each one of us. Some days you NEED to be on the “receiving” end. But, if you are on the “giving” end of the love equation, you will quickly find yourself on the receiving end.

Now for a little housekeeping….

Most of you have heard about my little corner of the Etsy-world, http://www.greenleafwood.etsy.com/. That is where I sell my creations. I am asking you to take a look around and see if there may be the perfect gift for someone in your life for this Christmas Season. I am also taking 10% of all of my sales for the months of November and December and donating it to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. Lots of those kids won't have the merriest of Christmas's. Even if I cannot offer what you are looking for, I encourage you to take The Handmade Pledge and do your gift-giving from a unique angle. There are lots of brilliant artisans around. Support them, please.

With that in mind, I ought to tell you about two upcoming events which I will be part of… The first is Christmas in Clarington. Myself, and bunch of other artists will be taking over the Orono Town Hall on Friday Nov 27th (from 10am until 8pm) and Saturday November 28th (10am until 4pm). CLICK HERE FOR A MAP Come out and see me. If we haven’t spoken in a long time, re-introduce yourself. I will be the big guy with all of the round wooden things and an Amish-looking beard, which I may have to reconsider. I will recognize a bunch of you on sight but please forgive my feeble brain if I do not. It is not because I do not care. It is because sometimes I am a slow-head.

The second event of note is A Gift Of Christmas, Sunday Dec 6th at Newcastle Town Hall. CLICK HERE FOR A MAP Many of the artists from A Gift Of Art, including yours truly, will be on site, displaying our work and offering it for sale. The doors will be open at 10am until 4pm. Come talk to us. Get inspired and Buy Handmade! If you are coming to either of these events, I take my coffee double-double. :)

Ok, that’s it for now. Until next time.

Remember, happiness and love, happiness and love, happiness and love…..

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lest We Forget

Roughing Out And Coring

In a previous article I outlined how a log becomes pieces of useful turning stock. These pieces are oddly shaped, lumpy and have flat, rough chainsaw marks. Many woodturners will further process these pieces by knocking off any large corners in an attempt to make them easier to fit on the lathe. A bandsaaw is a great tool for cutting curves and “rounding” blanks. For the piece I am working in this article, my bandsaw is too small. Oh, I could have used it but it would have taxed the saw to the point of not being safe as well as being slow. My chainsaw was a safer, quicker alternative.

Even after “rounding” this blank with my chainsaw it is still too large to mount on my lathe in normal fashion. Luckily, the headstock on my lathe (a Nova 1624) swivels. This allows me to work large pieces outboard.
In this picture, we are viewing the piece from the tailstock end of the lathe and looking down its length. Turning outboard is not as safe as turning inboard because I cannot engage the tailstock to provide additional support. Still, the added risks can be mitigated by turning at lower speeds, taking lighter cuts and having some patience.

My goal at this time is to reduce the blank to the point where it is truly round (with no flat spots) and to where I can swivel the headstock back inboard and engage the tailstock. Then I can really get to work.

Decision-making time… I need to develop a vague idea of the shape I want this piece to be. Because of its width and thickness, I see a large salad bowl so that is what I aim for. For a functional bowl I want the rim to end-up being flat when viewed in profile and gently curve down towards a relatively wide base or bottom. This means the rim , or top, of the bowl will be at the headstock end (and thus, the bottom towards the tailstock).

Another decision I have made by now is whether this bowl will be turned green or roughed out, dried and re-turned at a later date. You see, this blank is full of moisture. As it dries it will warp, twist and distort. The results can be dramatic and appealing but, cracks may develop rendering it useless as a functional piece. This bowl will be roughed out and dried slowly for more predictable results.

Roughing out green or wet wood is serious fun. SERIOUS FUN!!! Most domestic woods product long, thick shavings and the going is easy. This makes a huge mess but is nothing a shovel cannot handle (a broom is not an option. Think grain or feed shovel here!). The smell is fantastic (ok, some woods smell like the back of a barnyard but this cherry I am working is awesome). The other great thing about roughing out green wood is that I do not have to worry getting a smooth, finish-ready surface. The shape does not need to perfect either. These things will be refined in a few months when the wood is dry.

Here you can see the roughed out shape. The blank has been reversed on the lathe so that the bottom is at the headstock end. This allows me to access what will become the interior of the bowl and rough-hollow it out. In an effort to make the best use of this large piece of timber, I use a coring rig. A coring rig allows the woodturner to remove cores of a larger piece. These cores can later be made into other roughed blanks and more bowls. The other option is to hollow out the big blank, turning the interior into shavings and ending with one large bowl-to-be. Coring will give me several bowls-to-be, with less effort, in less time and with less waste.

The coring rig I use is the Woodcut Bowl Saver. The unit consists of a pair of curved blades which are fed into the wood as it spins on the lathe. These blades are attached to a pivoting table which moves with the blades. There is also a long handle allowing great leverage and easy insertion of the blades into the wood. The odd thing about the leverage generated by this handle is that slow and steady works much better than brute force with this tool.

As mentioned, the Woodcut Bowl Saver comes with a pair of curved blades. The larger blade allows one to take a core approximately 12” in diameter while the smaller allows down to 5” or so. Depending how the whole unit is lined up relative to the wood, cores can be made any size between these two measurements.

Conventional woodturning wisdom says to take the largest core first. The largest core has the highest value as a finished piece so we want to take care to make it right. This image shows the coring rig set up and in place to remove the largest core.

Here we see that the largest core has been removed. The large rough-out will now have the interior refined a little and evened out. Once that is done, it will be set aside so attention can be paid to the core itself.

The core has been remounted on the lathe and the Woodcut Bowl Saver has been positioned to take a core from the core (!) using the smaller blade. I did not set this up very well and the results was a smaller core-from-a-core than I wanted. It is still a very useable piece and it will become a small candy-dish or perhaps a hollowform or an urn. Time will tell.

Here you can see the 3 rough-outs which came from this blank. Better planning and execution would have produced one extra bowl-to-be, perhaps two. Despite this, it is very gratifying to have these extra rough-outs to work with instead of turning the interior of the largest into shavings and garden mulch. I have coated the end-grain of each of these with Anchorseal, a wax-emulsion which will slow down the drying of the blanks. This will help to minimize the cracking which often happens as wood dries. You will notice that the walls of these bowls-to-be are thick. This is done to allow for the warping which will occur as they dry. I need to have enough material left so the warpage can be turned away from the inside and outside and result in a round (not oval) finished product.

These blanks will now sit in storage for 6 to 18 months until they are dry. I will know they are dry when they stop losing weight and I will weight them every month or so. When they are dry, they will be returned to the lathe for finish-turning and be made ready for your dinner table.

So there you go, you’ve learned something today (maybe a few things). I hope you enjoyed yourself. Thanks for letting me be part of your day. Until next time…

From Firewood To...

Just a quick note here...

If you have been following my musings and ramblings or have known me through the years, you will know that I like to use "reclaimed" or "found" wood. I do not cut down trees to obtain material for my work (in fact, I have never taken down a tree for my needs). I harvest timber felled by storms, tree services and disease.

A year or so ago I was picking up some wood at the local town-operated log dump. I saw this piece of (I believe) ash and decided to bring it home. The bark wa already gone and I figured this branch was long-dead. What attracted me to it was the way the wood was twisted and gnarly and it had branches coming in multiple places. Experience tells me that the grain-patterns inside would be pretty interesting, if not amazing.

So here I am today, Nov 5th, 2009 and this piece is on my lathe. I have no idea what will come of it. I have no idea what it looks like inside and whether it will hold together while I work it. What I do know is that I am going to go slow with it (I have other priorities in my shop like getting ready for the Christmas season). I will take photos along the way so you can see what happens when a piece of wood goes from being firewood to....