This is the water basin and pitcher set sans the handle and the log that the handle was to become . This graining is awesome and I turned this quickly so it wouldn't crack on me . I can change the shape in the future if I want once it dries a little .

 

Mind you the basin is on it's head in the photo.......

 

Hey, I have been turning outside in the beautiful sun for the last two days and besides the fact that I have been creatively explosive I am getting tanned and my hands are stained badly . The purple staining that is inherently part of the woodturners makeup . The staining looks like the hands have been washed in machinist ink and it comes from wet hardwood . After a few days it wears off but is entrenched in the cuts and scars these old hands carry . My fingerprints have been missing for years now and have replaced with scatches than run vertically from the tip back . If you handle spinning wood at any speed you get either cut or burned and callouses half the thickness of the finger are then used for sanding turnings .

 

I managed to turn a gorgeous jug and basin today . I wanted to turn a handle for the jug but kept the log large ad I think it will be a fat vase . The storm damaged Maple that I found has this huge dark center that resembles a star that has gone nova . When face turned it shows up in sharp contrast to the lighter edge.

 

I haven't swept in two days and although I don't miss it I can honestly say the floor in my shop has never had as much shavings on it as does my back lawn . Maybe I will rake ......

I have been thinking/dreaming again and I think I have come up with something . With 900 ideas and projects in my head it isn't like I needed to think of this one but I am glad I have . I used to build a wicked wooden toboggan and think I will either find the steambox or make another . I want to turn a natural edge water pitcher and basin set and turn the handle from the same log . Vikings had the idea a long time ago and used to cook logs or timbers that they had soaked in salt bogs they would find in harbours . I can just imagine if Toad was a Viking but they already have a bad enough name without any help from me .

 

I will twist and bend the handle in a jig when it comes out of the steambox and then quench it in water . If anyone out there has bent wood you know how cool it is . I still have the twisted wooden rope I made a thousand years ago .

 

 Now only if I knew where there is a power plant somewhere that will give me the copius amounts of steam that I will need for this adventure and I know I would have made an awesome Viking.....

I have finished this and it is really cool !

 

 

 

 

I started turning outside yesterday and managed to get this monster on the lathe . My nieghbor came over and winced a few times because I trim the logs with a chainsaw while it is on the lathe . He wasn't impressed at all with my spin the log around using the chainsaw trick . Oh well , those with no sense of adventure.

 

 

 

 

Hey I spent the  day at my sisters in my hometown . Good times , good company , great food and I got to do something that I have been thinking about for a long time . I loaded my truck with turnings and kids and spent the day there . I ended up giving two turnings to each of my siblings and the tags that go with them and it is a good feeling that my creations found a home .

Hey , I turned a bowl from maple and then stained it in two different colours .

 

 

 

 This is a turning that I helped my boy with . He picked a log from a pile of storm damaged Maple and did the roughing unassisted . I think he is hooked and the shaping was all his .

 

 

 

 This was all mine . I found a small diameter branch (3inches) with a huge burl on the side that looked like a birds nest . I pictured something turned from it and remarkably it is pretty true to the original vision . Well except it was frozen when I started turning it and the bottom fell out overnight and the side fell off the second day and then it became a flight today ....Other than that it was a nice piece to turn . I have hollowed it out and had to count on half the bottom missing in action . It was supposed to be a natural edge bowl but I ended up using all the edges so it is really cool .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello , this is a story of a life and the way life affects life . The story begins back in April 1918 in a southwestern Ontario house. A boy was born and started laying the foundation for his life and that of his children . Being highly intelligent and articulate the gregarious boy Frank did well at school and excelled socially . He had hard earned faithful friends and would help people when he could . He possessed a keen edge and used it to gain ground in the business world . A 'my way or the highway' backdrop often found Frank in hot water but somehow , someway he would prevail . Not a patient man he would not wait long for those around him to catch up .

 

Frank married a girl from Nova Scotia with a completely different background than his own , built a house with his own hands and then settled in for the long haul . He and the girl from Nova Scotia had five children together and each and every one of them is totally different than the others yet they are the same . I am one of those children and I fit in the puzzle second last .

 

In the early hours of a Saturday morning in March ' 76 our house received a phone call that changed the lives of our family forever . The call was expected as Frank was really ill and had been in the hospital for three weeks . Frank passed on after eating his breakfast that morning . My older sister had answered the phone and thanked the messenger and then passed on the news to the family.

 

Frank had been a demanding bastard of his children and I must thank him for it . I learned a great deal from my short time with my father and I continued on after his passing . The dynamics between father and son paved way for an entire future of learning and growing . My father always had faith in me and I in him . Each and every one of his children went in different directions in their lives .

 

Most people look on the 20th of March as the first day of Spring , I look at it as the day I went solo. I have been turning something for this day for awhile and will share her with my family . Her name is " Triginta " meaning thirty years and she is beautiful . When I turn or create I stop the machine , ponder and fret over the shape and am seldom happy with the outcome . Whether it isn't what I had envisioned or something that has gone astray. This turning shaped itself and it was like it was predestined , all it needed was a bit of coaxing.

 

She was turned from storm damaged Maple and is a natural edge bowl . The base was turned from the same log albiet sideways . I turned this piece as a memorial for my Dad .

 

Rest well Frank , we miss and remember you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Astrologer Spurinna gave warning to this day and Caesar ignored him . Well everyone knows the outcome of that one ....

 

On a way happier note I turned a great thing today and I don't know what I am going to name her . She too warned me of impending doom  but unlike Caesar I listened . She has wings that make a sound much akin to a small block's fan blade on the way up the acceleration curve . I had picked up a sizeable strip of tree bark and started playing with it . This shape came out of the log by itself and then the noise appeared .... I stopped the machine and looked ..no everything was good , tight and safe . Hmm ... Started again and the noise got louder . I checked the machine and the turning every 2 minutes from that point and wasn't thinking of a shape as much as Spurinna's warning to pay heed and watching this turning flow from my gouge .

 

Perhaps I will call her " Flight "...

 

 

Hey , this is a natural edge creation that I turned from a piece of storm damaged  limbwood . It is pretty thin and the one photo was taken with a lamp behind it . It naturally has all the right colours for a sunset.

 

 

 

 This is an Elm pot with a twist . The lid had an offset handle ... I was bored .

 

 

 

                                                           Complete!

 

This piece was truly enjoyable to make and I will be making another haul of this Elm shortly .

 

 

 

 

Hey, after rinsing off the 48.5 lbs of silt , salt and road grime I gave her a bath with hot water and soap . Underneath there was a baby !!!!!

 

She still needs to be sterilized inside , washed and waxed but we both feel better now ......

 

Hey , the rain that we have had for the last week coupled with mild weather has caused the waterways to spill their banks . This photo is a local golf course that is usually well groomed . The water will have receded by this evening leaving mud and silt behind . I drove around this am and found a tree that had been storm damaged in a park . Yes I took a little of the wood... well wait until you see the beautiful graining in it .

 

 

This is what I managed to do today . I ended up sanding the top by hand and will blast the burl tomorrow. This Elm is really enjoyable to work with and I find that I am returning to my roots with the final shape . This particular piece was a shallow bowl with a flaired rim in my head before I started and is pretty close so far. The really awesome part is that I haven't smashed the burl off it so far... I have hit it with a gouge a couple of times and knocked the toolrest into once . When that edge comes around it makes a slapping noise in the air and you cannot see the edge for the ghosting . This makes for  dangerous sport when starting the lathe ...

 

 

 

Hey, this   is a piece that I took from a cross section . The bough wood is always the coolest at an intersection where the limbs meet . This section has a burl cropping out and it leaves the log at the top of this turning . This Elm never ceases to amaze me . I have turned a shallow bowl on the inside and am wondering how to turn the exterior . I am almost set on sandblasting the very top and turning below the burl . I do not want to disturb this knot anymore than I have to . Tomorrow is another day ....

 

 

 

  

This is what is left of the log and you can see that there is a chunk of wood that wants to come out and play .

Hey, I have but 21 inches of the flaming rotten Elm left and I promised my friend that helped me drag this stuff to the road he could have it . But he hasn't been around and it is going to spoil I think . So I should use it up on him so it doesn't go to waste huh ?  I am just trying to do the right thing here...

 

               

 

This is the remaining Wormy Elm that  was a windfallen tree and we retrieved . This log wasn't as rotten as the Flame stock. This has had worms in it and there are some markings in it .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It appears that I will have to go for another bush  walk here and get some more. I will start turning outside soon so the dust containment won't be an issue . This wormy wood is really dusty and hard to contain indoors .

Hey, it is amazing what an old contractor can do with some window screen and Liteset 45 . Well I didn't do it , my daughter did and she let me help.......

It can be painted tomorrow and there is a plastic bottle inside to validate the Volcano name.

 

 

  

 

 

 

And with a little paint

 

 

Hey , I have finished this turning and I threw a lid off another project on it and I think I will turn a lid to match . The vase that goes with the lid has exploded and is lying in wait for a repair or the firebox. I think it makes the vase look oriental and I will stay with that theme when making the top.

 

Hey , it is 10:15 pm as I sit , the day near end . The livingroom is illuminated by the seemingly unextinguishable glow from my computers monitor and the sounds are of a little house crammed with life. All three of my babies are asleep in their beds and the moose is fixing himself up for the night on the couch . He is waiting to be tucked in by his dad and it being a nightly ritual he will not let himself go off the deep end into the fields of rabbits and hamburgers until I pet him , pull him down , kiss him and say "nightnight pup" .

 

 I have been in the shop and I am bankrupt in the idea department so I will wait until I can dream of another shape to turn . My house hasn't been picked up after yet and the dinner dishes lay rinsed off and waiting to be washed . I have had different tunes rolling around my head today and I decided to listen to music while cleaning up . And here I sit . Jack Johnson is going to burn one down , The Eagles wish me peace and The Tragically Hips an inch an hour and Pigeon Camera . That kinda talent and the dishes can sit .

 

 The furnace coming on has been a topic of a blog today and I can relate . This mechano who all his life built the systems that make noise, heat , water, hydro, walls and lids lives to hear those noises . I will cock my ear like a dog when something goes offline or is limping . I have a new noise in my basement and I have to remove it but I will miss it . My air system in the basement is getting full of water and makes ship hull noises after there is a big transfer of compressed air . There are six viens of transfer and when they move it takes a moment for the regulator to register . I nod when the compressor should start and shake my head when the process is delayed by a few seconds . Hmmm I made this system of storing massive amounts of compressed air using retired automotive propane tanks and slung them out of harms way under my benches . I used plumbing valves and check valves so I can fill a tank and leave it full waiting for use . My compressor can be used for other things and I won't run out of air . I hate waiting for air and swear when I build "my shop " she will so fat mechanically you will be able to substitute retarded for redundancy.

 

I have often thought of how long a turning takes me to complete and that an inch an hour keeps creeping into my head. Thats sounds about right but for the last two days my shop clock has been stopped at 8:45 . It will require a battery which are on the shelf below the clock.....

 

I only repaired/altered/changed/ played with old turnings today so I really don't have anything to post . But wait , my sister has threatened to send me a much awaited profile that I will use to turn something for her . I wish she could stand behind me (out of harms way ) look over my shoulder ,  point and shoot while yaying and naying . She calls me a craftsman and I just think of myself as a Toad that has just did all the thinking required years ago . When all my friends were out bar hopping I was fixing stuff in a shop that was way too small . I wasn't being antisocial and now I own more tools than anyone for 600 miles and don't get a tight chest when something I own explodes and needs repairing .

 

I listen to music and offerings from all genre . Standing rule: Must possess talent and with those same ears I listen to click , whir , smash , bang noises that will make or break your day . First smoke of the morning brings me nature noises disrupted my the neighbors junk starting up for the day. My old pup is almost a mute and I don't mind at all . He and I have coexisted for 8 years now and I have heard him bark maybe 30 times . One short woof and it usually means I am getting tired of not being played with .One day he freaked on a guy down at the local river park . He would not shut up , broke heel and I leashed him . He immediately broke heel and continued on with the barking . My son was near him and this man crossed the street to avoid him . The man looked at me like to say " don't let go of that leash " and I looked at him as to say " why is this dog trying to eat you?" If I had let go of that lead I would have been the owner of a vicious dog that day . He hasn't done anything like it before or after so I am going to trust him on that one .Well this entry is all over the place and I think it is from just writing about turning wood , turning wood and not being able to wash my truck . I miss ya baby !! With a storm threatening to come in my truck lays in the driveway waiting to be used or washed or anything ...

 

All being done at the mind splitting pace of two feet a day ......