This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch Al Stirt demonstrate some of his woodturning techniques at the North Coast Wood Turners meeting.  Al has created numerous pieces which use various texturing techniques to provide a very distinctive look to his work.  On Sunday, October 3rd I was able to sit in on a hands-on class where the students were able to get a little more one-on-one time with Al.  During this session I turned the piece pictured in the upper left corner.

The black rim on the piece is created using Gesso paint which is great for hiding any figure or grain patterns on the wood underneath.  This gives you a clean canvas on which you can carve your own pattern.  Al has some great examples of this technique on his site.  When creating this piece, I used Sassafras, which has a very open grain to the wood – much like Ash or Oak.  A little sanding dust got into the grain after I had painted the rim which gave me the idea for this piece.  Instead of making my own pattern, I just followed the one that mother nature had already provided.  Even Al like the final results (although it definitely was not as refined as his pieces).

A few weeks ago I was finally able to get back into the workshop to create my first finished woodturning this year.  I have been doing a lot of traveling this year which has not left me with much spare time.  I plan to be spending a lot more time in the shop over the next couple of months as I get some pieces finished for Christmas.  I also plan to have some small pieces available for purchase on Etsy so if you have enjoyed seeing my woodturning pieces online, you will now have the opportunity to purchase some of them.

The small natural edge bowl pictured here is made out of cherry and is finished with a three coats of Danish oil.  The Danish oil provides a nice low lustre finish which doesn’t detract from the natural appearance of the bowl.  The...

This is my second attempt at working on a new style of bowl. During last month’s NCWT Annual Auction, I picked up a nice cherry burl. What I really liked about this piece of wood was that the bark was completely intact and that the edges were nice and clean. This gave me a great idea for a natural edged bowl. Rather than having a small band of the bark exposed, I chose to really highlight the bark and the moss that you can still see on the final piece.

With Christmas fast approaching, I have been busy in my woodshop working on gifts.  Unlike last year, I have stayed away from any wood that might cause an allergic reaction.  This year I have been working on a number of smaller gifts for family and friends.  Fortunately none of them read blogs so I am pretty safe posting pictures ahead of time.

My wife really loves seeing the different styles of pens I have created, and my skills are rapidly improving.  Unlike my previous pens, I have switched completely to using CA glue as my finish of choice.  Using CA glue for a finish takes a lot of practice to get it right, and different woods can have varying reactions to the glue.  While the Bocote pen in the first picture was very easy to work with, the Curly Maple pen and pencil set were extremely finicky.

This month I tackled a new bowl form – the winged bowl.  I have seen numerous examples of this style and I wanted to do something slightly different.  I originally thought about doing another square bowl but decided that I could sort of combine two styles.  In my first square bowl, there was a lot of added work in gluing up the blank, part of which will be cut off after turning.  [more]

The classic winged bowl style starts with a bowl form with flat, planar projections extending from the sides of the bowl.  I first saw a demo for this form by watching Beyond the Basic Bowl from Bill Grumbine.

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Early tomorrow morning I am flying out Seattle to see my Mom.  About 6 days ago she called to deliver some bad news – the cancer was back. 

Over the past 3 years my Mom has battled a couple of different forms of cancer.  First there was the Breast Cancer.  Fortunately the doctors caught it early.  They operated quickly, performing a lumpectomy and lymph node removal at the same time.  Following radiation treatment everything seemed to be good.  No further cancer was found in the lymph nodes and my mom seemed to have recovered fairly quickly.  [more] 

6 months later I...

Well after my scare in December, I got back in the shop in January for some new woodturning projects.  It started with a custom made detail gouge that I created as part of a turn and learn session at the January Buckeye Woodworker and Wood Turners meeting.  As usual, it was another great meeting.  I had a chance to meet and talk with Dave Hout who started the club back in '92 and currently has a woodturning show on the DIY Network.  I...

As those who have followed my blogs for the past couple of years know, besides computers, I love working with wood.  I have had my own wood shop in the basement for the past 6 years and when I have some free time I love to go down and put my more creative side to work.  I have often heard developers debating about whether programming is an art or a science or a bit of both.  I have personally spoken to many different programmers throughout the years and have found that many people in our field have a strong passion for creative endeavors, whether it is painting, music or even woodworking.  I think it is a natural extension of the creativity a developer uses when programming.  It is much more than a mere technical exercise of taking a set of specs and turning them into a completed application....