Christmas 2014 Bowls

Here is a group of bowls that came from local McLean and Vienna trees.

The series of weeping cherry bowls came from Vienna, VA during a snowstorm a few years ago. Riley and I ventured onto unplowed roads to pick up some monster rounds and load them into the truck. Given the effort and back-breaking deadlifts, I was hoping that they'd turn out this gorgeous. I'm really happy with them. Amazing color and grain swirl.

The maple bowls came from a local neighborhood tree that a company was taking down. I tried something new with them. They are finished with a triple dye technique. Black dye, followed by teal, followed by yellow. The result is a really cool green that has an iridescent quality. Really fun finish technique that I'm sure to try again with some future bowls.

I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor over the past two years.

Let me know as soon as possible if you want to claim one for your own. Happy holidays to all of my biggest fans.

1. Weeping cherry bowl - 9.5" x 3" - $50

2. SOLD Weeping cherry bowl - 7.5" x 2.5" - $40

3. SOLD Weeping cherry bowl - 6.5" x 3.5" - $40

4. SOLD Weeping cherry bowl - 5.5" x 3.5" - $35

5. SOLD Weeping cherry bowl - 9.75" x 3.5" - $50

6. SOLD Weeping cherry bowl - 7.5" x 2.5" - $40

7. SOLD Weeping cherry mini bowl - 5.25" x 2" - $30

8. Triple dyed maple mini bowl - 5.25" x 2" - $30

9. Triple dyed maple mini bowl - 5" x 2" - $30

10. Triple dyed maple mini bowl - 5.5" x 2" - $30

11. Triple dyed maple bowl - 7.75" x 2.5" - $40

12. Triple dyed maple bowl - 9" x 4" - $50

As with my cutting boards, please check dimensions before buying. First email claiming each bowl gets the bowl. I will do my best to mark these as sold to avoid confusion.

Shoot me an email, Facebook message, or text message.

Here fishy fishy fishy

I've been busy in the shop, trying my hand at making fishing lures. Really fun project that has kept me busy over the past few months. I'm hoping that I'm at the point where I've learned all of the beginner's mistakes the hard way. Plenty of flaws in the finishes, but still lifelike enough to catch lazy fish.

A few of them have actually caught fish, and I guess that's all I could ask for.

December 2012 Bowls - Maple and Cherry

I finished up the year by turning a number of maple and cherry bowls for family and friends. I'm really loving the process and playing around with different shapes, sanding techniques and finishing styles. The bows are a lot of work, but reveal new character and hidden gems within the wood grain throughout the process.

I have also spent the past few months cutting up blocks of wood with my chainsaw and storing them (green) in the back of my garage. When time permits, I pull one out and true it up on the bandsaw and rough turn it on the lathe. What I'm left with is a "green" bowl (not dry) that is about 1" thick and will be stored again in the back of the garage for about a year to dry out naturally. Wood that dries too quickly or unevenly tends to crack and split and quickly turns into a scrap piece for the fireplace.

Below are some photos of two bowls I turned and finished. The first is made from a chunk of maple and the second, a nice piece of cherry. They are both about 8" in diameter.

Maple bowl with nice beetle holes.

Cherry bowl with some black lines running through the grain.

Maple and cherry bowls for comparison.

November Turnings

Here are a few of the smaller projects I've been working on in the shop. Christmas presents that will surely get some mileage. It has been a fun break from cutting boards.

Beer bottle opener made from cocobola.

Coffee scoop made from coffee beans and acrylic.

Ice cream scoop made from marblewood. Huge and heavy.

Mach 3 razors made from maple burl. A crowd favorite.

Those Cheesy Cheese Boards

A giant sigh of relief after many months in the wood shop. The largest set of edge grain cheese boards I have ever created, seventeen in all. Now the disclaimer is that I took my time and worked on these in my spare time, which seems like a precious commodity these days. A few hours here, 30 minutes there, a tip-toe into the shop here before being called back inside for any one of the many daddy-duties. However, I'm done and I'm thrilled with the outcome. They look awesome.

I decided to stick to an interesting shape I created in the last round of cheese boards. Heavy rounded opposite ends with offset routed grips. Just gives the boards clean lines and shows off the pin striping a bit more in my opinion.

The boards are a mix of exotic and domestic hardwoods. Tons of sawdust created in the making of these. I will do my best in the captions of each photo to name the species used. Sorry for the so-so photography, I was running out of light and snapped a few quick photos with my iPhone.

I can't promise anyone a certain board as they tend to sell quickly. If you want to claim one for your own, please email me with the board # you want and I will do my best to update the site with SOLD signs to avoid confusion.

Thanks for looking.

All 17 cheese boards lined up. I typically let them sit in the sun for a day or so to "color up." Some of the woods intensify in color when exposed to sunlight. I did this a few weeks ago and thought they looked really cool lined up like this.

An aerial shot so that you can see the ends as well as the routed grips.

Two stacks of incredibly heavy hardwood. Had to move one stack at a time.

Below are the numbered boards. I did my best to order them from lightest to darkest. Just helps when people are selecting the boards they want to buy. Have at 'em.

SOLD - All domestic woods. Maple, walnut and black cherry.

SOLD - All domestic woods. Maple, walnut and black cherry.

SOLD - Maple and purpleheart.

SOLD - Maple, murado, bloodwood and walnut.

SOLD - Very similar to #4 but with slight variations. Maple, walnut and bloodwood.

SOLD - Maple, padauk, cherry, murado, bloodwood and walnut.

SOLD - Maple, bloodwood, murado, padauk and black cherry.

SOLD - Maple, bloodwood, sapele, walnut and black cherry.

SOLD - Curly maple, purpleheart, walnut, padauk and black cherry.

SOLD - Bloodwood, maple, walnut an black cherry.

SOLD - Bloodwood, maple, walnut and black cherry.

SOLD - Bloodwood, maple, purpleheart, black cherry and murado.

SOLD - Purpleheart, maple, walnut, black cherry and padauk.

SOLD - Walnut, maple, bloodwood, black cherry and sapele.

SOLD - Sapele, maple, purpleheart, black cherry and walnut.

SOLD - Purpleheart, black cherry, maple, sapele and walnut.

SOLD - Sapele, maple, padauk and walnut.