Sharon Rasmussen, from Ruth’s Free Wigs in Grand Rapids and Ray Hyde, from the Lake Superior Woodturners, exchange wig stands turned and donated by members of the wood turning club.
This 10″ x 1 1/2″ birch platter was a demonstration piece for the March Lake Superior Woodturners meeting. Jon Stephenson used his “Conestoga” Lichtenberg burner to burn several designs into this platter. After the meeting I took it home and cleaned up the random patterns in the middle of the piece and used the fractal burning on the rim to highlight the crow.
After reading the article “Hollowing through the bottom” by Wes Jones in the August 2021 American Woodturner I had to give it a try. This is a small hollow form I have titled “Snake in the grass” 4 3/4″ tall by 4″ diameter made from maple.
Made by Greg, Ray, Doug and Susan
Made by Greg, Ray, Doug and Susan
Made by Greg, Ray, Doug and Susan
The bowl is turned end grain. The wood is spalted maple crotch. It is 12.5 inches across and 4.5 inches high
This page is dedicated to Lake Superior Woodturner Projects
Thanks to great advice from fellow club members Dick Adams and Jon Stephenson, I was able to turn these live edge apple bowls, walnut and birch crouch wood platters.
Cherry three tiered cookie platter for the holidays
By Greg Whitaker
Fall is in the Air. This a covered bowl I turned out of Spalted Holly with a gourd handle and 58 gourd leaves with air brushed colors.
The stone sphere is 2.4 billion yrs old. Banded iron formation from the iron range. Pedestal is ebony. Fellow from Superior has an amazing rock shop!!
WALNUT JAR 10 x 5.5 in turned, died textured and painted
Mask 2020: a metaphor for our times. Cherry, Maple and Leather…Textured and painted…14 x 7 in
My sister wanted a set of salad bowls but want each to be unique. I turned these 7 1/2’’ x 2” Ambrosia maple bowls and added burnt a facial expression on each; now she can pick one for her different modes. You can notice that I turned two from one log and the other two from another with slightly more spalting.
I have been cutting and preparing bowl and platter blanks to work on this winter when my bandsaw went down. Waiting for parts I decided to grab a blank and turn this 12” x 3 1/2” fruit bowl. Beautifully spalted with just enough bark inclusion to make it interesting.
14” x 9”, made with Maple, Wenge, Bloodwood, Yellowheart, and Chacka Viga. There are 62 rows, with 288 segments per row, for a total count a little under 18,000 pieces, and took around 250 hours to make.
I started with a nice piece of walnut that had some separation of grain on the rim. Spent some time using black superglue that filled the voids and helped accentuate the grain.
I found a great slab of agate that I inlaid on the surface using my micro motor with endmill type bits to establish the perimeter. Then, I hogged out the rest of the material with a trim router.
I ordered knife blanks from Craft Supplies but sent them back. They were cheap crap from China. They used to carry beautiful Sheffield blades from England. A friend of mine in Superior does business with a chap( colloquial in England for friend) who found the new owners of the original manufacturer .A bunch of emails and a $50 additional charge for the bank draft later, I got my knife blanks. It was worth the trouble and money to put beautiful steel together with walnut crotch wood for a nice project.
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My son asked if I could make (turn) him a “Tip Jar” for his pizza business in Cottage Grove MN. My solution for this challenge was not only a depository for tips, but also a jar that actually tipped (rocked in all directions). The problem was to design a vessel that would hold tip money, have a place to hold pens, (his criteria) and “wobble” without totally falling over(my criteria). It is constructed of mostly maple and has 8 separate parts (ten if you count the nut and threaded rod used to hold the removable lid on). It was dyed red, textured (burned) and painted black. Followed by several coats of wipe on poly and a coat of wax. Looking forward to seeing some fun projects, while we all wait for the world to regain its sanity.
This multi-axis bowl was turned out of ash. It will mess with your mind a bit because the outside looks very different than the inside. It’s two bowls in one and the relief lines are cut so that the open spaces expose the ribs on the opposite side. This piece is named “Carpenter’s Colander”.
Emerging Bowls out of Live Edge Box Elder
This “Wonkie Pot” hollow form was turned from spalted “Norfolk Island Pine” It’s wall thickness is ~1/2 inch and was hollowed from both the bottom using a matched grain plug technique. It is an example of a 2 axis (1to 1 and 1 to 2) turning which was mounted 4 separate times. the finish is 4 coats of wipe-on Poly followed by a wax Beal Buff.
This “Ambrosia Maple” vase / hollow form that was turned from Ambrosia Maple. It is was turned using two axises (1 to 1 and 2 to 2). It is completely hollowed out to a wall thickness of 3/8s to 1/2 inch. The finish is a 4 coats of wipe on poly and a wax Beal Buff
Emerging Bowls out of Live Edge Box Elder
If you are thinking of getting a portable lathe, check out the Powermatic 2014 which I just saw on sale online.
Stay safe.
Dick
The lawn chair in the background is my makeshift photoshop. The ambrosia bowl on the lathe is rough-turned only, and it tested the limit of the midi lathe and especially the small chuck. The red-streaked bowl is boxelder and the goblet with the captured ring is from spalted oak.
Dick Adams
I had a chunk of heavily spalted maple sitting around that had a large bark inclusion and a very odd shape. Thought it would fall apart as I turned it but with the help of CA glue it turned out to be a near complete bowl. The lower natural edge around the rim will make grabbing the keys out of this bowl easy. Finished with two coats of sand sealer followed by six coats of homemade rub-on poly.sd
