I finally got my new lathe which was on back order for a few weeks. I've spent my nights turning a few of my famous chipped-edge bowls, one bowl that came out half-way decent, and a lidded box that may be nice enough to sell for more than the price I paid for the wood, were I to try to sell it.

The patented chipped-edge bowl, made from the remains of what Judi says is a willow oak that died in our backyard. Interesting note: this is the same tree that (i think) kept rooting into our main sewer line. The wood was kind of punky in spots, and this was more of a "make some shavings" project than it was a "make something nice" project, so I didn't really put any effort into the finish.


A straight-sided bowl made out what I think is bacote. It's from a blank I picked up about a year ago in a grab bag from woodcraft, so I'm not 100% sure. I caught the wood a couple times with the tool, leaving some pretty deep gauges in the wood. In this picture, you can sort of see these from 9 to 11 o'clock on the inside of the bowl, and from about 6 to 9 o'clock on the outside of the bowl. Other than those, though, this one came out pretty nice for attempt number 2.


Next I decided to try a lidded box. This is from another uncertain species blank from the previously mentioned grab bag. The grain and color are remenicient of mahogany, but the wood doesn't feel dense enough (to me, anyways) to be certain. It's sort of hard to tell now, but when it was in "rough block" form, it just seemed too light. Anyhow, this one came out okay for a first try, if I do say so myself. I didn't apply any finish, and I could have done a better job sanding, but without a chuck, it was too much of a pain to try to remount the pieces for sanding after I'd parted them. And I didn't remember to sand the insides. The friction fit on the lid is the tiniest of hairs too tight, and when the lid is fully engaged, it is somewhat difficult to seperate. Also, when the lid is pressed down tightly, a small crack opens up on the side of the bottom piece, visible only when the pressure of the lid pushing out causes the bottom part to expand. :(


My friend Brian (the guy with the sailboat) loaned me his pen-turning mandrel, which allows you to (surprise!) turn pens on a lathe. I went down to the local Rockler on my lunch hour with the intention of buying some pen kits and maybe a bowl blank or two. Upon arriving, I was greeted by some overly-friendly employee. Apparently he was under the impression that since we both had a lot of facial hair that we were instantly "beard buddies" or something. Like most people (I'm assuming) that I've never bother to talk to, I'm a bit of an introvert. After about 5 minutes of pretending to be nice while listening to him yammer on all the gorgeous (and overpriced) turning blanks they carry, I was finally able to get rid of him and browse in peace. Tip for salespeople: if the person you're talking to is giving you answers no longer than "yeah", there is little you can do to influence the sale. Your customer is either uninterested in you or your products. Also note that they walked into your store voluntarily and are looking at your merchandise.

(hint: It's probably you that they're uninterested in.)

So anyhow, I picked out a few Pao Ferro blocks that will wind up being bowls or something, because they were relatively inexpensive and looked like they'll have an interesting figure. It's a new wood to me - we'll see what it looks like. I grabbed about 10 or so pen kits that happened to be on sale, figuring they'll be good for cheap gifts. (note to friends and family: "cheap gifts" = "thoughtful handcrafted gifts that for all you know must have cost a lot of money.")

As I'm heading up towards the registers, Beard guy comes out of nowhere with a board (I think it was lacewood) asking me what I thought of it. I said it was nice. He then went on to explain that (somebody) told him to "sort the wood in the back", and he found this and he was going to buy it before anyone else did. In other words, he likes to go through and grab out the "good stuff" before it makes it to the shelf. Which is cool - that's just one of the perks of working retail there. But it seems to me that maybe, just maybe, if you're going to do that.. maybe you shouldn't excitedly tell your customers about it.

In summary.. leave me alone.