Five bowls turned from part of a salvaged Ash tree from Peabody, Kansas. The tree was well over one hundred years old and was nearly five feet in diameter. Most of it we milled into lumber but some was set aside for making wooden bowls. It is a humbling and awe-filled experience getting to work with material from such a being as was this tree.
The six and a half inch thick, 13 foot long walnut slab filled the shop as it came from the chainsaw mill.
Beam cutter on the old worm-drive
“rough-sawn” to the max
Using the “beam-cutter” to rip the slab into a six inch square timber
Pulling the saw at the end of the cut to save the last bit of slab for the corbels
Aluminum C-channel as a guide
start of the smoothing
a jack plane with a radius set to take heavy shavings
Now the joiner
pretty obvious
chopping out for a patch over a rotten knot
the same, fitted
filing the edges of a little copper butterfly template
bench-top with tools for making butterfly templates
variety of butterfly templates
Scribing the timber for butterflies to bind the main check
Routing out the waste
chopping the rest
right up to the knife line
ready for the joining
carving the corbels (my documentation fell off for most of this process)
mating the various natural edges of the corbels to the mantel
a little further back
fitting the opposite corbel
rough-cut cove on the left corbel
both corbels with coves-cut and awaiting final shaping
apply the final touches on the ends of the timber
“C” for the covenant
installed over the fire box, and the home-owner’s sandstone work.
I look forward to seeing it with the stone work done
Sally In The Garden, traditional fiddle tune performed on banjo and fiddle
The early stages of a stout white oak and black walnut supper-eating table.
Thank you to my great friend Cody for the first photograph in this group.
Working for and in collaboration with my friend, Cody, we have been preparing waney-edged planks and slabs of eastern red cedar and black walnut for loft and stair railings and countertops, while making much fodder for the compost pile.
persimmon vessel
Wood, since boyhood, has been a passion. One also shared by my father and grandfather so I had worthy teachers and opportunity. There will ultimately be three pages featuring some examples in each category: Furniture, vessels, bowls and spoons, and structure and milling (yet to come).
woodrick
Walnut Banjo
Spiral stair in Hedge (Maclura pomifera, bodark, bois d’ark, osage orange). Designed by my friend Cody to join a 100 year old barn basement to the floor above. The barn, just outside of Fall River, got hit by a twister about 4-5 years ago and is now being rebuilt as a workshop and living quarters. The stair isn’t officially finished, we already have a list of things we want to change, but this is it in it’s first state.
The School of the Transfer of Energy 