Having fun making these boxes. This one is maple burl, about 4.5″ tall, 2.75″ diameter, and the interior is about 2″ diameter. Lid is sliced off in an arc, and held on with 4 little magnets. The magnet get the grain and figure aligned just right between the body and the lid.

Box of Spalted Tamarind. About 5″ tall, 3″ diameter (interior is 2″ diameter). Lid sliced off in an arc, and held on with 4 small magnets. The magnets ensure the lid attaches with the grain and figure perfectly aligned. Lacquer finish.

About 3” tall. Magnetic lid.Maple burl with some worm holes filled with colored epoxy.

About 8″ diameter, 2.75″ high. Round bottom (no foot, just a little dimple so it sits upright).Simple walnut oil finish.A few pewa (maple) to stabilize a crack, and some epoxy fill in the cracks just to make the bowl more usable, since the cracks went all the way through.

About 9″ diameter and 4.75″ high. Lacquer finish. I am not sure, but I think the whiter bit is where the tree grew over/around a limb.

Rocket Box #6 – “Zeta”. Stands 10-1/2″ tall. Box Elder Burl with dyed maple lets, rings, finials. Lacquer finish.

4” tall hollow form Cherry / dye / lacquer

Honey Locust. About 7″ diameter, 3″ high. Walnut oil finish.

Flame textured Elm. About 5.5″ tall. Magnets hold it on the base.

Calabash bowl from an ash crotch. Walnut pewa joining some cracks. No foot, just a little dimple. Some great figure in this piece. About 7″ diameter, 3-1/2″ tall. Walnut oil finish.

About 6″ tall, 3.5″ diameter. Lacquer finish. If it looks crocked, that’s how it dried – the knot on one side sorta sunk in while the surrounding area bulged out. Gives it some character.

About 7″ diameter, 3″ tall. Walnut oil finish.

Honey Locust. About 6-1/2” diameter, 3-1/4 tall. Sliced apart and reassembled with wenge pewa. Interior painted black, exterior finished with walnut oil.

Enjoyed making the first one, so had to do another. About 11” tall. Big leaf maple burl w/ dyed maple legs, rings, and finials. Finish is lacquer. This piece received an Instant Gallery Excellence Award at the 2024 AAW International Symposium.

Wormy ash, about 4.25″ diameter. Walnut oil finish.

Wormy ash hollow form. About 8.5″ diameter, 5″ high. This was a crotch with 3 limbs that I found at our club’s wood lot. I turned it whole (leaving in the pith from all the limbs). I decided to leave the cracks – too many to try to fill or patch. And I removed the … Continue reading Rustic →

Big Leaf Maple Burl. Dyed maple “leg” and finial. About 9.5″ tall. Lacquer finish. This piece was selected by the American Association of Woodturners Forum as Turning of the Week for January 29, 2024.

Hollow Form, probably Maple but I’m not really sure. It’s about 6″ diameter and 6.25″ tall. The bark inclusion was just too big, so I got a little guy in to wall it up. There was a large crack along one side, which I patched with Walnut pewa. The bricklayer left some bricks in the … Continue reading PatchWork →

Sliced Hollow Form, Ash, about 9″ dia x 4.5″. Sliced and reassembled with Wenge Pewa. Finish is Walnut Oil.

This was fun and challenging to make. It’s 11″ tall and about 3″ diameter. Box is Big Leaf Maple Burl, and the legs, rings, and finials are dyed maple. Finish is lacquer. This piece was selected for inclusion in the 2024 AAW Member Exhibition, “Common Roots”.

Hollow Form, about 5″ diameter and 6″ tall. Sliced apart and reassembled with Walnut Pewa. I made two slices at different orientations to yield an opening that flows between wide and narrow. Pretty sure this was Cherry. Exterior finish is Lacquer, interior painted black.

About 5″ diameter and 6″ tall. Ash with Wenge Pewa bridging the slice. Finish is Walnut Oil.

Goblet of Big Leaf Maple burl, about 7 1/2″ tall x 3 1/2″ diameter. Stem is dyed maple. Finish is lacquer.

Hollow from from an Elm crotch. About 10″ diameter and 6″ high. Turned side-grain – that is, like a bowl, where the mouth of the form is pointing at the tree’s center (pith) and the foot pointing towards the bark. Bark inclusion bridged with a single Wenge pewa. Interior painted flat black to enhance the … Continue reading Elm Hollow Form →

Aspen Hollow Form, turned around the pith and sliced. Slices re-assembled with Walnut pewa. About 7″ tall, 5″ diameter. Finished with lacquer and buffed.

Earlier this year, a limb broke off a Mulberry tree in Mom’s yard, and she saved a couple pieces for me. My sons got a couple of these bowls for Christmas – this was a tree they both played at – there was almost always a rope swing hanging there. These bowls range from about … Continue reading Mulberry Bowls →

Hollow form from a burl of unknown wood. Three legs or stilts of dyed walnut. It is about 4″ diameter and sits about 5″ high.

Ash hollow form, sliced and reassembled with Maple pewa. About 8″ diameter, 6-3/4″ high. Finished with walnut oil. American Woodturner, February 2024, p6

Cherry, about 10″ diameter. Spun the rim with enamel paints.

Ash. Burned to highlight the growth rings and dyed red. Sliced with an arc with Wenge pewa. About 5″ diameter, 3″ tall. Lacquer finish.

Ash, sliced with an arc, with Wenge pewa. About 4-1/4″ diameter, 2-1/2″ tall. Walnut oil finish.

Mesquite Hollow Form with Maple pewa, about 7″ diameter and 5″ high. This was a bit risky due to the ring shake in the tree. Ring Shake is a crack that forms along one of the growth rings. It is probably caused by something that affected the tree’s growth that year – bacteria, insects, drought, … Continue reading Shake-y →

Goblet of Big Leaf Maple burl (with dyed maple stem). About 4-1/4″ tall, bowl is about 2-1/4″ diameter. Spray lacquer finish.

About 7″ diameter x 4.5″ high. Walnut, turned green, sliced, and re-assembled with maple pewa. Finish is walnut oil. There are a few small walnut pewa stitching a crack on one side (not shown in the picture).

Replaced a broken handle on an old school bell. The handle is about 6″ long. Used paint and various stains to attempt to imitate (or at least hint at) the patina of the original.

Walnut Hollow Form, about 6.5″ tall, 5″ diameter. Sliced and re-assembled with maple pewa. Walnut oil finish.

Walnut with Maple pewa over sawed gap. About 5″ diameter. Walnut oil finish. Inspired by John Beaver’s work. This is an initial piece to explore some new (to me) ideas. This piece was selected by the American Association of Woodturners Forum as Turning of the Week for April 11, 2022.

A natural-edged goblet, from a Big Leaf Maple burl. It is about 5″ tall and the bowl is about 2-1/2″ diameter. Looks like the burl may have a bit of spalting. The top of the base is uncut burl cap.

This natural-edge bowl from a Big Leaf Maple Burl is about 8-3/4″ diameter and 2-1/2″ high. The walls of the bowl are almost 1/2″ thick, to show off the natural burl surface.

Wormy Ash, 7.5″ diameter, 4.5″ tall. This piece has a nice bark inclusion running up the side. I might have left that alone, except that several other cracks developed during drying. So I fixed those cracks with Wenge pewa (butterfly inserts) and also bridged the bark inclusion so it would look more complete. The wood … Continue reading Another Wormy Ash Hollowform →

The Cameron Peak Fire started in August of 2020, and the East Troublesome Fire in October. These are, so far, the two largest wildfires in Colorado history, and East Troublesome was the most destructive. Combined, they burned over 628 square miles of forest. Two people died. More than 500 homes were destroyed, and thousands were … Continue reading Troublesome (Series) →

This Hollow Form is Walnut, about 7″ around and 4″ tall. It was turned from a full log, so the pith (center of the log) runs thru the sides of the form. There is a lot of stress around the pith, and it usually leads to cracking. After it sat for a while, it did … Continue reading Walnut Hollow Form →

Walnut calabash bowl, 5″ x 3″. Pewa are Maple.

Calabash bowl, 8″ diameter x 5″ high. Walnut. Pewa are Maple, Huini pegs are Ebony.

I am really enjoying making these goblets. The tallest ones in the picture are about 10″ tall.

These ash hollowforms were burned with a torch. The torch charred the early wood (large pores) before burning the late wood (more solid places). I then used red dye to color them.

I was inspired by a clip from this video by Sam Angelo and made a nativity set for the family.  I happened to have a bowl that I’d gone too thin on the bottom, so I could cut it to made the manger.

I made a hot air balloon that floats!   The balloon is a cottonwood hollowform, colored with dyes.  The basket is black palm wood.  The base is also colored cottonwood. The base supports a vertical pole, and the balloon has a tube running through its middle. The balloon just slides onto the pole.   I … Continue reading Floating Hot Air Balloon →

These are great examples of why I love to turn cottonwood.  The figure is just fantasitc. The larger bowl is about 11″ diameter.       This smaller one is about 4″.

The worms really had a field-day in this Maple tree.  They bored lots of holes.  I like the patterns they left in the wood.  I think this bowl shows off both the beauty of the wood and gives a glimpse into the lives of creatures that lived in the tree.   The bowl measures about … Continue reading Wormy Maple Bowl →

We needed some small items to donate to a fundraiser holiday craft sale.  So I made a bunch of trees. I ended up making two sets, and ended up with around 90 little trees (about 2″ tall).

This bowl is about 6.5″ x 1.75″ and is a great example of the red “flame” staining that can occur in Box Elder. There are several ideas about what causes the flame stain – maybe a fungus, maybe a bug, or maybe just some physical stress that the tree endured. In any case, it is … Continue reading Flame Box Elder Bowl →

Shallow bowl of Box Elder, 10.5″ x 2″, Licthenberg figure aournd the outside. Box Elder is known for having a firey red flame pattern in some woods.  It is thought to be due to some sort of stress that causes the wood to change color.  This piece only has the tiniest little bit of flame … Continue reading Box Elder Tesla Bowl →

This goblet’s bowl is a burl of Black Ash, about 3.75″ diameter.  The stem is Ebony. The goblet is about 7″ tall.    

This is a small hollowform – just 2.5″ diameter and 3″ tall.  It is Aspen, with a cap (attached, not a lid) of ebonized Walnut.   Not for Sale

My son is a bagpiper and homebrewer.  He wanted a pair of tap handles for his keggerator to match his bagpipe drones.  So we made some.  He wanted 2 for himself and one for a friend, and we made one extra – just in case.  Since all 4 worked out, I got to keep one … Continue reading Bagpipe Drone Tap Handles →

Bowl from native Colorado Cottonwood.    Lichtenberg fractal patterns burned around the rim. The bowl is 10 1/2″ diameter. This tree was rescued from a tree-trimer’s “free firewood” pile.   $75 Sold

Walnut bowl, about 11″ diameter, with Lichtenberg fractal patterns. Also features a natural bark inclusion along the rim (a defect in the original tree).

A shallow Walnut bowl with Lichtenberg patterns burned around the open flared rim. The rim also features a natural bark inclusion from the original tree. The bowl is about 11″ diameter.