MIND OF A BLACK WOODWORKER IN ARIZONA

Wow I can not express the excitement I am enjoying in the creation of this piece. The final is a donated scrap of ivory, hooray. I have never turned ivory before. Truly something special. This vessel, is a song ebony and ivory. With bloodwood ( may represent blood once spilled). Ivory is for purity and a change of sadness. Ebony, once known in ancient Egypt as farrows gold. For me I find that I like the depth of this gaboon ebony, black is also known to  absorb the negativity of evils.         I like the thought of it.                                         This is story about the spirit of joy, housing the special meanings, you wish to keep near. Stay tuned for the next update, there are few more surprises, inside and out, Wow I can't wait. Turning Ivory

Completed Olive bowl with turquoise Surprise,  It had a baby.... Mounted with revolving tail stock.  Figured Olive wood bowl with turquoise inlays and a live edge. wood turnings, using a lathe, you can see mounted in a nova chuck. On the outside, I have filled the inclusions with real turquoise stone, and using "CA", thick glue to fill the recesses over the the turquoise and the entire exterior.  I have used my shop made carbide chisel to remove the high portions of stone, and a lot of sanding to follow, starting with 150 grit. This will take at lease 10 3" disk on my air powered angle sander. I then will sand up to at least 800 grit, followed by my mixture of shellac/alcohol/ walnut oil. Her you see the bowl with patches of "CA" glue as I add turquoise.  Her is the picture of the preliminary shape with the tenon, before it went into an air kiln. It did warp a little, as suspected. Here you can see it remounted wit...

My first crush grind peppermill, or salt. I must say, the I usually start something new is. I start by doing a little refresher course in searching the web for, one inspiration, and two method. What I found was that there are several sizes differences, not in that it's different from the traditional pepper grinders. There seems not to have a standard unlike the traditional pepper grinders, but each manufacturer has subtle changes in boring sizes. I had also purchased two sightly different grinder mechanisms, and they gave you two different  methods of boring whole size and locations. Head twister, so I just got out my vernier calipers, and double checked each portion for a workable size. I then got to the point I had stop. I did not own a drill bit or forstner bit in 1-9/16, nor did I have a tool for the clip in place portion that did want to use. The alternative is to glue the grinder mechanism in place, (messy). So at the last minute I ran down to my locale Woodcraft Store, just ...

 This glue up was made by my son Maurier Merchant for some dug-outs, I believe. So I thought I would start with it, because of the wood that was used. Zebrawood and Rosewood. It only measures 1-1/4" in dia. The are placed at random. 1/4" drill bit. Here is a view as it is mounted on a small chuck. Due to the size, (small) the offset was not quite what I was looking for. Mounting in off set hole.  Parting off . A  good shot before offset. My first attempt at offset hole. Here is one that I added a small bit of Turquoise. Tiger Caspi. Drilling with 1/16" bit I cut it down to a more manageable size. Art My Mind Likes This piece measures about 2-1/4" They are listed in order of completion, you can see my progression. All in about 5 hours give or take, mostly give.

Titled; Mesquite Campanula  It has been reversed in the chuck. Pewter added. The shape, finalized, tomorrow, with good fortune... The pewter is melted and poured into voids.  How to mount, fill, and ready for hollowing  It's taking shape, just what shape.  My partner and friend has a chainsaw that simply must be used. Here we go, the start of things, Oh how the excitement grows... Mesquite Burl with burrows created by what I believe is the "Mesquite twig girdler" 

 Figured walnut. This is second piece, and I am going to attempt to create a match to the first one. The first is an open vessel. This one I am attempting to top it off with a lid and an inlay of olive wood. I added a coat of shellac, just to seal it, and protect it in the next phase. when I add a perforated ring dyed black. Sanding Fitting the lid. Gluing olive inlay to lid. Hot melted to turning block. cut out on band saw. cut out to except inlay Reverse lid, to create inlay mortise. Olive glue up Add tape to stop glue, and to line up grain