Peter Brown's ShopTime

 Pear Bowl #1      Pear Bowl #2   Pear Bowl #3    

This is my first NE bowl. It was a bear, and put my little Rikon mini through its paces. I will be hard pressed to want to turn another one any time soon... Still after 4 major catches and one pitch across the floor I ended up with a rather thick walled 9 1/2" bowl.  If you look closely you can see the glue line where the wing was re-attached. Finished with Danish oil, blood, sweat and some manly tears.:)   9 1/2 inches wing to wing. I lost some bark during it's various flights off my lathe. Some cool checking that I really like. I rough sanded the areas where I lost the bark. Felt like it added to it's character.

This is the second half of the board I acquired from the old wine cast . A very simple turning, and hopefully a cherished piece of the wine country for some lucky tourist. SOLD Some cool nail holes and char marks from the cask. Approx 7 1/2" in diameter. Still with a strong scent of wine Bottom with date and signature. Finished with light oil and shellac.

This was free piece of wood from my woodturning club. It's the first time I've worked with ash. A fairly hard wood, but worth the effort. I really like the sapwood on this piece and all the hairline cracks. They give this rather uniform wood some character. Size is approx 7" in diameter and about 2" high.  Finished with a layer of shellac to pop the grain, then 3 coats of danish oil. SOLD

I picked up an old board from a local salvage yard. It was charred black on one side (preserved a bit on the rim) and the lady gave me a good deal on it. I sat under my bench for almost a year before I decided to tackle it. When I cut into the blank, it smelled strongly of wine. After looking at the growth rings I knew what it was. The vineyards here in wine country used local redwood in the construction of their larger capacity wine barrels. The vineyards have been moving to Stainless Steel tanks for years, and as such I guess this blank is about 100 years old depending on the vineyard it came from. I left it intentionally large at the base to preserve as much of the wine soaked side as possible (the dark line) and even through the danish oil it has a strong smell of wine. SOLD That dark line is where the wine stained the wood. Still smells strongly of wine after turning and finishing the bowl. The rim still has some of the charred marks from the inside o...

Maple Burl....At least, that's what the blank was labeled when I bought it for $12. I think I've been had, or this is the straightest burl grain I've ever seen... Maple 7 1/2 x 2 1/2, finished with danish oil.

4 inches wide 1 1/4 high. Finished with Danish Oil. SOLD

Cool Chunk of claro walnut burl Soaked in CA Rocks and burl More burl and a void emerge Rough hollowing Shearing scrape Sanding started Started on the bottom The blank went for a short flight... I'd like to claim it was an unstable bowl but that was not the case. It was a stupid mistake on my part. I was turning down the nib at the very end of the processed when I rubbed the tool edge and got a catch. the bowl came out the cole jaws hit the tool rest and flew straight up. I was then showered in burl bowl pieces. It was spectacular! I was so upset I could barely think straight. I only found two pieces and have no idea where the other 60% of them are. Now... I understand these things happen and I just need to chuck up another block

This is #4 for me and the first bowl I turned from dried wood. This is kiln dried California Walnut. Again the outside and bottom turned with my bowl gouge but the hollowing was all done with a 1/2 round nose scraper. I'm beginning to enjoy the advantage of scraping and I get a pretty nice surface right off the tools. Sanded to 180 and I've done 4 coats of Danish Oil. The walnut is thirsty and it will get few more coats still! 1 1/2 high 5 inches wide.

This is bowl #4 for me and the first one with NO CATCHES. I took this as proof that I had turned it, in case my luck didn't hold and I dropped it on the way to it's oil bath. It measures 7 3/4 wide x 2 1/2 high. Finish is simply 3 coats of danish oil.   SOLD I've got a dried chunk of walnut waiting for me this weekend...

Bowl turning appears to be my Achilles Heel. I cannot seem to get the hang of my bowl gouge. Regardless this is my first bowl completed bowl without any major defects. My first one warped and I wasn't able to properly finish the bottom on my second. Plus this one feels really nice in my hand. Inside turned almost totally with my 1/2 round nose scraper. California Bay Laurel 1 1/2 x 6 1/2 SOLD

Gluing up pieces to make bowls. Still trying to get my technique down before shelling out money for large bowl blanks... Still having a hard time getting a good cut on my bowl gouge. Boy, this is a lot harder than I thought!

Liquidambar 6" wide by 2 inches high. Finished with Danish Oil. Not terribly interesting grain or wood but completing a bowl is a big deal for this spindle turner. Certainly a very different experience to a box or even a cup. It was the transition from the bottom to the wall that was so unexpectedly complicated. As with anything I imagine it comes with doing.