Blessing Day

Today we went to visit baby Genevieve again as it was her special blessing day.  Her mother spent some time making her an outfit to wear for the occasion. After making her a little white dress, her mom spent some time putting ribbon embroidery on it...a skill she was first exposed to years ago in activity days.  She also made Genevieve some little felt shoes which she also decorated with ribbon embroidery.  Lastly she made baby a little white bonnet, fashioned from a white handkerchief with an edge crocheted by baby's great-great grandmother.

Genevieve did a wonderful job and did not cry a bit.  Her Daddy gave her a beautiful blessing while coping with the necessary crutches due to his broken leg.  He was assisted by 2 uncles and a grandpa.  Genevieve has learned to smile and enjoys looking around.  She does NOT like to be cradled like a new baby anymore.

A Cutting Board Bowl

                                                by the Woodworker

After the relative success of turning the root ball bowl I decided to try another odd bowl turning project. Having several old cutting boards that were too badly worn out to salvage I considered the idea of turning them into a bowl.

1. Four old cutting boards

2. Cutting boards after a trip through the planer.

3. Glued and clamped together for 24 hours.

4. Cutting boards being shaped by the band saw.

5. Rough rounded on the bandsaw, mounted and ready to start turning.

6. Turning in progress. The wood did not turn evenly due to several different types of wood present. I just had to work around it.

7. Bowl in progress. A few minutes later it was done and ready for sanding and finish coat.

8. For a finish coat I used Howard's butcher block finish

9. Completed bowl.

Cutting boards can usually be found at local thrift store. They run about a dollar apiece. The total cost of materials was about four dollars for this bowl. I'm no longer going to pass up junk cutting boards but rather add them to my collection until I have enough to make more bowls.

Root Ball to Bowl

by the Woodworker

I found a root ball in a pile of wood. Figuring it might be turned into a nifty bowl in the future I salvaged it and put aside to dry.   Soon I forgot it existed.  The other day  I rediscovered it in my scrap pile underneath my lathe. I pulled it out and considered how to turn it into a unique bowl.

After careful consideration I decided to cut off the bottom with a band saw in order to make a place to put my bowl chuck.

1. The original root ball.

2. installed on lathe using a face plate in order to hollow out the inside.

3. starting the turning process.

Extreme care had to be taken in order to avoid the misshaped and rotten root ball from coming apart due to poor balance.

4. The inside is starting to hollow out.

5. The inside starting to clean up and old rotten debris is falling out.

6.  Still more cleaning up and inside shaping. Very carefully of course.

7.  Now the outside is beginning to take shape. I had to make a special adapter for my tail stock in order to keep the bowl from coming apart. 

8. Still more work on the inside.

9. More outside work. Note how the holes appear as the decayed material falls out and irregularities in the wood start to even up. The red color is from bacteria that grows in the  tree. Bacteria can come in red, green and blue as well as other unusual colors. Sadly it fades over time.

10. Complete bowl. It looks like it will work well for holding apples and oranges. Peanuts; not so much.

It's always fun to make bowls out of exotic and bizarre types of wood. Often they don't quite make it to the finish line but when they do they are quite unique. Loads of fun to do.

This project took three hours.