I cut the biggest piece of stock that would fit on my lath & tried to get it centered best I could. When I started the lath it started dancing all around my shop, the base on my lath is like a saw horse & the piece I was trying to turn was too out of square & off center, so the thing started dancing it's way around the shop.











I I then straped a heavy tool chest to it, to calm it down till I turned it round. When I was turning it I came across a wood worm, there was two holes, so I followed them & came to the worm. It was white, about an inch long with two hooked jointed legs & a crab claw like teeth "ewwww" The wood is half in a stage of decay & when I capture this stage it becomes a work of art, as the rot transforms the wood's colors & grains.










With my little sight I make random shapes, no measuring, just what ever shape fits the blank & resembles a bowl.














Next I sand them, then I burnish the blanks with fresh cut shavings at a high speed holding handfuls of shavings & rubbing then into the turning bowls till the shavings heat up, it gives them a polished finish.

















The two bottoms & lids I made out of this piece are now cut apart by hand & the bottom mounted on a face plate to turn the insides out. This process has become very difficult for me now & I will not be able to do many more bowls that I need to turn the insides out on the lath, but I like danger.



The second day I carved at one of the lids & sanded it. Next I dilled out a pocket on the bottom to fit a wind up music box player. Ones now ready for laquer & one to turn, I have enough of this wood for a couple more of these & a few more smaller boxes & next I will try a couple large carved bowls.

Great Grizzly Bear

I've been waiting a while to carve something out of this chunk fo red oak tree that looked to be an entrance to some critter's home. In this piece I seen a bear and today was nice bright sunny day, so I took my magnifier outside & carved this bear out of it.

I started by sawing out the shape, then I screwed in some studs to hold little end pieces of white tail deer antler witch I then glued them onto.

There really wasn't a lot of carving to do to it, as it already looked like a bear and all I wanted out of it was to act as a mask with a handle on it, so a person could hold the mask up & tell stories through it. Now all I have to do is find some great grizzly bear tales & short stories that someone could read with the mask.