Category Archives: Uncategorized

Shrink Pots with Roy and Peter

Now here is TV worth watching…two of my heroes making shrink pots.  I checked, and apparently The Woodwright’s Shop is not number one in the TV ratings — a mystery that may help explain my difficulty relating to the wider world!  Well, it’s … Continue reading

Posted in green woodworking, shrink box, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

New Evening Trees Shrink Pots

Like most things I make, work on shrink pots occurs in two stages — wet and dry.  After the pot has dried, I go over all of the surfaces again to leave a burnished and clean surface.  I’ve finished a … Continue reading

Posted in shrink box, trees, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Cena Parata Est

In seventh grade, I found myself enrolled in Latin class.  Given my lack of effort and interest, it’s a wonder that I retained anything.  I do remember that my class name, Pisces, was a big hit, mostly because the Latin … Continue reading

Posted in cherry, classes, events, green woodworking, Lettering, spoons, teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

A Bowl for Enkidu

It seems that our problem with portion control goes back at least 4700 years.  In the Epic of Gilgamesh, probably the oldest recorded story in human history, Shamhat is tasked with civilizing the wild beastly man Enkidu.  To lure him … Continue reading

Posted in ale bowls, bowls, historical reference, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Roof Top Bowl

Most of us are familiar with the two usual orientations for bowl carving: working “upside down” into the bark side of the bowl (an innovation that Bengt Lidström was known for), and working into the flat split surface of the half log. … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, layout, patterns, proportions, sketch, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Cold November Rain

As I happily remain in the shop this morning, in my head I hear Axl Rose’s refrain. I’m carving flutes along the outer surface of this little “wine bowl.” This is quiet, contemplative work that seems to fit a rainy morning. … Continue reading

Posted in adze, ale bowls, bowls, carving, cherry, finding wood, green woodworking, holding, quotes and excerpts, trees, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Bent, Warped, and Twisted

I had a plan in my mind for a square tapering shrink pot. As I smacked the froe and watched the waste from the first side fall away, I realized this log had other plans.  This cherry tree had grown with a … Continue reading

Posted in carving, cherry, green woodworking, Lettering, shrink box, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Autumn Perspective

When I write about trees and birds and the view from a hilltop, I wonder if they are important in the face of elections, and foreign aid, and taxes, and missiles and satellites.  Then I know that arguments end, men … Continue reading

Posted in nature, photography, quotes and excerpts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Roving, Designing and Sketching

We carvers are fortunate to have the opportunity to both conceive a design and execute it with nothing more than a chunk of wood and a few sharp tools, and it’s a thrill  when the idea becomes a reality before … Continue reading

Posted in ale bowls, books, bowls, patterns, sketch, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Launch of the Dragon Ale-Bowl

…but Sigurd himself steered the dragon-keel which was the greatest and noblest; richly wrought were the sails, and glorious to look on. — The Story of Sigurd from The Völsunga saga, 13th century Ok, so that’s obviously not a photo of Sigurd’s ship … Continue reading

Posted in ale bowls, bowls, cherry, green woodworking, patterns, tools, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments