Category Archives: walnut

A Little Bread

A little bread—a crust—a crumb— A little trust—a demijohn— Can keep the soul alive— Not portly, mind! but breathing—warm— Conscious—as old Napoleon, The night before the Crown! A modest lot—A fame petite— A brief Campaign of sting and sweet Is … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, Lettering, quotes and excerpts, Uncategorized, walnut | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

The Secret Sits

  We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.      — Robert Frost, The Secret Sits I thought I’d share some photos of my most recent bowl, inspired by Robert … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, Lettering, quotes and excerpts, Uncategorized, walnut | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

“Turning” Without a Lathe

Months ago, I had a certain passage of poetry tumbling around in my head, and I envisioned it on a bowl.  But the bowl had to be round, and here I sat without a lathe — sort of. Actually, I do have a … Continue reading

Posted in adze, axe, bowls, holding, layout, Lettering, tools, Uncategorized, walnut | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

New Walnut Bowl

Last week, I spent some time along the Niagara River.  I saw the Falls again (I live only three hours away), and they are still thrilling.  But what I noticed more than ever before were the beautiful trees on my walks … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, patterns, sketch, trees, Uncategorized, walnut | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Round Top

I recently completed the green-carving stage of a walnut bowl.  This log was twenty-seven inches long with heartwood about fifteen inches wide.  I wanted the rim of the bowl to sweep gently downward from the handles to the middle. When … Continue reading

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New Walnut Bowl

I have finished this fluted walnut bowl. While the flutes are nice, I tried to make the other, more hidden, side of the bowl interesting as well.  I hope it is like a pleasant surprise when somebody picks it up. As can be … Continue reading

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Warmer Weather Walnut

Back in the bone chilling days of January, my son and I warmed up a bit by collecting some walnut logs from a fallen tree at a friend’s house (and I posted about it here).  Now, the snow is gone, the … Continue reading

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Measuring Beauty?

 The question of measuring beauty — that is objective assessment beyond “Very nice,” “Exquisite,” “This appeals to me” — has troubled scholars and other laymen at least from the time of the Greeks.  And, beginning with the Greek philosophers, there … Continue reading

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Hollowing with an Adze

Following up on my last post about adze design, I wanted to share a series of photos that show the procedure for my adze work.  At the stage of the first photo (above), I’ve hewn and hand planed the upper and … Continue reading

Posted in adze, bowls, holding, layout, Uncategorized, walnut | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

What’s a saz?

That was my first thought when I was asked recently to make one; well, the bowl part of one.  Turns out that a saz is a long necked Turkish lute (I found the photo of the one above — I had … Continue reading

Posted in adze, carving, tools, Uncategorized, video, walnut | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments