Tag Archives: shrink pot

If You Still Haven’t Made a Shrink Pot

Making a shrink pot may be the most magical thing you can do in green woodworking. You can carve bowls and spoons from dry wood, but a shrink pot’s gotta shrink. I revisit the process regularly, and I was working … Continue reading

Posted in shrink box, Uncategorized | Tagged | 13 Comments

More Fun with Shrink Tubes

Sometimes you just have to get an odd idea out of your system.  This one involved shrink pots, or more specifically, shrink tube bottoms.  I’ve written several posts about shrink pots/boxes/tubes with procedures and all that.  Here is a link … Continue reading

Posted in green woodworking, paint, patterns, shrink box, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 28 Comments

Bright Shrink Pot

Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, “Stay awhile.” The light flows from their branches. —Mary Oliver, from the poem “When I am Among the Trees” That poetry excerpt may look familiar.  I shared it last … Continue reading

Posted in paint, patterns, quotes and excerpts, sharpening, shrink box, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

A Couple Shrink Pots and Spoons

I made a couple shrink posts from sections of birch with personality that I just couldn’t resist.  The bark seems so alive and dynamic — warts and all.  The bending nature of these pieces added just a bit of extra … Continue reading

Posted in finding wood, shrink box, spoons, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 21 Comments

Shrink Pots, Paint and Lettering

    If weep you must, then weep; but weep that tears must be, and be Gentle and grow as, weeping to the ground, the willow tree; And grace will come, lighting the eyes of heaven, after thee. — Catherine … Continue reading

Posted in Lettering, paint, patterns, quotes and excerpts, shrink box, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

Putting the Wood in the Driver’s Seat

One of the things I enjoy most about greenwood carving is the challenge of making the most out of the wood that becomes available.  The individual characteristics of the log or branch drive the design, while I navigate among the … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, carving, drying, finding wood, Lettering, spoons, trees, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 17 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

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

The T-Handle Auger

To bore the initial hole in a shrink pot, I use an auger, typically this two-inch diameter T-handle auger.  I found mine at flea market years ago.  Large augers like this aren’t rare, but there are a few things to … Continue reading

Posted in sharpening, tools, Uncategorized, video | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Evening Trees Shrink Pot

A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening… Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours.  They are wiser than we are, as long … Continue reading

Posted in patterns, quotes and excerpts, shrink box, trees, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments