December 2020 Turnings
This turning is seven by seven and one-half inches. It was created from a piece of maple timber that a good man from my favorite Arborist inc. helped me load in my pickup. I love to make lids so it is topped with a segmented lid glued by Allie. The lid is black walnut crotch and ambrosia maple with a walnut knob from a piece of black walnut gifted to me by Aaron Richins. Value: priceless. An "heir piece." "Woodturners are folk who are lured into pursuing the urge to touch the innermost secrets of nature and to create things that bear witness of their individuality and self dependency. The ones that I respect are hardworking, honest folk with a broad streak of generosity. Typically, they hone their turning skills as fine as good violin players, and they will freely travel great distances for the right piece of wood to turn." |
A SPECIAL ONE
The above turning has a special place. It is six inches high and three and one-half inches wide. The base is ironwood from Arizona, from a chunk received as a gift from a friend there over thirty years ago. Ironwood smells like horse puckie to me but it finishes beautifully. The body is mulberry obtained from a woodcutter in Moab three or four years ago. The lid is a piece of burl of a species unknown to me that I purchased for eighty dollars thirty-five years ago from a place in Murray, Utah called "One Good Turn." I was pleased to take ownership of that burl chunk but I left that shop feeling let down by the owner Knutson, whom I had known as a kid, when he refused to recognize me after I mentioned his younger brother was a friend of mine. Strange! Finally, the knob was turned from ebony brought back from Africa, as a gift to me, by a missionary friend. I told Nathan when he left for his mission not to come home without a piece of ebony. He said he would and he was true to his word. Value: also priceless.