Ron Smith ... Richmond, VA
04-12-2003, 10:47 PM
My wife's grandfather was a furniture maker and a casual turner before his passing several years ago. I never had the pleasure of meeting the gentleman, but have been able to see some of his turnings. Unfortunately all of his tools have since been given away, before I met SWMBO. His workshop is still in place on the family farm, so I asked my FIL if I could look around. He told me to help myself and anything I found, to consider it mine. I found a lot of wood that had obviously been planned on being turned and have now taken it to my humble shop. Today I turned a piece of willow that I was told was cut down 30 years ago. The wood is extremely dry, so there's no danger of it splitting. I know willow doesn't have a remarkable grain, but it was a tree my wife played in as a child (says she remembers having to go get a switch off this tree). She loved the bowl, it's 7" X 3" and is a uniform 1/2 " thick all round. As I turned it, I found some wonderful looking worm holes on the outside and the inside. None of them are all the way through, but they add a nice touch, I think. I rubbed on some mineral oil and it soaked it right up, it was so thirsty. I have ten more pieces of this willow, with some larger. I'm looking forward to turning some bowls for the rest of her family, since they all have photos of them with the tree in the yard. Thanks for looking.