Could You Polish My Piston????

That was the unusual request that I received, first by email and then to my studio phone.

Now before you jump to any naughty conclusions, let me explain. Eugene Henson, of JE Pistons, Huntington Beach, California, (http://www.jepistons.com/) had a wood piston that he and his crew made as a gift to present to their boss, who had been promoted and would be moving to Texas. They bought a piece of wood from Australia, and created a piston using the same CNC machines that cut the aluminum ones that are used in high performance race cars. The choice of wood - I’m guessing Sheoak, or Lacewood, but if any of my Aussie woodturning buddies can help me out, please do - was intentional, said Eugene, because they made pistons for an Australian race team.

“I guess we didn’t really think this through, because after we cut the piece, we wondered how we could put a finish on it, to make it really shine”, said Eugene. “I came across your work on Youtube and your website, and thought maybe you could help us out.”

Working on about a 10-day window, I received the piston that Eugene had shipped overnight, and began working on cleaning up some of the sharp edges. The CNC machine did a fine job of cutting the wood very cleanly, almost too clean, because the edges were sharp enough to cut you. I had originally planned to clean them up with a diamond stone held in a rotary tool, but most of the interior angles were too steep. I resorted to a good-old-fashioned hand tool, a fine tooth Auriou rasp.





Several coats of hand-rubbed tung oil every 24 hours, followed by an application of microcrystalline wax, and the piston was back on its way to California. Because of the time deadlines, I didn’t have time to set up my back-drop and photo lights; I had to photograph the finished piston using natural (outdoor) light on my deck.

I have the coolest job in the world...except maybe for Eugene and his crew!!

Stairway to My Heaven

While I was in St. Paul Minnesota last weekend attending the 25th Annual Symposium of the American Association of Woodturners (AAW), the stairway was built to the second floor of my barn.


Even though I moved into the building in May, 2009, it wasn't completely finished; the barn is still a work in progress. But with the help of fellow woodturner and ART member, Mike Green, over Saturday and Sunday, Dave and Mike got THIS project done. And while they were building the stairs, Mike's wife, Sharon kept them well fed, and was the perfect surrogate Mom to my dogs, Eddie and Max.

The deck at the top is 6 ft. by 6 ft. The two side rails are temporary and will be replaced by three drop-in rails, that can be easily removed for hauling oversized pieces straight up and through the doorway.


The entire second floor is for wood storage, and all the noisy equipment. With the exception of the air compressor and sand blasting booth, everything currently up here was carried up a 12 ft. ladder that was leaning against the bottom of the doorway. The small bowls and billetts were carried in an old rucksack over my shoulder. Larger pieces and stickered boards were lifted up by me, to my husband, who pulled them in the rest of the way.







That's Eddie, an English Pointer and one of my shop mates, in the middle of this photo.

Having the stairs will make it soooo much easier to store my blanks and billetts. Looks like Dave will need to build more shelving space very soon!




See all these posts that are flat on top? That's for my contribution. I need to turn finial caps for each of these posts. Hey, I can do that! I'm a woodturner!

Turn and Burn Competition on Woodcentral

Last month I entered a competition for woodturning. The contest was to create a woodturned piece that had pyrography, or woodburning texturing. The competition was judged by three well-known woodturners whose work I've admired for a long time.

As a woodturner and artist, there is always some anxiety when putting your work out there for critique. Yes, your family and friends love your work, tell you how good you are, and make you feel all warm and fuzzy. Remember how much your Mom loved that elbow pasta artwork you made in grade school? That's what friends and family are supposed to do, right? The public doesn't know you, however, and will have no problem telling you if something looks like crap. So when you step outside your comfort circle of friends and family, make sure you're wearing your thickest skin.

Here's a photo of my entry.



On Friday afternoon, the results of the contest were posted. The first notice I received was a congratulations posting on my FaceBook wall from a fellow woodturner and Turn and Burn competitor. (Thanks, Jeff). My piece earned a third place finish in the competition. I was surprised and humbled by the choice, considering all the outstanding work that was submitted.

Here's a link to the competition page, with the winning photos.

http://www.woodcentral.com/contests/turning6/

Even better was the award - a gift certficate to a favorite woodturning store to buy more tools! How cool is that??

Spoon Commission

I attended my first national woodturning symposium of the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) last month, held in Hartford, CT. There I met wooden spoon collector, Norman Stevens, who had a small portion of his vast collection on display. Cheeky me, I introduced myself, sharing that, while I spend most of my time as a woodturner, I have discovered and appreciate the satisfaction of using simple hand tools to carve spoons.

We exchanged business cards, and about 10 days later, I received a request to carve him a spoon. I suggested the spoon be carved from the maple tree harvested at the Robert Frost Farm, in Derry, NH. This tree is said to be the inspiration for many of Frost's poems, including "Tree At My Window". I was there for the harvesting in 2007, documenting the entire day with photographs. Mr. Stevens was thrilled with the proposal, since he is originally from Nashua, NH.






I started working on the Frost Maple spoon today. But before I touched that valuable wood, I first carved a prototype from a lilac branch, which appears in the upper left corner of the photo. I often make prototypes which help me work out design ideas, form and proportions. And for this project, I'm carving two identical spoons. There's simply too much riding on this commission to risk making a mistake, especially near the very end.



I'll document this project, too, and post my progress on this Blog. I think it's fitting, that the tool I'm using in the bottom photo, with the curved blade, was hand-made by Del Stubbs, a former woodturner. I'm using this tool to carve out the concave scoop portion.

I just confirmed the forecast for the upcoming holiday weekend, and we'll be starting out with some beautiful fall weather! So there's nothing to keep you from getting out and enjoying it. And while you're out, make sure you stop by my Open Studio. Below are a few more samples of Bruce and Jill's artwork that you'll find this weekend, Saturday through Monday, (October 10-12) 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.







Jill will have the above two original watercolors, framed and matted, on display. I had a private showing of these last night, and they're really spectacular!




O.K., you're probably wondering, "Where's the woodturning photos?" Come to my open studio! Photos are great, but there's something very tactile about wood...you want to pick up the piece...it's warm....turn it over in your hands....your palm follows the curve, smooth as a baby's bottom...

Yes, come to the studio and you can pick up and hold any woodturning you'd like. Maybe you'll like a piece so much that it just has to go home with you. Well, that can be arranged.