Wooden Spoons and Bowls (Again)

I've been busy as of late, carving spoons from a nice Cherry tree I felled the other day, securing wood for future birch bark and bent wood box tops as well as shrink box bases out of riven red pine,white pine,spruce and basswood. I found a nice stump for a new chopping block and turned a few bowls on Sunday. I'm spending more and more time doing one thing or similar things. I spent the last few days carving spoons and spreaders. I'm about to spend the next few days turning larger bowls with the last of a larger birch log I got in the fall. This is all in preparation for the summers art shows,and new supply to the galleries that have my stuff.

I find that working on one type of project really helps to get momentum going, but also helps with subtle design elements as well as technique. I can build on the experiences from one spoon to the next and so on for days. But working within a limited range, say carving the same style and size spoon or spreader over and over.

The road crews have been felling large red and white pine along the road's right of way. I'm not sure why, but I estimate at least 20-30 large "saw logs" and 100's of smaller trees were felled. I wish I had the equipment to drive along and gather it all up. The beetles will be laying eggs in them soon and they will end up rotting away. It's a shame that it's more expensive to collect it than to leave it rot and buy some wood from across the country felled and milled in British Columbia. There is really something wrong with that, I can hardly sit still thinking about it. I'm not blaming anyone in particular just the system we live in, the mentality behind it. Sometimes I am just left in awe of it. I'll try to get what I can and the rest will have to lay there. I'll set my wedges into what I can.

I'm getting better at turning the nesting bowls. I turned 2 sets with relative ease yesterday. I have just a few hooks to cut the nests and they are for a specific size and shape bowl, so I've got a few turning hooks ready to be shaped to match whatever size and shape bowls I find myself making. Once I have the bowl started I'll bend the shape I need in them and turn the bowl. In this way I can start to build up an larger selection of tools for a wider range of size bowls. I've been passing up the larger wood, due to lack of skill and tools. In this way eventually I'll be able to take whatever wood is available.

Sorry if this post is just a list of things I did, this spring is and will be filled with long days of repetition, carving spoons-turning bowls,carving spoons- turning bowls,splitting wood, etc. It's part of being a professional woodworker, "gotta make hay when the sun shines" as the old saying goes.