I thought I’d show some of my other projects on here. My wife told me several years ago that I never made anything from wood but musical instruments. Here are some other things I’ve built.

As you look through these pictures, you will soon realize that I like wood turning on a lathe and I like the natural beauty of the wood to show. This wood was created by God and some of it is spectacular. I like curly maple. It has the beautiful stripes that change from light to dark depending on how the light strikes them. Here are some bowls that I turned from curly maple.

 

Pictured above is another curly maple bowl.

I recently (January, 2015) ordered 2 curly hard maple boards off Ebay and built this Lazy Susan from it. It is large enough to actually put several bowls of food on and still have room for plates on our table. Between times it holds this curly maple bowl which is for snacks. Did I tell you I like curly maple? Its grain patterns continue to amaze me. There is about $100.00 worth of wood in this project. Somebody told me I could probably sell these Lazy Susans for at least $50.00 if I went to a craft show. I asked if they meant to purchase the steel balls or the finish. If you use the standard pricing method that has been used through the years to calculate the selling price (3 times the cost of materials) the price for this would have to be in the $500.00 range. This helps explain why it is so hard to make high end wooden projects and sell them for a profit. A lot of people apparently think all wooden objects are made from a pine 2×4 and are hastily thrown together. True craftsmanship is pretty rare these days and it is hard to be paid for your time.

 This Lazy Susan has around seventy 5/8 inch steel balls for bearings. These balls are contained in some routed grooves in both pieces of wood. This provides the smoothness necessary for it to turn freely. I tried using some marbles, but they were inconsistent in size and they didn’t allow it to turn as smoothly as I wanted.

Here is a little coffee table I built a long time ago. It’s elliptical shape was inspired by my years of watching Roy Underhill’s Woodwright Shop on TV. He demonstrated several different ways to draw an ellipse. The bowl on this table is walnut and is made from one piece of wood I harvested from a stump in the early 1980’s.

When we built our home, we put some pre-finished ash flooring in it. I made these mirror frames from some of what was left over.

Here is my little bar that features, (you guessed it) a curly maple top. It is on wheels and can be moved around. We use it more than we use our dining table. You may notice it features my ultra smooth edges on it. I really dislike anything with sharp edges on it. A lot of tables will almost cut your arm if you lay it on the edge of them. Many furniture designers apparently like the look of a decorative edge over the comfort of a smooth one.

Pictured above is my latest project. It is a curly maple end table I built in December, 2019. It features my smooth edges and some pretty spectacular curly maple.

Above is a shot of the top.

I love curly maple. Only God could make something so pretty.

I purchased a Grizzly Wood Lathe a few years ago. It has a feature which allows you to rotate the head stock and turn larger items. I wanted to see if I could make a BIG bowl. Here is a picture of my BIG bowl on the lathe. It measures about 24 inches in diameter.

Here is a shot of it after it was finished. It is so large that we haven’t found a practical use for it. My wife keeps it in our spare shower.

In case you can’t get an idea how big it is, maybe this will put it in perspective. This is my little Kay 000 size guitar.

Here is another shot showing the grain better.

I built a jig to make threaded boxes a while back. Here is an example of what I did along this line. I originally made the jig to make my threaded pick boxes. The jig also allowed me to make some other, slightly larger boxes. Here is one I have on my desk.

Showing the threads

Here is a box I made for my wife a few years ago.

It is also threaded.

I’ve tried my hand at wood carving and other things besides lathe turning. Here is a wooden watch I made at Christmas several years ago. It is beech and walnut. Another bowl pictured here is made from a solid piece of hackberry.

Speaking of hackberry, here is another bowl made from it. It has a pretty grain.

Here is a carved hand from sycamore. I used my hand as a model. The piece of wood wasn’t wide enough to put a thumb on it. Cotton Williams brought me a whole truck load of sycamore years ago. I’ve made a lot of things from that wood. It laid outside until the bugs got into it and ruined it. A lidded bowl is beside it. It isn’t threaded. Some of these bowls (including this one) are made from some cherry wood that Eric Scoggins from Summerville, GA  gave me several years ago. He has a band-saw mill and he brought me some wood that he harvested.

Here is an oblong bowl made from an oak tree that was cut down locally. It was originally round. It was made from green wood which I partially dried in a microwave oven. When it got through shrinking and twisting, I cut it in two pieces and re-glued it and formed it into an oblong shape. Turning green wood sometimes makes for a surprise later on.

Here are some little bowls, vessels, and some stuff that would be considered “art” by some folks. The wooden pieces shown are made by me. (not the figurines)

Isn’t art something that has no practical purpose?

Here is a rosewood bowl with some of my little pick boxes in it and a little bowl.

Here is a picture of my home-made chair/carrier that I use to transport my equipment when I go play music. This chair folds up and makes a 2 wheel dolly for carrying my Bose L-1 and other stuff. I can wheel my stuff in on this and carry my guitar in my other hand. I only need to make one trip to get my equipment to where I’m going.

When I get it to my destination, I unfold it and it makes a seat for my performance. I use a DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 which is foot operated. It is hard for me to mash the buttons on it standing up. This seat makes my job a lot easier.

The last two things I’m listing on here are not wooden. I made this first thing about 40 years ago. I worked in an auto body shop at that time and working with metal was second nature to me. These pieces were attached with an acetylene torch and brass rods.

I made several figures like this from metal pieces. I even made a little metal banjo playing man and mailed it to Earl Scruggs years ago. His wife, Louise, sent me a nice letter back and she said she was putting it in her collection. If I remember correctly, I had my son, John get it chrome plated.

Above is a little figure I recently made for my grand daughter, Taylor Nichols. She went to a music event somewhere and saw some similar figures for sale. Her Dad told her that I used to make some similar things so I made her a little flute player. She plays the flute in the band at her school.