I can't believe that it is well into 2007 and I am just starting to update the site to add 2006 activities to it. I am retired, but that doesn't mean I am any more efficient at keeping my website updated.

Two years ago, as I was putting the 2004 work on this site, I told you that a 26" vase was on the lathe and a year later I told you that the roughed out vase was still sitting in the garage, drying. I said I wanted to complete it, and the file documenting its making, in the next couple of months. I can now inform you that the vase is sitting on the floor of shop beside the lathe. It is slowly and surely making its way to being actually mounted on the lathe. I don't recall bringing the roughed out vase into the shop. I think it must have crawled there on its own - tired of waiting for me.

The big event in 2006 was to take a train trip on Via Rail to the West coast. I have always wanted to ride that train through the mountains and have the experience of sitting in the domed observation car while going through the mountains. Well, we did it, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Karen and I had been to Kansas City for a Woodturning Symposium in July of 2005, and after the meetings we drove to Lawrence, Kansas, to visit with my college voice professor. Stanley and Alice Jo DeFries had been my parents away from home during my college years and I had not seen them for a long, long time.

We were discussing our various histories and Alice Jo said that her father had been a railway man. I mentioned my private dream of riding the Via Rail train, and we decided, then and there, to take the trip together. It was so much fun re-connecting with my dear friends and seeing their warm reception of Karen, whom they had not met before. We had a wonderful time, even though we all ended up with colds. Train traveling in great because you get to meet your fellow passengers and learn to know them a little. Syl, Russel and the rest of you, we had a great time with you. I've included a few photos on this page of our trip.

As far as the woodturning is concerned, I will explain those in the text accompanying the photos. I continue turning a variety of work, and I think it is gradually improving. I still enjoy the hobby very much, especially the warm relationships I have formed with other woodturners and with people that take the classes I give at Lee Valley Tools.

I still have not done a lot of burning or coloring on my pieces, even though a bought a wood burner and an air tool for carving a long time ago. One of these days I will get the nerve to start doing the carving.

I am going to put on a few more of my songs, for those that want to hear them. I still, on a good day, will sit down and record something just for the fun of it. One song is about my vocal limit nowadays.

I hope you enjoy this update. Again, thank you for visiting, and please let me know you were here. I love hearing from people who visit the site.

			Some of my best friends have come from the students that I teach at Lee Valley Tools. I am only with them for a day or two at most, and some of them have taken me up on my standing offer to give them one-on-one lessons at my house if they wish. I like having company in my shop, and teaching woodturning is a joy for me. One of those people is Jack Hamer, a retired gentleman who is becoming a fine woodturner. He has a woodlot along the river full of oak, maple and ash. A storm took down some of his ash trees a few years ago and he asked if I would like to see if some of the large trunks still laying in the forest were useable. Even though the tree had deteriorated somewhat, I was still able to salvage some wood and made this pair of bowls. The design is one of my favorites. I love the Roman ogee shape, and the idea to incorporate this into the sides of the bowl came from Bill Neddow, an Ontario member of the World of Woodturners site (see my opening page for more information). Bill is a master bowl turner, and I just love the forms that he come up with for his bowls. This is a rough imitation, and I can only hope that someday I will be able to master the graceful lines that he is able to create with his bowls. These bowls will right themselves if they are tipped over. These are both about 12" in diameter and are about 4 to 4½" deep.

I made several little hollow forms just for practice this year, challenging myself to see how thin I could get them. This little piece of maple, about 4½" in diameter, is a bit more than 1/16" thick and is as light as a feather. I enjoy having these little pieces sitting around waiting for someone to pick them up. People do not expect them to be so light, and it is always a pleasure watching the surprise on their faces and hearing them say, "It feels like an eggshell." This is finished with tung oil and then buffed and waxed.

There is likely no wood more frustrating to work with than Manitoba burr oak. It is a beautiful wood that turns nicely and finishes nicely, but it is rare to have a piece that does not crack and split. I have turned dozens of pieces of oak and coated them with wax so they will dry slowly, and they still split. For some reason this piece was different, because there are no cracks or splits in the wood. Perhaps it is because it is turned very thin, barely more than 1/8". It was turned while the wood was still wet, but I was careful to make sure none of the pith - the wood surrounding the center of the tree - was included in the final piece. At any rate, the piece stands about 16" tall overall, with an ebony lid, oak finial and tiny ebony foot. It is finished with tung oil, buffed and waxed.

			I started playing around a little with different types of little boxes. I find that people like the little gems, and when friends come over I sometimes send them home with a small gift and the boxes are perfect for that. This one is a bit different, since bloodwood is not a commonly known wood, and it is so aptly named. It turns beautifully and finishes beautifully, but leaves everything in the shop covered with red. It is always a bit of a surprise to step in the shower after turning bloodwood and seeing the water pour off your body in red rivulets until it is washed away. I thought the maple burl lid would be a fitting contrast, and I think it worked well. The little red box is about 3" tall overall and about the same in diameter. The piece in the bottom photo is another Manitoba burr oak piece. It is also a tiny ring box, about 3" by 3", and has a little ebony handle.

			It is hard to know what to call these little boxes. Some people call them ring boxes, some call them trinket boxes, and others call them keepsake boxes. I guess it depends what you put in them. I basically make them to look at, not necessarily for any purpose. I did suggest to one young man that he present his engagement ring in one of these boxes, and he thought that was a worthy idea. His bride-to-be could continue to use the box to store her ring when she needed to take it off. Manitoba has many fine wood species, and the local box elder, commonly known as "Manitoba Maple" is one of them. It is a fairly soft wood, and can be quite bland and non-descript. However, it sometimes comes up with beautiful surprises on the inside. The tree will sometimes have a beautiful red figuring that is the beginning of the decaying process. If one is lucky enough to find the wood before it actually begins to decay, the red coloring can be spectacular. However, it eventually fades to a rich chocolate brown and is still beautiful. Another feature is that it is one of the few trees that will produce burls in Manitoba. Quite often they are found at ground level as a large burl encircling the tree at the root. For that reason, the bark that grows into the burl will often have pebbles and dirt encased inside it, so harvesting the burls can be very hard on chainsaws. I love the burl wood because it is often clean and white, and the burl figure can be spectacular. To keep the finish from discoloring it or turning the wood yellow, I like water borne finish rather than an oil borne finish. I use several coats of water borne urethane, and wet sand the final finish with 1500 grit wet automotive sandpaper before giving it a final coat of wax. That preserves the white color and gives the piece a nice sheen. This little box is about 3½" tall and 2½" in diameter. The bottom piece is a two species box about 4" tall and 4" in diameter. It is finished with tung oil and buffed. The box is big leaf maple burl from my friend Tim Shipp, in Oregon. The top, however, is actually ebony. While ebony is dark, almost black, the sapwood, which runs just under the bark of the tree, is light colored. I found this interesting little piece of ebony and put it aside a long time ago and waited for an opportunity to use it. While I was making this box I spied the ebony lying on a shelf and decided to put it to use as the lid for this piece. I like the effect, and was delighted that the light ebony and maple colors matched perfectly after finishing.

			Karen and I moved into our current house in 1990. Behind our house our garage door faced the garage door of Albert Gazan and his wife, Marjorie. I did not know for many years, but Albert, a university professor, was a Holocaust survivor and he and his wife were active in aboriginal affairs in the province. I wish that I had known them better and that we had taken the time to learn more about them. However, Albert retired and sold the house to his daughter. He had a large Russian olive tree growing in his back yard, and for some reason he hated that tree. He kept saying, "One of these days that tree is going to come down". I told him that I would gladly take it down if I could have some of the wood. He agreed, but never got around to it. Secretly, I hoped the tree would stay up because I loved the pastel green color of its leaves in contrast to the dark green of all the other trees around it. One day, I noticed that his daughter had some workmen there and they were tearing down the fence. I started talking to her and found out that she wanted that tree out of there, too. I told her what I had said to her father and she asked if I could take it down that instant. I ran across the lane, got my chain saw and felled that tree right into the alley. Within ten minutes we had it in pieces small enough to drag to the side, and I began portioning it up into turnable pieces. The two bowls on top are some of the result. I absolutely love the grain in Russian Olive, and although the wood is relatively soft, it finishes well and takes on a beautiful sheen. Like the first two bowls on this page, I used the Roman ogee style for the bowls that was inspired by my friend, Bill Neddow. These bowls are about 13" in diameter and about 5" deep. They are finished with tung oil, buffed and waxed.

			Last year I posted a photo of a bowl I made for the Velvet Glove Restaurant, the feature restaurant of the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Winnipeg. It is a wonderful place paneled in rich walnut paneling, featuring a wonderful menu and great wines. The restaurant wanted a salad bowl for mixing salads at the table. I made them a bowl of ash, and engraved the restaurant logo on the side of it. Then, to celebrate the birth of our granddaughter, the two sets of grandparents decided to go to the Velvet Glove for dinner, and the waiter mixed our salad in my bowl. I thought it was worth a couple of pictures. The restaurant subsequently asked me for a really BIG bowl, which follows.

As I said, the Velvet Glove Restaurant asked me for a second bowl. They liked the first one, but wanted one that was larger. So - I called on my good friends Bill Neddow and Lionel Bedard to see if they had a large enough tree there in Ontario for a 20" salad bowl. These guys are terrific, and they gladly went to their local wood dump and found a large maple tree and sent me two blanks. They were BIG and they were HEAVY, but I managed to wrestle them into the back of my truck and took them home. I decided to chronicle the making of this bowl, and you can see it if you click on this link Making of the Velvet Glove Bowl. This was a fun bowl to make, and it measures 19½" in diameter and is 9" deep.

Someone wanted me to make him a pair of candlesticks, so I experimented a little with some shapes and some sets. He wanted large candlesticks so I played around with some smaller sets to decide on form and shape. I made several sets, including the one on the left, which were of ash. The large one is about 9" tall and the smaller ones about 6" tall. They were designed to go together and the bark pieces on the side were something he wanted. I also made the beeswax rolled candles to put into the holders. He chose a similar set, but larger (no photo) so we kept these in our own house. The brass collars around the holes are from Lee Valley Tools and are press fit into the holes. The set of four on the right were made from junk burr oak as an experiment. They are miniatures ranging from 5" in height to 2". I fit copper tubing into the holes, cut them crossways with a hacksaw and then bent and formed them with a little grinder. The little candles had to be custom made to fit the size of the copper tubing. People seem to like these little pieces, and I enjoy having them around.

It is difficult to know what to call these two pieces. Normally, a piece that is hollowed through a small hole less than one-third of the overall diameter of the piece is called a "hollow form". However, these have lids and finials on them, so I simply call them "lidded hollow forms". I am happy with the form on both of these, although they are entirely different. The one on the left, made of big leaf maple burl, is about 9" tall overall, and about 7½" in diameter. The one on the right, made of redwood burl, is about 13" tall overall and about 6" in diameter. Both have small ebony feet, with lids and finials also made of ebony. I am very partial to both of these forms, and you can see the shapes recurring in much of my work. These are both turned very thin, from 1/8" to 3/16" thickness, so they are quite light. As usual, they are finished with tung oil, then buffed and waxed with carnauba/beeswax combination. As a final coat, I use a special "conservator's wax" (Lee Valley Tools, again) which offers superior protection against fingerprints and the wax I commonly recommend for people in caring for the pieces.

To continue along the same theme, short and round and tall and thin, you can see that these two shapes are similar in form to the two just above. The walnut piece on the left is actually from a tree from the North end of Winnipeg. Walnut is not a common tree in these parts because of our cold climate, but this one had actually grown to a decent size - about 10" in diameter. It was nice to cut and took a polish very nicely. The piece is about 8" tall overall and 6" or so in diameter. The lid and finial are of big leaf maple burl. It is finished with tung oil and buffed and polished with wax. The one on the right is a small, about 8" tall, lidded form made of big leaf maple. It is very thin and light, and a pleasure to hold.

			People seem to gravitate toward natural edge bowls, and in recent months I have started to turn a few more of them. That means, the natural surface of the wood, sometimes with the bark still attached, becomes the rim of the bowl. The surface of a big leaf maple burl is full of tiny little peaks, some of the as sharp as pins. The burl can be very difficult and painful to handle, and of course, as the piece spins on the lathe, those same spikes can take off a lot of skin in a split second if the woodturner gets careless. Ask me - I know! However, as a feature, those spikes can be beautiful, especially when their roughness is contrasted by the beauty of the burl figure that shows up in the rest of the bowl. This bowl is almost 12" in diameter and about 7" deep. I have displayed it on a stand, laying on its side, but it also displays well when just sitting on its base. The bottom piece is of red mallee, which is an Australian wood. I bought the blank for this at the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) Symposium in Kansas City. At first, the piece had a holly foot and a holly finial on it. Then, as I was showing it to my dentist, he dropped it and broke the lid and marked up the piece. It sat around for about a year, and then I decided to try changing it. There was enough thickness left to re-mount the piece and turn off the marks, and I a tiny little piece of mallee left to turn a new lid. I never did like the holly, so I made an ebony foot and an ebony finial for the piece. I had left the piece thick enough to use as a funeral urn so it is now in a gallery in Calgary that specializes in funeral urns. The piece is about 8½" in diameter and 6½" high overall. Both pieces are finished with tung oil, then buffed and waxed.

			Jarrah is another Australian wood, in many ways similar to red mallee. The piece shown here is part of a burl of Jarrah, and it has the voids and open grain like the red mallee. I love working with jarrah as it is a pleasant wood to turn and takes such a beautiful finish. This piece is a hollow form, since the opening is fairly small. The opening is rimmed with an ebony collar and the ebony is repeated in the foot. I normally try to get matching dimensions in the lid or collar, and the foot of a piece. This piece is about 5" in diameter and 3½" in height. Again, it is finished with tung oil, buffed and waxed. The bottom piece is made of purpleheart. This small piece, about 3¼"in diameter and the same in overall height, came from a purpleheart 2x4 I found at the local lumberyard. I bought it right away because of the sapwood that was included in the wood. The light colored wood is natural - it is found close under the bark of the tree, and I thought it provided a lovely contrast to the red/purple of the heartwood. Again, the little handle is of ebony and the foot, same size as the lid, is of ebony, too.

Both of these little ornaments are of maple burl, turned very, very, thin (about 1/16", and have finials attached top and bottom. This is a wonderful way to use small pieces of highly figured wood, or wood that can be colored or pierced. The finials are made of ebony on one and an unknown wood on the other. Overall length is about 5". I love making these and teaching the course on how to make them, since the possibilities with shape and design, coloring, piercing, carving, are endless.

Speaking of teaching, it might interest you to see the seminar room at Lee Valley Tools in Winnipeg where I teach woodturning and demonstrate the art several times a year. The classes are popular, especially the beginner class, which is sold out well in advance with several future classes already booked. The seminar room has one demonstrator lathe and six small General Maxi-lathes for the students. It is a well outfitted room and provides a pleasant and comfortable place to teach.

I turned several of these lidded vase forms in 2006 for friends but neglected to take photos of them. These two were the only ones that I had so here they are. They are both 12" to 13" tall overall. The left one is slightly larger in diameter, about 4½" and the one on the right is about 3½". These are vases, because the opening is almost the same diameter as the piece itself, and the lid fits on a tenon that is left on the vase. These are far more challenging to turn than they first appear, due to the care that is needed to align the grain properly from the vase to the lid and to get a good fit on the lid. It is also difficult to keep that good fit as the piece ages. That means the wood has to be very dry before final turning and the fit has to be precise. Even then, changes in humidity will affect the fit of the lid. I finally discovered that it is preferable to have a looser fit, because people will tend to pick these up by the finial, and with a snug fit the bottom can fall off. Also, with a looser fit it only takes one hand to open them. I am also not a fan of a wide foot, but to make these more stable the foot was necessary. But, that is what my friends wanted.

I love telling people to feel free to pick up this piece. The reaction is always the same. They pick it up and a look of surprise crosses their face as they exclaim, "Why, there's nothing to this!" They are right. For a tall piece, about 15" and 8" in diameter one would expect the piece to be fairly heavy. This piece only weighs a few ounces because it is turned so thin. It is a delicate piece and it decorates the tall walnut chest in our bedroom where it is safe from harm. I've heard and read rather warm (well - heated) debates between woodturners about turning thin. Some say, "Why turn thin? Just to show off that you can do it?" An answer is not really important, nor is any answer going to be correct as it is a matter of personal preference. I turn thick pieces and I turn thin pieces. I like the thin and light pieces because of the reaction they get from people that pick them up. And - it IS more difficult, which presents more of challenge, especially with large pieces like this one. If you read my earlier comments about finishes, you will quickly recognize that there is no oil on this piece. I used water borne urethane and hand rubbed the finish with 1500 or 2000 grit wet automotive sandpaper. A finish coat of wax is then applied. That keeps the color of the wood from changing, as it will yellow when one applies oil.

Here are four more little boxes turned in 2006. I turn dozens of these, and do not have the time to photograph them all. When I get the urge to undertake some photography I bring out the pieces I have and try to get decent shots of them. I still have not come close to perfecting a photographic technique and perhaps some classes in still life photography would help. Anyway, here they are. The one on the top left is of Tigre Caspe which comes from Peru. Jim King is a good friend and a member of my World of Woodturners website, and he has made it is work and career to acquaint the world with some of the beautiful woods of that country, many of which have never been seen before, and many of which are still un-named. Jim sent me a little care package of various woods that he and his local crew have harvested, and the woods are remarkable and different. Tigre Caspe, I believe, is aptly named for the colorful figure and colors of the wood. The little box is about 4" tall overall and 2½" in diameter. Those of you with sharp eyes will recognize that I showed you this piece in 2005, but this is a better photo of it. A local woodturning friend and student came to me with some pear wood. He wasn't sure if it was good for turning so we turned some of it, coated it with wax and let it dry. Typical of most fruit woods, it warped and cracked quite severely. However, a few pieces stayed intact and this was one of them. This box, 4" tall and 2½" in diameter shows the lovely grain and color that can present itself in some of the trees that we might throw into the firewood pile. So, next time you take down a tree, even a small one, call one of your local woodturners to see if they might like some of it. Who knows, you might end up with a fine piece of wooden artwork instead of a pile of ashes. On the bottom left is a small ring box, 2" diameter and 2" high of maple burl and ebony. On the bottom right is a small, round maple box. I got tired of turning the same old shapes, so began experimenting a bit with different shapes. This is not a hollow form with a lid, simply because the opening is too large to call it a hollow form.

And last, but not least, are two small hollow forms that I am fond of. The one on the left is Manitoba Maple (box elder) about 4" by 4". It is another featherweight piece, and is the result of a phone call from a lady that said, "I have a tree behind my house that is over 100 years old and the City tells me it has to come down. This house used to belong to my grandmother and played in that tree as a child. It breaks my heart to lose it, and I can't bear the thought of using it all for firewood. I am told you might be able to use some of the wood for turned art, and if you can take it down you can have it. I looked at the tree and it was huge, far too big for me to even consider it. So I told her about Jesse Antonation, a friend and student who is an arborist, and he and his crew got the job of taking it down. I made sure I was there, and I helped a little and harvested some of the fine wood from that tree. So did a couple of other woodturner friends. I have several boxes full of blanks of burl from this tree that are waiting to be turned into boxes and vases. I have turned some urns, which you will find on my urns page, and the wood is stunning. In return for her gift of the wood I gave her a couple of pieces turned from the tree, and she was overjoyed to have a small memento of the tree that gave her shelter and a place to play when she was a kid. Some of the other box elder pieces on this page are also from that tree. . Jesse also presented me with a few branches of very nice ash, very white in color in the sapwood. This little vase on the right was turned from that, and the sapwood was kept clean and white by using water borne urethane as a finish. It is also about 4" tall and about 2½" in diameter.