Turn it UP!

Turning is distinctly set apart from the rest of the woodworking world, spinning off into a entirely different way to make sawdust. In line with a society of specialization, turning has splintered a group of woodworkers who see everything in the round. I was excited to have an opportunity to turn on a regular basis to create enough of a skill mastery of turning so that I could begin to experiment with style, aesthetics in the art of turning.
Turning green bowls is a high risk, high reward, instantly gratifying display of skill and confidence. Green bowls are constantly in a state of movement as they change shape and warp within a few hours of beginning stages of turning. Green lumber is in abundance particularly in a state like Vermont in which wood is still a major source of heat. I found almost all of my turning stock from the firewood stack, beautifully spalted supper tiger logs that were condemned for the stove. One burl in particular, I actually pulled out of a burning stove pouring my morning coffee on a few glowing embers before I brought it in to show Jannet Collins my next project. When you begin cutting unseasoned green lumber you expose new wood surfaces that have a high moisture content the deeper you dive to the center of the bowl. The variation in moisture content forces the wood to move as wood fibers contract along the grain of the wood. This turns a perfectly round bowl into oval and if the expansion is left unchecked the bowl will crack turning a piece of art into firewood in a matter of hours. I turned three different bowls from green wood found in the wood stack distinctly different in shape and size.

Turning is completely back wards from other woodworking because you are presenting a stationary tool to a spinning piece of wood. The wood itself is under power not your tools. Since your stock is moving at high speeds it requires more of a steady touch rather than brute force. There are a few techniques to hedge you bets when turning such as turning bowls with thick walls, heavy bases and heavily relying on sand paper which reduce the risk of cracking or blow out. To be honest these precautions keep your bowl from possessing the aesthetic of risk. Thin walls, large air time, difficult shapes create bowls that are beautiful because their fragility proves the skill of the craftsman. The only way to achieve this standard is confidence and a willingness to fail. After sending a few of my preliminary attempts into the furnace I turned a small bowl vertical walls, a wing shaped serving platter with a live edge and a thin bowl with a spalted rim.