More Ladles

When Mother Nature gives us a crooked branch, carving ladles from the crook can be a lot of fun.  The rim of the bowl follows the natural curve of the bark on the inner side of the crook.


Here are some recent ladles without much commentary -- better photos to come soon!

Ladles on a chair -- from left, they are Ash, Apple, and Boxelder

White Ash, Apple, and curly Boxelder ladles.

Apple ladle

Boxelder ladles

Curly Boxelder close-up

Cherry Burl Hollow Form

Sometimes, you just get lucky.  This hollow form was turned from a beautiful Black Cherry burl that had literally fallen into the road, about 2 miles from my home.  Unbelievably, this was the second chunk of burl wood that I'd found in the road near my home!  This burl had grown all the way 'round a branch that was broken off its parent tree after a severe ice storm, and it was sticking out of a snow bank as I drove home one day.

Burl figure and 3/4" opening.

Cherry burl hollow vessel with carved Black Walnut foot.  About 11" tall by 6" wide.

Reverse side shows an interesting bark inclusion.

 

Swirling burl figure out in the late afternoon sunlight for a better look.

Massive Ironwood Bowl

Every now and then, I make something just for me.  Not for sale, nor a family gift, just something to appeal to an audience of one -- me.  This was my effort to make the most pleasing bowl I could with an off-the-tool finish.  No abrasives were used in creating this bowl.

Large (14.5") heavy bowl in Eastern Hophornbeam, a.k.a. Ironwood

I turned this heavy, thick-walled bowl from a massive chunk of Eastern Hophornbeam -- the heaviest and hardest wood that grows around here, earning the nickname "Ironwood*"  These trees usually grow very slowly, in the shade of larger Maples, Beech, and Pines, so a 10" diameter tree is fully grown, and a 12" specimen could easily be over 150 years old.

Slightly undercut and rolled rim, with two inset beads make this look like a typical Maple or Yellow Birch salad bowl -- till you look closely, and feel how heavy it is!

While I wouldn't want to mar its finish, you could probably drive flooring nails with this massive bowl!

Slight raised ring foot.  Boxelder spinning top has no relevance!

This tree grew in Fairlee, VT, and must have grown out in a meadow with plenty of sunlight and water.  It was nearly 18" in diameter at chest height, making it a huge example of its type.  Its also perhaps the heaviest bowl I've turned so far, and while its been dry for about 15 years, its as heavy as a fresh-turned, green bowl in most other dense hardwoods.

Close-up shows growth rings and slight spalting.

I like to bring this bowl whenever I do a bowl turning demonstration, and pass it around to see who can ID the wood species.  Very few get it right.  Its about twice the usual size for an Ironwood bowl, and faster growing that most examples (the growth rings are wider/thicker than usual), and to really fool people, it looks and feels a lot like Yellow Birch, unless you look close and know what to look for.


*wherever you go, the hardest local wood is typically known to locals as "Ironwood"

Natural Edge Walnut Bowl

Heavy, thick-walled natural edge bowl in Black Walnut.

Natural-edge bowls allow the rim to follow the curve of the outer surface of the tree -- in this case, with the bark removed.  These swoopy,  waney-edged bowls have rims like a roller coaster.  An outward flowing ogee curve helps create an illusion that the bowl is actually oval, though if sliced horizontally through the middle, they'd be perfectly round.

Lighter sap wood and darker heart wood create pleasing curves.  Bark has been removed from the rim of the bowl.

Organic curves of sap wood and heart wood.

Full curves and waney edge create a striking profile.

Reverse side shows thicker sapwood and careful balancing of high and low points.

Recent Spoons

Spoons carved over the past few months.


Birch eaters:

Eating spoon series in Grey Birch;  radial pieces of a short log from a friend's tree that went over in a bad ice storm.

Peach Spoons:

Peach eating spoon (left), and teaspoon (right).  Lovely wood that's a joy to carve.

Eating spoon and teaspoon -- tangential, with bowl facing pith (top) and facing bark (bottom)

Reverse of Peach spoons -- beautiful wood that's a pleasure to carve.

Black Walnut stirring spoon:

I've been attracted to these flatter, paddle-like shapes, but hadn't carved on till recently.  They're great for stir-fry work, and a fun shape to make.   This one is from a radial split, with sapwood on one side;  I'll try more, but oriented with the shallow bowl toward the bark.

Black Walnut mixing spoon.

Black Walnut "paddle" stirring spoon with long handle -- 12" overall.

Boxelder Ladle:


I love these curvy, almost exotic shapes that follow the curve of the wood as it follows a "crook" in the branch.  Fun to carve, and Boxelder is lovely wood to work with.

Ladle from a Boxelder crook -- natural-edged bowl follows contour of the tree bark.

Boxelder ladle profile, showing pot hook.