Sumptuous Bodark Treasure Box

Sumptuous?  Yep.  Delectable?  Yep.  Downright good looking?   Yep.  Rustic?  Again, yep.  All of those things and more.  This treasure box turned from bodark, also known as osage orange, will last some lucky someone a very, very long time.  This wood almost defines the word “hard”.  This piece was turned from wood that was already dried so it was constantly giving out many difficulties.  One thing about bodark is a natural oxidation process that takes place and changes the color of the wood from a golden yellowish color to more of a burnt orange tint that is quite nice in itself.  Any stress cracks that you might see are not to be worried about.  It’s a natural thing with this wood.  Those that needed it were filled with clear glue and bodark dust.  The box will hold a nice amount of your treasures as the capacity measures at about 1 cup.  The diameter is 3 ¼” with a total height of 5” and a vessel height of 3 ¾”.  The vessel is 2 ½” in depth.  The wood was sealed and finished with a walnut oil based friction polish for a high sheen.  Without a doubt this is a one of a kind turning so don’t pass it up.  27Jun17  BXBA33  For more info see:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/525539040/sumptuous-bodark-treasure-box

Mountain Cedar Treasure Jar

This smallish mountain cedar jar is gonna be just perfect for someone needing a little catch all jar.  Though not intended for any food contact please remember that with any cedar product direct food contact is not advisable.  This piece has nice simple clean lines.  Nothing fancy here because the natural coloration of the wood does all of that for you.  There were some very shallow cracks that I filled with clear glue and then rubbed in some natural dust for extra filler.  I can’t even feel them.  The diameter of the jar is 2 ½” with a total height of 5” and a vessel depth of a tad over 3”.  The volume measures at around ¾ cup.  The wood was sealed and finished with a walnut oil based friction polish.  This gives the piece a nice sheen especially with it sanded down to 800 grit.  I don’t think you will find another one like this, so don’t let it wait too long.  21Jun17  BXMC9  For more info please go to:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/538181455/mountain-cedar-treasure-jar

Mountain Cedar Goodie Jar

This will be a nice addition for anyone whether they have it sitting on a table, sideboard or even on their desk.  The sunken stomas in this wood (gaps) can make this a difficult wood to turn.  But I admit to having a lot of fun figgering out how to work around those catching things.  This particular piece even has a branch stem trying to come out of the large stoma on the side!  How neat is that?  I had to leave that or someone might get mad!  To leave that stem I had to leave a bit more wood on the sides than I normally might.  The capacity of this jar is around 1 ½ cups.  You may put nuts, wrapped candies and other neat little treasures in this!  The outside diameter is 5 ½” with an inside diameter of 3 ½”.  The total height is 4 ¼” with a vessel height of 3” and a depth of 2 ½”.  The wood was finished with a walnut oil based friction polish for high sheen.  17Jun17  BXMC8  For more info see:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/523650808/5-12-mountain-cedar-goodie-jar

Big Fat Pecan Cookie Jar


This amazing cookie jar turned from pecan is certainly big and it is fat!  Now I am not saying that you have to put only cookies in this magnificent jar, but just think of this:  it holds almost two regular packages of Oreo Cookies or for measuring purposes ¾ gallon of water.  Just imagine how many M&M’s it would take to fill this jar!?!  I have no idea.  Here are some of the things I do know about it.  It’s outside diameter is 10 ¼” with an inside lip diameter of 7”.  The total height of the jar is 5 ¾” and the vessel depth is 3 ½”.  The wood was sealed with food grade walnut oil and then finished with a mix of walnut oil and shellac heavy on the shellac for more sheen.  This combo gives the jar a nice hard long lasting natural finish.  I burned some lines on the inside and top side of the lid for decorative purposes.  On the inside of the lid there is a long worm hole that I worked hard to keep in place.  It does not effect the structural integrity of the lid at all.  Just makes it more interesting looking.  With the natural color of the wood and all the spalting, this is a extremely nice rustic looking piece.  Momma Nature even through in a few worm holes for you.  One of a kind, without a doubt.  11Jun17  BXP80 For more info see:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/536243615/big-fat-pecan-cookie-jar

3 Corner Red Oak Bowl


This neat little bowl, destined to hold some of your goodies, is turned from Red Oak.  A popular wood also known as Spanish Oak and Texas Oak.  Not necessarily a large capacity bowl it does hold a little over one cup going up to the bottom rim.  That is a fair amount of M&M’s and that’s all there is to that.  There was some minor and shallow cracking in this piece but there is no problems with those going any further.  The bowl does hold liquids for those who want to know that.  It is about 6” in total diameter, 3 ½” high, and has a depth of 1 ¾”.  The wood was sealed with food grade walnut oil and then finished with a walnut oil/shellac mix, heavy on the shellac.  This finish was rubbed in and then buffed.  Using this combination gives the bowl a nice hard long lasting natural finish. For more info:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/519054528/6-red-oak-3-corner-bowl

3 Corner Mountain Cedar Bowl


Admittedly when I am turning a piece like this with all the natural gaps in the wood (sunken stomas), I am not always sure if it is going to work out.  Some of this type of bowl from a wood like mountain cedar will come apart on you.  Luckily this one held together.  I purposely left the sides a bit thicker for structural integrity so it would stay together.  The general diameter of the bowl is 8” with a height of 4 ½” and a general depth of about 2”.  I measured the volume with M&M’s and it held 1 ½ cups of them before they started rolling out through the stomas in the wood.  Larger nuts and other items might fair better and give you more of a capacity.  Some might use it as a catch all bowl for change and keys and others will use it for nice smelling potpourri.  The wood was first sealed with a couple of coats of walnut oil and then had straight shellac rubbed into it and then buffed.  This combination gives the bowl a nice hard long lasting natural finish.  For more info on this bowl:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/518412590/8-3-corner-mountain-cedar-bowl

Large Mountain Cedar Bowl

There is no doubt that this is a pretty big bowl.  After all it is 4 ¾” high with a diameter of 11 ¾” and a depth of 3 ¾”.  The bottom is fairly thick to keep the structural integrity of the wood.  Mountain cedar has a lot of gaps in the wood so one must accommodate that with more thickness.  This bowl is gonna be great as a display bowl for nuts and fruits.  As it is a highly aromatic wood it should not be used for direct food contact.  So please use it for items that have shells or peels and such.  As this bowl will not hold liquids, I could only estimate the volume at ¾ gallon.  The wood was sealed with two coats of food grade walnut oil.  It takes two coats to seal cedar as it absorbs it fast.  Then it was finished with a mix of walnut oil and shellac very heavy on the shellac.  Using this combination gives the bowl a nice hard long lasting natural finish.  You will find all kinds of defects in this wood which is rather common with it.  I purposely left one area open where a piece of bark and soft wood came out while sanding.  If you are one who loves rustic pieces, then this bowl should get a nice hard serious look from you.   For more info on this bowl:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/528053121/pretty-big-mountain-cedar-bowl

 

I thought I would start this blog off by showing off a little bit of my log yard.  I recently brought in several tons of elm and pecan wood.  Below are some photos of that wood haul.  For those who have not done any logging, I only want to say it is fun but also a lot of hard work.  But harvesting my own trees like this is the best way for me to select the wood I want to use for each project.  Those projects will vary from bowls to platters to salt/spice boxes and even mortars and pestle sets.