I have been collecting many project ideas from friends, magazines, various art shows and of course the special requests from family and friends. Some of the things I like to make are wooden bowls, canes, cutting boards, cabinets, and basically anything that gets my creativity flowing.

I have been making walking sticks for family and friends; These are very elaborate works, I always said it; “If you have to use a cane, you should be proud of it.”

I will use any type of wood that is strong enough and has character. Diamond Willow is a good choice, strong and easy to work with. I cut a spiral the length of the Cain to give it some character and after sanding and trimming to a personal length, I added a brass handle and brass and rubber tip. I like to use a cooked stick for the cane, the middle can be bent and twisted, but the ends should line up so when you push the handle down, the point is directly under it and not to the side.

Cutting a spiral out of a straight piece of wood is relatively easy. Cutting a spiral in a crooked piece is more difficult, the difficulty is in balancing the coils so that they flow around and along the Cain’s crooked body.

Other projects include revolving bowls with a natural rim; most of the time i just use heavily carved wood. These types of bowls are best turned while still green and I have built a kiln to dry out the green bowls. Always be sure to leave extra thickness in the bowl to correct for warping that will occur. Generally allow at least 1 to 1 ¼-inch thickness. This will result in a finished thickness of ½ to ¾ inch finished thickness. My favorite wood turning tool for this type of work is a 5/8 bowl gouge with a 60 degree grind and I always cut my bowl blanks with a bandsaw.

The segmented bowls have been my favorite. The different patterns and shapes are only limited by your imagination. I like to use exotic woods with different colors like Purple Heart, Padauk, Wenge, Yellow Heart, Hard White Maple and many other species. Using this type of art creates very distinctive art that is very attractive when displayed.

There are always the usual ones for cutting boards, shelves, cabinets and broken furniture repairs.

This type of work keeps me busy during the fall and winter months. Now that it is almost spring, it is time to prune fruit trees and roses, prepare the soil for the garden and the flowers.