Many of you have followed my blog on woodturning here on berserkers (https://www.wineberserkers.com/t/woodturning-thread/295130 14) over the last two and a half years and I was happy to be asked again to exhibit and sell some of my turnings. Woodturning is a process where a lathe spins an attached piece of wood, called a blank, and it is then shaped with metal tools, hollowed, then sanded, and a finish applied, cracks and defects sometimes highlighted with wood inserts or colored epoxy, sometimes left alone or even expanded. I have listed 27 turnings for sale, prices varying depending on the cost of the wood, the size and complexity of the turning, and the time involved in creating the piece. All prices include ground shipping continental US.
For sale are bowls and hollow forms, the latter a term for a turning with an opening too small to be used as a bowl. Only the fruit bowls are functional; the other turnings are just “art” and can have a dried flower arrangement inserted or be left as is. The fruit bowls have a food safe finish that has cured or polymerized. If you purchase one, but want a “shinier” finish, I can do that before shipping the piece. Click on a picture to enlarge it.
I was asked how I got into this “hobby.” I did surgery for about 40 years, retired about 1 1/2 years ago. I’ve collected artisan woodturnings for that 40 years and have always wanted to make them. So I took several classes, read over a dozen books, subscribed to woodturning magazines and associations, participated on woodturning forums, watched countless YouTubes, found a mentor, joined a club, bought a used professional lathe that lets me make pieces up to 20 inches in diameter, and started turning almost full time. I’m relegated to turning on the side of the house, not the garage, so turning time is weather-dependent, but fortunately weather in southern California is usually pretty good. Woodturning is a lot like surgery–the lathe is my operating table and the wood is my patient. The only bleeding now is mine! I hope you enjoy viewing the pieces even if you don’t purchase one.
If you want to purchase a piece, PM me, first come, first served. After I confirm, you can PayPal (Friends & Family please) or Zelle me at alancweinberg@gmail.com. I’ll then list the turning as SOLD. I may not respond quickly, as I will be indisposed part of the day today, July 11.
I am also open to commissions and would need to discuss wood variety, size, shape, and prices. Much thanks to Todd and the gang for the chance to participate again. It’s a thrill. And be sure to follow me on the blog listed above, found in “Asylum.” Unlike wine, I can make more, so if something sells that you like, and I can find similar wood, a near twin may be born.
First listed are some fruit bowls from various interesting woods. These sold well last Berserker day so I made several more.
SOLD1. Walnut fruit bowl, 9 inch diameter and 3 inch height, rim sloping inward, some small cracks, made from a crotch of a walnut tree. $275
SOLD2. Ambrosia maple fruit bowl, 9 inch diameter and 2 ½ inch height. Maple is often bland; a beetle sometimes attacks the wood and has on its feet a fungus that then attacks and discolors the wood, the result then being called ambrosia maple, highly prized for woodturnings. The tiny holes (enlarge photo) are from the beetle entering or exiting the tree. Fungus and beetles are no longer present. This bowl was turned from “wet” or green wood which then warped symmetrically as it dried, though the bowl sits flat. $300
- Canary wood fruit bowl, 8 3/4 inch diameter, 2 ½ inch height, crack evident at 10 o’clock in first photo, rim slanted inward. This is a rare wood. (If purchaser wants this crack filled with epoxy or otherwise, let me know.) $250
SOLD4. Osage orange fruit bowl with Tahitian red rings, cherry insert, beaded rim, and handles, 9 ÂĽ inch diameter by 3 1/8 inch height. Osage orange will darken over time to a brown. $325
SOLD5. Spalted maple fruit bowl, 10 ½ inch diameter and 1 7/8 inch height, with a beaded rim. Spalting is when, after a tree is cut down, it is attacked by fungus that leaves the black lines. Fungus is no longer present. Spalting is highly prized. $275
SOLD 6. Koa fruit bowl, 10 inch diameter by 1 ½ inch height. Koa is a rare and now very expensive Hawaiian wood. The figure and chatoyance in this piece are amazing. Figure is a unique grain pattern that may look wrinkled, bent, or interlocked, adding character to the wood. Chatoyance, from the French “to shimmer,” is where a band of light moves across the surface when viewed from various angles. This turning was highlighted in the American Association of Woodturning Forum. I will put a few more coats of oil on this piece which will bring out the chatoyance further. $400
Award
Next are some bowls made from various burls—burls are tumor-like growths where a tree has been attacked by disease or injury and responds in healing with some amazing haphazard grain and figure.
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Manzanita burl bowl with cracks, defects (voids), and inclusions, wide sloped rim, 8 ½ inch diameter and 1 5/8 inch height. Defects refer to the open spaces or voids, not the same as “defective.” $275
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Manzanita burl bowl with cracks and inclusions, 7 7/8 inch diameter and 4 ÂĽ inch height, $325
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Manzanita root burl with burn marks, cracks, defects, 5 ½ inch diameter and 3 inch height. Defects refer to the open spaces, not the same as “defective,” also known as “voids.” $275
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Red malee burl bowl, 6 1/8 inch diameter and 2 inch height, with cracks and raw edge. This Australian wood is quite rare and expensive with vivid coloration. $275
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Desert Ironwood calabash bowl, 4 ½ inch diameter and 5 inch height. A calabash is a traditional Hawaiian shape where the bottom third is wider than the remainder of the piece and also has a rounded bottom. Desert ironwood has voids and cracks and is a very hard wood, 3250 on the Janka scale, which measures wood density, very near the top of that scale. Special carbide tools are needed to turn this wood. The wood absolutely stinks as one turns it, but the smell is gone when it is finished. Special permits are needed to harvest this costly wood from fallen trees. This is an end grain turning so the pith, or center of the tree, is seen in the bottom of the bowl, often cracked as in this piece. Most bowls are “side grain,” but the calabash is traditionally end grain. $300
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SOLD12. Red oak bowl, 5 inch diameter and 2 ½ inch height. This wood absolutely glows. $85
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Small bowl, wood unknown, 6 inch diameter and 2 1/8 inch height, inward sloping rim. $130
- Iron bark eucalyptus bowl, 8 ½ inch diameter and 3 ¼ inch height, wall thickness under ½ inch, rim sloping inward slightly. Last picture shows the bottom of the bowl. $260
- Iron bark eucalyptus bowl, 8 ½ inch diameter and 3 ¼ inch height, wall thickness under ½ inch, rim sloping inward slightly. Last picture shows the bottom of the bowl. $260
Next are hollow forms or closed forms, “bowls” with openings too small to be called bowls, technically quite challenging to hollow.
- Hollow form, unknown wood, 6 ¼ inch diameter, 5 ¼ inch height, one inch opening. As a piece nears completion, there’s a bit of attachment to it, as one has created and shaped it. Seconds from completion on the lathe, I made the bottom nubbin too small as I was shaping the bottom, and the piece rebelled, jumping off the lathe onto a concrete floor where it exploded into two pieces. But with 14 walnut bar inserts, sassafras inserts, epoxy, and glue, it was put “Back Together Again,” now the title of the piece. $275
SOLD16. Carob crotch hollow form, 7 inch diameter, 6 ¼ inch height, 1 ¼ inch opening. The original piece of wood from which this was turned is pictured, difficult to turn without “exploding” due to the many defects and cracks. Where the trunk branches is called a crotch; this turning has several branches and a very complex crotch. $420
SOLD17. Ash hollow form, 8 ÂĽ inch diameter and 6 ÂĽ inch height, opening 1 3/8 inch. $275
SOLD18. Ash closed form with a sassafras pewa (Hawaiian bowtie) near the opening (at 6 o’clock in first picture), the piece titled “Formal Occasion” due to the bowtie at the “neck” of the turning, 6 ¼ inch diameter and 3 ¼ inch height, 2 3/8 inch opening, $150
SOLD19. Spruce burl cap hollow form, 4 3/8 inch diameter and 3 Âľ inch height, opening 1 inch. This is a very colorful piece. $200
- Maple burl hollow form with cap, 8 inch diameter and 4 inch height, cap opening 13/16 inch, very thin wall with voids and cracks typical of burl. $350
SOLD21. Small hollow form, unknown wood, 5 inch diameter and 4 1/8 inch height, opening 1 3/8 inch, coin inserts, many cracks, lots of chatoyance. $150
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Small hollow form, unknown wood, 4 7/8 inch diameter and 2 ÂĽ inch height, 1 inch opening, has figure and epoxy-filled cracks. $225
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Small hollow form, unknown wood, 5 3/8 inch diameter and 3 inch height, one inch opening, epoxy-filled cracks, one almost bisecting the piece. $225
SOLD24. Magnolia hollow form, 4 inch diameter and 3 inch height, opening just under an inch, epoxy-filled crack, wood from San Marino, CA, very elegant piece. $225
SOLD25. Cherry hollow form, 4 7/8 inch diameter and 3 3/8 inch height, opening 1 3/8 inch, very thin wall, heartwood and sapwood present, also very elegant. $250
SOLD26. Desert Ironwood hollow form, 6 ¾ inch diameter and 3 ¾ inch height, 1 inch opening. This piece was awarded “Cover of the Day” on the prestigious World of Woodturners website. Desert ironwood is a very dense and heavy wood with cracks, 3250 on the Janka scale that measures hardness of wood, very near the top of that scale. Special carbide tools are needed to shape this wood. Special permits are needed to harvest this wood from fallen trees and it is costly. The wood absolutely stinks as one turns it, but the smell is gone after finishing the piece. I therefore titled this “The stink was worth it.” I will add further coats of oil to bring out further the beauty of the grain. $520
Bowl bottom
Award
- Small hollow form, dense unknown wood, 4 1/4 inch diameter and 2 3/4 inch height, opening just 9/16 inch, smallest I have ever made. $125
