The quality of a turned bowl starts at the first cut. If you screw that up it's all down hill from there. Do it bad enough and you've created a fatal error so even a trash bowl is ambitious. Come along on my adventure as I try to fix an early stage fatal error in bowl turning. And remember, the best lessons come from fixing your mistakes. ---------------------------------------------------------- Bonus: Dad Coring this Bowl Blank - https://youtu.be/ODWqlDKhnN4?si=YScXytrtiUJv9j_i 4 Cuts - https://youtu.be/KXzEjCorWO0?si=vUisyzFYQE8ydCtW ..read more

James Johnson is an outsized woodturner in the Central Texas Region. He was a major influence in the origination of SWAT (Southwest Association of Woodturners) and the Hill Country area woodturning clubs in Texas. A frequent demonstrator at the National, Regional, and local level for decades. His work has been showcased in numerous publications including American Woodturner and Fine Woodworking magazines. I met him and his wife Anna Rachinski at this years SWAT symposium and they were gracious enough to offer a tour of their shop and home. I ain't turning that opportunity down ..read more

The Texas Furniture Maker Show in Kerrville, TX is a favorite pilgrimage of inspiration for me each year and 2024 was no different. Though I was short on time this year so couldn't detail everything. I've been going to them for about 10 years now (links to to the five previous ones I documented are below) and each year I sneak away a few more ideas I can incorporate into future projects. So take a peak here then if you're close to central Texas make the pilgrimage yourself. The event is thrown ever fall by the Kerrville Arts Community. It's a free event but donations are welcome. Show goes thr ..read more

Turning a green bowl. One destined to warp and move after completion. Takes different design considerations and turning techniques. While rushing a wedding gift I turn a bowl form a log in about an hour. The tips I discuss are based on years of selling green bowls at art and farmers markets around my area. What's great about turning green is the amount of practice you can accomplish in a short amount of time which will dramatically improve your skill level when you decide to go the more artistic route of twice or thrice turning. ---------------------------------------------------------- Video ..read more

Information is often key to building value in your work so customers are happier and pay more. In an effort to improve my woodworking, business, and profit ratio I need to continue to grow my knowledge base. Hence my journey to learn more about one of my favorite species of wood to work due to the excellent results it returns, Pecan. Come with as I discuss my experience with pecan so you understand my foundation knowledge and then visit pecan experts in the fruit, history, genetics, and production. Along the way we'll take side quests to visit the Parker Pecan and the La Bahia Pecan. What's th ..read more

A while back I mentioned I wanted to start traveling to make some content others can't. This week I finally began an epic video on Pecan as a woodworking material. This first stage took me to Abilene, TX. T'was basically 6 months of prep work followed by 4 days of effort for about 2 minutes of footage. But it's a start. Will be talking with industry people in genetics, education, horticulture, culinary, retail, industrial, history and visiting many historically significant trees. Plus my reflection on actually using the stuff. But that's all to come. I'll be posting a sneak peek to Patreon of ..read more

Every year I make the pilgrimage to SWAT. Even years like this where I can only afford its free offerings. There is no better inspirational / educational event for woodturners out there than a large symposium. And for what you get with the 3 day tickets it is quite affordable. Even without the classes this place recharges the creative batteries. Plus there were a few tools I'll now be dreaming about. Especially a certain hollowing system I saw at Carter and Sons.... So enjoy my experience documentation of the 2023 SWAT Woodturning Symposium. And sorry for a few missing clips from the vendor ar ..read more

We woodturners like to brag that the wood we use for free. But that isn't entirely true. We have to go get it and bring it back. Then there's the matter of making it useful. In this video we discuss multiple ways of moving large heavy logs, getting them into a truck and processing them into a useful state. ---------------------------------------------------------- Bonus: Q Branch Woodworks: https://www.youtube.com/@qbranchwoodworks ---------------------------------------------------------- Tools & Material Used in this video: - Associate Links (they give a little on back end to wortheffort ..read more

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