Many people have asked if I have a vision in what I can create with a piece of wood.  My simple answer is yes; well sometimes.  In general, turning something from a plank of wood purchased from a store whether it be Home Depot or Woodchuckers  I will likely not skew from my initial design.  Working with a log, I will have a concept of what I want to do but when you open up a piece of wood there may be a lot of variables to consider. Is it  punky?, what’s the grain like?, color?, does it have knots?, are there any stones? is it safe to work with.  In this blog I will take you on a photo journey in my workshop starting with a small log.  The wood is Juniper, 4″ in diameter, 15″ in length.  My project is to create a vase.  Based  on the size of the wood I decided to make two vases therefore cutting the  log having 10 ” and 5″ pieces.

The first order of business it to remove the bark. I want to have a contrast of sap wood and heart wood on my finished piece.  I must turn the bark and some of the sap wood away and create the design that will be pleasing to me.

It’s starting to take shape and I like the contrast of the white sap wood and red heart wood. With finish on, this will make a very nice vase.  I hollow out the center and sand to 600 grit.  I will apply a mixture of Tung oil and shellac finishing it on the lathe at about 2500 rpm’s.  This creates a French polish. Using a buffing system buff at 1700 rpm, cut the vase off the waste wood, sand the bottom, finish and there you have a finished project.

I do the same process with the smaller piece of wood.

When done I have two vases that will be on display at the Fenelon Station Gallery.  Hope to see you there.

Morris will next be in the gallery on June 22nd.

As you may well know, I use the artistic name Fudgee. But what many may not know is the origin of this.  So this blog will fill in some of the spaces of my quest to be creative and when and how the artistic name Fudgee came to be.

As long as I can remember I have loved to create things ……  I may not be good at it but it brought me joy.  As a boy, I used my trusty pen knife to carve designs in pieces of wood making endless streams of shavings.  Most of my work I would consider primitive; carving out small totem poles and Tiki heads. Working with wood later in life, I progressed to making cabinets, desks, blanket boxes pergolas, cedar pole arbors and chairs and finally woodturning.  To digress, I dabbled in many art mediums;  clay sculpturing, bead work, copper foiling, leather work, folk art, stain glass, pen and ink drawing and painting.

In 1964 I entered in my first show.  It was the Kiwanis Club of East York Hobby Fair open to adults and children in our community.  I won two  awards at that fair …. Best in Class for my leather carvings and Best in Show.

To further my creativity, I attended Sheridan College Creative Design Program and used my skills to teach young children and adults creative arts.  Today, I am a self taught Master Woodturner and enjoy every chance I get to make stuff.  Last year I entered the Kawartha Woodturning Guild’s year end completion, entering a bowl with wooden fruit which placed Best in Show and is now proudly displayed in our home.

So, about the name Fudgee …..  It’s not too mysterious. It’s a childhood nick name that began playing football with my friends.  One  my buddies had an older brother that was a biker and often joined in the games.  Frank being older and much bigger than the rest of our group I was picked to cover Frank.  Well as it turned out  I was able to cover Frank’s position ….. although I didn’t have the body mass to do much of anything once he got the ball but one of his comments was that I stuck to him like fudge.  This has stuck with me since the early 60’s and I am still known by this name by family and friends from my old life in the big City of Toronto and now by some in the Kawarthas.

Morris will be in the gallery on the 20th to 22nd of July.

WOOD YEW

Would you like some wood?

Juniper – Port 32

I have been asked on many occasions where I obtain wood for my turnings.  In some cases I will purchase exotic woods or nuts but this is rarely done because I am more interested in turning locally obtained wood.  With locally obtained wood I have the opportunity of learning a bit of the history of the wood I turn. For example my neighbour, Rudy, operates a portable saw mill. He was hired by The Oaken Door just north of Lindsay (who have since closed their business) to mill beams that had been obtained by The Oaken Door from the Wright Brothers Airplane factory.  To prepare the wood for milling Rudy would cut off about a foot at each end of the beams where lag bolts secured the structure.

Juniper – Port 32

Rather than burning the waste wood Rudy gave me several pieces of yellow pine from the Wright Brothers Airplane factory from which  I produced several items which were well received.  Sadly to say I turned a small vase from the last piece of yellow pine this March.   To this date Rudy continues to drop off a variety of interesting burls, spalted wood and anything he thinks that would interest me.

Last year I was visited by a man who introduced himself as Glenn.  At that time Glenn was in the process of building a straw baled house.  He had milled slabs of ash for an open staircase and had two slabs left. I was commissioned to turn a couple of bowls for his wife Diane’s birthday. Through Glenn and Diane’s connections I was introduce to George. Well to my surprise George’s company has been clearing the lots for Port 32 in Bobcaygeon. He has provided me with  several pieces of Juniper (red cedar) which were harvest from Port 32.

Yellow Pine Wright Brothers

As a known  wood turner I receive calls from people that have fallen trees or are clearing their property offering me wood.  Where possible, in return for their wood, I create something for them from the wood that was given.  Quite often I just find a piece of wood or two on my front door step that someone had just dropped off.  When someone is not dropping off wood for me, I scavenge friends wood piles, and you just don’t know what I can find hiking through the forest.  In most cases the wood that I turn, must have a moisture content of a minimum of 15% which could take up to two years to dry.

Another question people ask is do I have a favourite wood I like turning. Well I really enjoy turning spalted or figured maple but I do have an affinity with all species of wood. The challenge is to find the balance between the texture, grain and natural color with each burl, branch or log to create something that is unique, not only must it be pleasing to the eye, but also it must feel right to the touch.  All my creations are one of a kind.

Morris will next be in the gallery demonstrating On July 4th.