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Wickford Woodturning

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North Kingstown, RI
Wickford Woodturning

My hobby as a woodturner has grown from trying something during Covid lockdown into something that I enjoy doing every day.

06/06/2026

Ever wonder how a chunk of wood becomes a bowl? In two minutes watch a chunk of Ambrosia Maple get roughed out - meaning the basic bowl shape. It has to dry since the wood was green, but you get the idea of the process. Yell if you have questions.

Thanks to AJ for the really solid videography.

05/23/2026

All set up and ready to go....ok, still sitting at home with a cup of coffee but I set up yesterday...hope to see folks in Westerly today and tomorrow at the Virtu Art Festival...

05/16/2026

One week away from the Virtu Art Festival in westerly, RI. Took some time this morning to spruce up the display kit…amazing how dinged up the wood gets over the course of a season but a little coat of stain makes a world of difference. I do have to say it was nice not to have to hurry to put a display together last minute like I’ve had to do in the past….

05/09/2026

Working like crazy to build a finished inventory. First art festival is in just two weeks in westerly. Got a mixed bag of things here including some cherry, a couple of small honey locust bowls, maple and even a piece of hickory…living in coastal New England offers such diversity of trees! And of course Wookiee is helping by picking up all the wood shavings….

04/18/2026

Salad Bowl Saturday!

A bunch of cherry drying for almost two years was ready to turn. Here are the first four bowls - each about 8 inches roughed - which will turn down to just a little over 7 inches when finish-turned in a few weeks. They're on final diet in the hot box to shed a few last ounces before I turn them down to about 1/4 inch thick. I had SO many conversations with folks last year who liked (and bought) the big salad bowls, but were strongly opinionated about what a personal salad bowl should be....note this crop has a vertical section leading to the rim - that will get coved in just a skosh at the end of the process...all based on one customer's thoughts on making the bowl unique.

More to come.

PS: Virtu Art Festival over Memorial Day Weekend in Westerly, RI will be the first show this year...hope I have enough turned....

04/11/2026

The Shop is now Done (almost). After freezing through another winter, I spent the better part of the last 6 weeks insulating and putting in bead-board paneling. While I like the idea of staying warm next winter, some observations on this project: 1) with wall board the vibe has changed...all the nooks and shelves are gone, 2) the sound system seems much louder, 3) I am not a master craftsman so don't look too closely at the seams in the paneling, 4) related to number 3, I have a shop thats sole purpose is to be a workspace for my turning. It will NOT be one of those fancy spaces all neat and tidy and too perfect to use....nope, this one's all about function, and 5) after not turning for almost two months it was nice to get back at it today (2 rough turned green bowls, one rough turned dry wood bowl, and one finished flower pot). You can see the insulation project evolve in the pictures, and check out that green ambrosia maple log at the end!

03/18/2026

Strong storms often knock down trees, which means a fabulous supply of raw material for wood turning. And when that tree falls literally 100 feet from my property that’s even better. This beautiful maple was dying from the results of ambrosia beetles and toppled in that really strong gust overnight yesterday. Give it a year or so and these logs will show up as bowls. Look real close at the ambrosia patterns!

02/23/2026

Crazy day outside with the blizzard and all...took a little bit of time to start cleaning the shop up and to do a weigh in of some very large bowls for a custom order (mostly sugar maple, but a few others). Since I rough turned them last September, they have lost about 25% of their weight by air drying - no GLP-1's helping things along here....

Next up in the shop, insulating the walls and putting up paneling...this winter convinced me that I should have done this when I built the shop a few years ago. It will completely change the vibe but it beats freezing my hands in the winter.

02/08/2026

I love winter snow…and then I don’t. An uninsulated shop with just a space heater doesn’t make for a pleasant turning experience when all the tools are made of high speed steel. But I had a brief window yesterday and turned this nice little cherry burl into a live edge bowl. Zoom on the grain in the second picture to see why burls are sought after.

01/17/2026

All sorts of new projects going on now that the shop has been rearranged. Spent some time this morning cutting blanks - there’s some cherry, soft maple and a lot of sugar maple. Stay tuned for updates on how they ‘turn’ out.

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