Teaching wood working

Yesterday was spent teaching a group of high school seniors and their chaperones from Georgia. They were in Montana to enjoy the mountains of the Bob Marshel Wilderness, Glacier NP, and to generally enjoy nature. One of the chaperones is the son-in-law of a guy that has a house in both Atlanta and Big Fork so he arranged for the Glacier Wood Turners (the local turning group) to give them lessons on how to turn a bowl. While turning a bowl in one day is a bit of a challenge for new turners, they were all able to make it happen. In various states of finish, sanding quality, etc... but no one was left without one. Some of them even had some great results.
I have to compliment all of these young men on their manners, how they focused on the tasks at hand and listened to the instruction they were given.
While I don't have any photos of the bowls they turned (not sure Why I didn't think to take photos-too busy teaching I guess) I do have some photos to show bowls of my own that are similar to what they turned.



This is a bowl made from Russian Olive that I was given by my sister-in-law and brother-in-law (thanks Kayte and Kes) in Hermiston. it turned out pretty nice and was a good wood to work with, if a little hard to sand and not make wavy due to the difference in the hardness of the grain. It has a simple oil finish so they can use it for food and replenish the finish as needed.


the bowl below is one made from a piece of walnut that my other brother-in-law (Robert) had in his firewood pile and I was able to get from him in March. The size of the wood didn't allow me to make a big bowl, but this one seemed to turn out ok and is not taking up space in his display section of his entertainment center. I could not convince him it was "useable" :-)



The local fair is coming up in about 3 weeks and the club will be spending 5 days doing demos and talking to the public about turning. That should be both fun and tiring at the same time. While I don't nomally do public demos I don't think the members of the club are going to allow me to stay in the back ground this year!

The items for sale at the "Think Local" shop seem to be selling but I have not been down there to see just what has sold and what is still there. Almost afraid to go look for fear that they will all still be there!

Ok, this should be enough display of wood and texture for this blog and I have to go set my lathe back up and resharpen my tools after yesterday's lessons.

Thanks to all those that read this and/ or follow my blog.