Oak Plates

I have been making wooden plates for a long time. There has always been a steady demand from customers, galleries and my family & friends.

Most of my dining plates are 265mm or 280mm. The side plates are 200mm. I also make side salad  bowls of 150mm X60 mm

In Medieval times most people used wooden plates and bowls-it was not just the poor but all social classes. There is a great book by Robin Wood called “The Wooden Bowl” which goes into this in fascinating detail and is well worth having in any woodturners library. It is full of interesting information and social history.

One of the difficulties of making plates is that they are made from 25mm thick planks of wood. If this wood is not quarter sawn it is very likely to warp with the constant use and washing.

There is very little movement in quarter sawn and it is therefore very stable. With Flatsawn wood the growth rings try to straighten – turning the plank up at each side making it banana shaped.

I like using ash, beech, oak and walnut for my plates but most hardwoods would do. I would love to get hold of some quarter sawn London Plain as this like Oak would show some interesting medullary rays.

I start by cutting the stock on the bandsaw from a 25mm plank using a template which also has a punch hole so I can mark the centre of the wood. The blank can then be screwed to a face plate with short screws, although I prefer to use a 65mm saw-toothed drill bit in my pillar drill to make a small recess to fit it into my chuck in expanding mode.

From here you can turn the outside of the plate. It needs a wide base to stop the plate rocking. The bases of my dining plates are 170mm in diameter and about 3mm deep.

I finish by coating the outside with cold pressed linseed oil-give it a minute to soak in and then after wiping off the surplus and slowing the lathe speed – sand from 120 to 240 grit. The abrasive will clog with the oil but the slurry can easily be removed with a wire brush and the abrasive used again. When satisfied lightly oil again and burnish with a kitchen towel.

To turn the inside I use ‘home made’ wooden jaws on my chuck to hold the work piece on the 3mm deep foot. Wood jaws are so useful- if anyone wants to know how to make them-email me and I will explain.

Try to make the plate rim of a constant size for your set of plates and give them all flat bottoms to the centre. –you do not want the gravy pooling in the middle!

Finish as explained earlier for the outside.

In use they should be hand washed in warm soapy water and wiped dry. Only re-oil them very, very occasionally.

With proper care they will become a family heirloom. As a rough guide the Dinner plates are £45.00 each and the side plates £35.00 each. Bowls £45.00.

Author: Dave Appleby
Posted: 12/01/2018
Categories: Featured Items

Bowl with Pewter Rim

I was very pleased to be asked to judge the woodturning for the Woodbury wood turners annual show in 2015. This has become a popular one day event and is well worth a visit. The work judged was outstanding but one that stood out for me was a bowl with a pewter rim and base. I knew the process but had never tried it and went home determined to have a go for myself.

For practice I melted an old pewter mug in a pan over a small electric hob but since then have bought pewter ingots as these do not contain lead- an unhealthy additive. Dark wood appears to look best against the pewter but I have also used ash which I have ebonised.

The process:-

Attach your blank to the lathe and turn the outside shape with a sacrificial spigot. Work out the size of the foot you are going to have and turn a flat with a tongue to accept a pewter ring with a groove in it later.

Next turn the bowl around and hold it in your chuck on the spigot. Start to turn out the inside of the bowl but only enough to identify the rim. Make sure the rim is flat but with a tongue in the middle. Make a chucking point in the middle of inside of the bowl so that you can turn it around yet again. Remove it from the lathe.

Knowing the size of the rim and base you can now take a flat disc of MDF or plywood and cut recesses with a parting tool the size and diameter you want to take the molten pewter. Straight sides in the recess appear to be best. You may well have to remount the disc a number of times on the lathe so have a good chucking point. Heat & pour the pewter. Wear gloves & eye protection at all times. When solidified & cooled the disc can be remounted on the lathe and the pewter turned flat with a bowl or spindle gouges. Put a groove in the pewter with a parting tool to match the tongue on the bowl.

When you are satisfied you can cut away the wood on the inside edge of the mould to release the discs.

So far I have glued them on with medium super glue or epoxy two part adhesive. After it has cured I can mount the bowl from either end to finish as normal.

Author: dave.appleby
Posted: 22/09/2016
Categories: Featured Items

Plaque in Old Burr Elm

I’ve always admired Nick Agar’s Wall Sculptures so when a fantastic piece of old burr elm with natural fissures in all the wrong places for a large platter came my way I thought I would give it a go.

With a hole in the centre where I would normally screw my face plate I had to glue a large diameter piece of wood to the back for a strong chucking point. Once on my VB36 lathe I could let inspiration take hold!

After truing up the circumference I used an Arbortech cutter on my angle grinder to scallop the outside- no precise measurements here-just a rough guess. Then I used a texturing tool to break up the surface followed by a good scorch with a blow torch. A wire brush cleaned away the charred wood and mellowed the surface and sharp edges.

What next? – a few grooves, some fine lines between two beads, a soft curve towards the centre then some more angled cuts with the Proxon cutter, a large bead, some texturing and  a dome to the centre cut with a bowl gouge. This was all done as the spirit moved me. Don’t get bogged down – just go for it! Enjoy the moment of creation.

Very careful sanding with abrasives cleaned and finished the smooth surfaces and then I brought out the rich colour of the elm with herb & resin oil and a wax polish to give a good finish.

The chucking point was removed and an ebonised plywood disc fixed to the back to cover the voids.

I’m thrilled with the result. This wall sculpture will be displayed and on sale during Somerset Arts Weeks open studio event at my home and workshop between 20th September and 5th October. All welcome.

Author: Dave Appleby
Posted: 18/11/2015
Categories: Featured Items

Jugged Acacia

This project all started with a slim pottery jug that my wife had on the sideboard. I was looking at it one evening and thinking, there must be a way of making a similar one in wood, on the lathe.

Then one day a stash of wood, which included some amazing pieces of burr oak, elm and acacia was discovered in a farm shed, by the son of an old woodturner. It and had been there for 20-30 years and was perfect for my jug turning project.

The Jug was made in two halves. It is in fact two wide rimmed plates, turned and then glued together. But a jug has a wider base than rim therefore the process becomes more difficult by the need to offset the turning halfway through the process, so that the base of the jug is wider than the top. Measurements have to be done carefully so that the two halves are identical.

When glued, (I used PVA) the rim is carefully cut on the bandsaw to the required shape and a hole is drilled for the handle with a sharp forstner or sawtoothed bit.

The surfaces are then finished through the abrasive grits to 400 and the chucking spigots are removed with a disk sander. I used a herb and resin oil to bring out the colour of the acacia and to enhance the burrs but any preferred oil finish would have done.

With its amazing burr grain pattern this one was left plain, but the jug provides a great canvas for decorating and texturing, if using a plainer wood.

I have made three jugs so far. The prototype, in walnut, sits at home on the shelf with its pottery companion.  This Acacia one was sold through the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen gallery at Somerton and a larger Elm Jug was selected in the top 50 at the AWGB International Seminar and bought by a private collector.

Author: Dave Appleby
Posted: 18/11/2014
Categories: Featured Items

Eucalyptus Oyster Bowl

In early January 2013 I received a telephone call from a friend who was helping a neighbour clear a large Eucalyptus tree that had fallen across a boundary wall in the storms. “Would I like some of the timber for turning?”

There are over 700 species of Eucalyptus. I still have no idea which this one is- but I do know that it is native to Australia- a fast growing tree which consumes an enormous volume of water to feed its growth. The freshly cut timber sinks in water because of its weight and after drying and seasoning circumferential shrinkage can be as high as 35%.

We met on site and I cut two 20 inch slices from the tree –this length was slightly more than the diameter of the trunk. The pith (or heart) was in the centre of the tree and a split developed from here within a few seconds of being cut.

My plan was to make a large, thin, end grain bowl and see how the shrinkage would shape the wood as it dried. That same day I mounted a slice approx 10in thick on to my VB36 using a face plate and off I went using a large 7/8th inch bowl gouge to shape the piece. After initial shaping I turned to my normal swept back gouge to refine the shape and reduce the thickness of the bowl to about 3/16th. There was no way I could have a foot to this bowl –it had to sweep round the bottom maintaining the 3/16th thickness to reduce the chance of it splitting.

Once finished I sat back and watched as the wood, totally naturally, moved into the most amazing curves. I could almost see it move and within days it had developed its sweeping curved form and after a fortnight had attained its final shape. I scorched & textured the rim and as a small split had developed in the centre turned and ebonised a hollow ball of sycamore to fit snugly in the base and hide the crack. This turned it into my “Eucalyptus oyster bowl” or “The black pearl”.

It was great fun to turn and has created a lot of interest.

Author: Dave Appleby
Posted: 18/11/2013
Categories: Featured Items

Beaded Bowl in Brown Oak

At the AWGB International Seminar at Loughborough University in August 2011 I was delighted to have this bowl selected as one of the top 50 exhibits in the instant gallery. It will now go on tour for the next 12 month to all the top woodworking shows in the country.

I love to know where the wood I use comes from and this brown oak is no exception. Don, a retired farming friend of mine, telephoned me in early spring to say that he had found a large old oak tree stump, the main tree having come down at least 60 years ago. It was on the side of a disused cart track in some beautiful Somerset countryside, and we spent a very pleasant morning extracting the wood and getting it into the back of his Land rover.

We knew it was going to be good. It was a rich brown with dark black streaks. Is this what they call ‘Tiger Oak’? Because the tree had been dead so long it dried well after being part turned and was ready for finishing in 4-6 months.

This bowl was mainly turned with a 3/8th swept back gouge and then beaded with a beading tool home made from an old parting tool. In fact I had to make two beading tools- one with a special shape so I could get under the rim on the inside.

I was very pleased with the result but even more delighted when other people liked it as well. It was sold before it got to the exhibition but the purchaser now has to wait 12 months before he can take possession!

Author: Dave Appleby
Posted: 18/11/2012
Categories: Featured Items

Vessel in Irish Yew

What could be more of a delight to a woodturner than coming home from a great weekend -seeing old friends- to find a crotch of an old Irish Yew tree (var fastigiata) in the driveway.

I could immediately see that there would be some interesting colours and patterns in the wood and that a hollow formed vessel would enhance and show off the figuring to its best advantage. Eager to get into the workshop the chainsaw was used to carefully cut the wood into a suitable shape to screw onto a face plate for the VB36 lathe.

While turning the vessel –using my 5/8th bowl gouge for the outside and Kelton Hollowers for the inside I pondered over what kind soul had left the wood for me. Would I ever find out?  My neighbour had the answer-It was a local gardener who had seen the wood  “going to waste” and had thought of me.

The vessel cleaned up well –I even managed to smooth the inside with the aid of a squash ball covered with abrasive paper on the end of a suitable stick.
The piece was finished with herb & resin oil and micro-crystalline wax polish.

Next stop- a local gallery.

Author: Dave Appleby
Posted: 18/11/2011
Categories: Featured Items

Wassail Bowl in Lignum Vitae

A theme of “myths & legends” inspired me to create a wassail bowl for a Somerset Guild of Craftsmen exhibition in Somerton last year.

“The name, a Wassail bowl, derives from the Tudor custom of passing round a communal cup at Christmas time to the cries of ‘Waes Hael’ which means “be whole” or “good health”.    Since wassail was generally brewed for Christmas and the New Year it was usual for the concoction to be served in the form of a sweet and highly spiced punch.

Somerset has a strong and ancient tradition of “wassailing” the cider orchards on the 17th January which is the old Twelfth Night. As far as I can work out people gather, drink cider, hang toast dipped in cider on apple tree branches and sprinkle it on the ground under the trees. They then bless the apple trees and pray for a good harvest.

In an article by Stuart King, an internationally renowned woodturner, he mentions that a wassail bowl was traditionally turned from Lignum Vitae a newly discovered timber from South America. Now it just so happened that I had been given a round of Lignum from a woodturning friend who was emigrating to Spain and his wife had decided that this wood was too heavy to pack.
Lignum Vitae, sometimes called ironwood, is one of the hardest and heaviest woods. It sinks in water and is 3 times harder than oak. Because of its durability and natural lubricants it is the preferred wood for propeller bushings and other underwater applications.

It turns and takes detail well but you need very sharp tools and sometimes a scrapping action can achieve a better finish than cutting with a gouge. Abrasive paper clogs quickly with the natural lubricants in the wood so if you can get a finish strain off the tool- so much the better.

The inside of the bowl was finished with a two part epoxy resin so it can hold hot or cold liquid and be used for the traditional spiced punch.”

Waes Hael for 2010.

Author: Dave Appleby
Posted: 18/11/2010
Categories: Featured Items

Set of three walnut bowls

At the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain International seminar held at Loughborough University this August, these pieces were chosen in the top fifty turnings and will be on display at various shows over the next 12 months.

“The wood was acquired three years ago from a garden in a local village. It was a wonderful old tree, but too near the house and it had to come down. I was with the professional tree surgeons when the tree was felled and could see the potential in the base of the trunk where the figuring was beautiful.

While the wood was still wet and full of sap I turned it into thick –walled  bowls using a Kel McNaughton bowl centre saving tool. This way I could make three bowls from one piece of wood. These I placed in my store and air dried for two years.

They were then rechucked and returned to the lathe. I beaded the underside of each bowl and left the inside smooth to show the figuring. This way  hands have the enjoyment of feeling the texture when the bowls are lifted and the eyes see the beauty of the grain, colour and figuring inside.

I fashioned a beading tool out of an old carbon steel gouge on my grinder and kept it razor sharp with a chainsaw file. It worked well particularly when I used paste wax on the wood first to fill the grain and lubricate the surface.

“The bowls were finished with herb & resin oil which I source from a firm in Devon.”

Author: Dave Appleby
Posted: 18/11/2009
Categories: Featured Items