Havent posted for awhile. A couple of new pieces

[Tom Keen]

Havent been around for the last couple of months. Work and family issues have cut into shop time. But these are two of my latest. I enjoy this forum a great deal and will try to be a little more active

Spalted Maple 14" in diameter. Finished with a tung oil. This one I put in the annual members show at the Visual Arts Center

Hickory NE 12 " in diameter. Finished with tung oil. This was a gift to one of my oldest friends.

Im getting tired of bright hard finishes and have been keeping it simple with oil and beeswax lately.

Thanks
Tom Keen


070808 dvac spalted maple.jpg mvh ne hickory 070808.jpg

[Steve Schlumpf]

Great to see you back Tom! Both are outstanding pieces but the spalted maple bowl is just breathtaking! Absolutely beautiful wood and a great form! Did you win anything at the members show? If not - you were robbed! Very nice work! Hope to see you posting a lot more often!

[Jim Becker]

Outstanding, Tom. I especially love that first one, both for the form and the wonderful material.

[David Walser]

Tom,

Both bowls are wonderful. Did you do anything to reinforce the spalted wood in the first bowl (such as soaking it with CA glue)? The finish is absolutely smooth and that's typically very hard to achieve with spalted wood.

[Toney Robertson]

Very nice. I like both of them.

How deep are they? They appear very deep.

Nice job.

Toney

[Jon Lanier]

Way to go, Tom.

Hey, I'm going over to the "wood pile" tomorrow. I'll let you know what I find. The pieces I have left checked up. I'll cut in to the big one to see what might be there.

I'll Email you tomorrow night.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Good to see ya back. I like the first one but both are excellent.

[Dewey Torres]

That spalted maple looks like copper patina. All I can say is wow! Thanks for the post!

P.S.
Post more often from now on!

[Johnny Kleso]

Awesome Looking Stuff,

Thanks for sharing

[Tom Keen]

Luck had a great deal to do with getting this piece to look the way it does. Ive been cutting up a huge old silver maple stump for 18mos. The piece of wood I used for the bowl came from the very base of the stump, right at ground level and had a piece of one of the "knees" that ran through it. This wood was very dense. It has some "ambrosia" discoloration and the spalting is just getting underway. There was very little of the pale dry rot usually associated with advance spalting/dry rot.

Ive never used CA on spalting. On pieces with a lot of dry rot I sometimes seal the punky places with laquer or sanding sealer. But, I didnt need to on this bowl.

Multiple coats of tung oil brought out the colors and buffing it with beewax accounts for the patina. I suspect that overtime it will darken.

And no Steve, I didnt win the blue ribbon I was way outclassed by some first rate artists. It is interesting though that Ive found more acceptance for my stuff with traditional artists than with the craft people.

Thank you all for the compliments!

[robert hainstock]

You was robbed. You did a great job with form to display the beauty of both pieces of wood. I hope you can further harvest that stump and show us more of it.
Bob

[Danny Thompson]

Those are simply beautiful, Tom. They give us something to aspire to.