Tag: wood work

Throwback Thursday: turned pen holder

On By CarynIn Craft, throwback

In February 2025 I made a turned wood pen holder for my Dad. A month later my first child was born. What is the correlation? When I saw the pen holder at my folk’s house I didn’t remember it. At all.

Photo description: cylindrical wood pen holder with turned bead accents at the top and bottom, filled with several mechanical pencils
Photo description: bottom of the holder with a glued on non-slip ring (maybe leather?), and hand written “CJH 2005 #1”

I used the information on the bottom to find the original picture, that is how I figured out that it was a month before my first child was born.

Photo description: original picture of the turned wood pen holder taken on a kitchen countertop

There are small indents on the bottom of the cylinder which are likely marks left by the lathe. The two beads carved at the bottom and one at the top also would have been done on a lathe, because the precision is very difficult to achieve without a lathe. The wood grain looks like white oak, which is a common hardwood and one that I had access to at the time. I can’t remember how I hollowed it out, but since the piece is marked #1 and there are no others in the following month, I imagine it was difficult. I know it is difficult to hollow out a form even with a lathe. Getting the wood secured and balanced is tricky, and the angles are awkward for a beginner, which is what I was in 2005. The finish is likely to be a store bought urethane, because that is also what I was using at the time. I didn’t discover tung oil until later.

I do think it is interesting what my brain retains and what it jettisons. This is why I take pictures and mark my work.

Grapevine handrail stage 2

On By CarynIn Craft

At my Dad’s suggestion, I used a draw knife to take the bark off the grapevine we are using as a handrail.

Photo description: BeaverCraft draw knife shown with partially debarked grape vine

The draw knife is held by both handles and pulled along the wood. It is truly excellent for removing bark. I waited until after a rain so the bark was softened, which also helped. It wasn’t quite able to get all the bark off. I was working by myself and didn’t want to unscrew the vine from the supports because it took three of us to wrestle it in place. When I have help, I’ll take the vine off the brackets, finish removing the bark, and give it a good sanding. Then we’ll let it dry before putting on a protective finish.

Grape vine hand rail, stage 1

On By CarynIn Craft, Flora

My husband built a beautiful rustic style curved stone staircase off our back porch. Our challenge has been getting a handrail to match the curve without throwing a lump of money at it. The first attempt involved cedar sapling trunks, but we didn’t have one long enough, and splicing two together was tricky. When I was wandering our woods looking for hand rail candidates, I saw a grape vine that I’ve been meaning to trim because fungus has started into the side of the bark.

Photo description: orange and white fungus on a large muscadine grape branch

I cut off the vine above the fungal damage, and since that vine was a nice diameter for a hand rail, freed it from the canopy. I then cut away the diseased tissue from the main vine and sealed it with pruning spray.

Photo description: sealed main vine, approximately 7-8 inches in diameter
Photo description: muscadine grape vine freed from the woods and dragged to the back yard

It took three of us to wrestle the vine into place as a hand rail, but because the vine is supple and we waited until the rain gave it a good soak, it was possible.

Photo description: grape vine installed as a hand rail on a curved stone staircase

We secured the vine with screws. The next step is to strip off the bark and seal the vine core so it lasts a little longer in the Texas weather.

Thorn experiment

On By CarynIn Craft, Flora

I found this wicked looking thorn laying in a parking lot. Most likely it stuck to a tire and fell off in route, and I’d like to say I picked it up so no one impaled their foot, but the was a secondary benefit. Really I wanted to see what I could make with it.

Photo description: approximately 4” thorn cluster with opposing spikes 1-2” long held lightly in my hand

I used my pocket knife to cut the side thorns off. The tips are wickedly sharp and hard, so I wanted to try to make a needle. I approached it as I would for carving solid wood. The center of the spikes are soft though, so the needle hole didn’t have enough support when I whittled both sides down.

Photo description: single thorn with the end carved into a needle eye, which broke, pocket knife on the side of the picture

If I were to make the attempt again, I would put the needle hole in the outer bark, and not reduce the integrity of the thorn by cutting the bark away.

Giving it a whorl

On By CarynIn Craft

I made this spindle whorl awhile back using a laser cutter. The dragonfly design is my own.

Photo description: plywood whorl with dragonfly design and six extended circle shaped spokes

I had an empty shaft and decided to give the whorl a whirl while I was spinning my Black Welsh Mountain fiber.

Photo description: single spun yarn wrapped on a spindle shaft

I should have sanded down the shaft some, the top hook did not stick up far enough which made it difficult to wind yarn on and off. The single layer whorl also didn’t feel substantial, and although the size was large enough to keep momentum, I struggled with it bumping into me. It is slightly better than using a CD as a whorl, but only because it has dragonflies. Back to the design board.