Oscar's Bowl

Here we are again, The Glass Stacker and I have been touring the country, what a great land.  We visited family in Tucson and Aurora and played tourist in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  Amid our travels, I did find some lumber at the farm that captured my interest. Well now, find is an interesting word, I knew it was there, I just hadn't considered the possibility of using it for turning. Here is my bowl insert for the resulting handiworks.

Wooden Bowl, (Oscar’s Bowl)

A Bowl with 17 White Oak staves separated by 3mm Walnut strips

About 1970, Robert and John logged the white oak used in this bowl from pastureland on Oscar and Lily's farm a few miles west of Little Falls, Minnesota. The oak trees were felled and the logs hauled to a local sawyer to be milled to 1- and 2-inch lumber. Initially, the lumber was used for the construction of grain bins and wagon repair at Pine Knoll Farm near Upsala, Minnesota. Surplus lumber was stored at the farm in a large machine shed on the property and outside in uncovered, ricked stacks. Today, after 50 years of less than optimal storage, the remaining lumber has deteriorated to a condition that makes it unfit for any structural use.

Here is where your bowl enters the story. The 2-inch lumber was resawn and shaped into staves which were selected with enough integrity to produce a bowl. A simple wooden fixture was used to assemble and glue the staves into a bowl blank and the bowl was turned using tools like those my great-grandfather used in the Pine Knoll Farm shop a century ago.

Over the past half-century, time and nature have taken the strength of the white oak and left the wood with a beautiful, honey-colored patina. When you use your bowl, enjoy its look, feel, and heft. The finish is food safe and should last a long time. This bowl will not hold soup or salad but may be used with a suitable liner for dry foods.

Tom  

Tisadayinthelife.blogspot.com

Keep 'em running.
As always, The GlassStacker's Assistant

What happened to Walter

Walter John Wolters was born in Swan River Township, Morrison County, Minnesota on December 3, 1913. His parents, George and Karin Wolters, lived on a small farm in Swan River Township, about 2 miles north of Elmdale, Minnesota. Walter was the 8th of 11 children in the Wolters family. His grandparents, Hans and Anna Catherine Wolthers Hansen and Hans and Dorthea Rasmussen, lived and farmed nearby as did numerous other extended family members.

Walter and his entire family were part of the congregation at The Danish Lutheran Church in Elmdale. The pastor often referred to Walter and his younger brothers Nels and Noah as the "Larsen Boys", in reference to Karin's remarriage to Hans Larsen following George's death in 1927. At that time, Walter, 14, and Nels, 12, were close.

Walter is wearing a black hat just behind his brother Nels in this family photograph.

At age 28 Walter married Beatrice Dickson on March 3, 1942, in the community of Vawter, Minnesota. Near Royalton, Vawter is separated from the Wolters farm by about 15 miles of farmland and the Mississippi River. The young couple lived at the home of Beatrice's parents near Vawter. They had no children.

Walter volunteered for military service in February or March of 1943. He contracted meningitis at Jefferson Barracks, St Louis, Missouri and died March 14, 1943. He is buried with a military headstone in a corner of the Dickson family plot at Riverside Cemetery in Royalton, Minnesota.

More bowls

I have been turning again.  In the past I have made a lot of stave bows. They appeal to me because the setup, once it's done, is easy to use and makes an easy to turn bowl. I can use nearly any wood as long as it is at least 3/4 inch thick. The last two of these were made for donations and were made from scrap plywood. The plywood gives rise to some very interesting grain and layer patterns.

I have also restarted turning bowls from a solid chunk of wood. While I was using staves to make bowls, I neglected this side of the sport.  Last season, I purchased a D-Way hollowing tool. It has a replaceable carbide tip and is design to reach into a deep bowl to turn the inside surface. There is still a lot of practice needed on the D-Way but I have time and motivation to do just that. The two bowls pictured below were turned from mesquite that Dan salvaged from some trees cut down over a year ago near the Coca Cola plant in Tucson, Arizona. 

The mesquite shows the result of a difficult life in the desert. Everything has cracks and whorls, without super glue and epoxy this would be difficult to turn. The larger piece above has aged a couple months longer than the smaller bowl and is redder. They will both slowly develop a red patina on exposure to air.


Keep 'em running.
As always,
The GlassStacker's Assistant