Hello World! We hope you are well!

Hello to Everyone!

It has been one heck of a year.

We have been unfortunately terribly, terribly overtaken by the trials of being grown-ups. Who would have guessed it was going to be such a challenge.  When all we wanted was a giant lollipop.




 

 

 

The Aforementioned giant lollipop.

 

So, that brings us to now.  We have been doing private client work but now can get back to our Etsy Shop. 

 

 

Stop on by the Shop is always open. We've missed you too. http://tinyurl.com/m7nvv6k

 





Wet Shaving Soap Bowl Scuttle

In working with spalted wood there are times we get voids.  Voids are usually places where the wood has broken down to eat into the wood. Many time it is a branch which the fungus and bacteria follow into the tree.

One of the challenges we face is how to approach the problem.  Bowls with holes make you no friends.

We decided to try filling the hole with a combination of clear epoxy and mother of pearl flakes. 

Here is the custom bowl we did for a customer in Maple with mother of pearl.

                                        

 

Here you can see the mother of pearl which has filled in to match the top and the bottom.  First we turn the bowl and them add the filler after the shape is finished and before the finishing coats go on.

 



 

Here it is from a little bit of a different angle.

Here is what the mother of pearl fill looks like inside the bowl.  

 

 

 

Our customer liked the Lilac Wood handle so he had some choices.  The lilac handles are on the left,  the two on the are maple.  They are dry fit (not anchored into the top yet).

 

Here's the maple handle on the top.



      Here is a lilac handle on the top.

 

 

This is the bowl after the handle is secured and the rest finished with the marine quality varnish.  Ahh the varnish...it is my love/hate relationship.  It is simply the best.  It is imported from Holland and is used on luxury yachts and boats.  It however, takes its time to dry and sometimes in cool weather it takes a couple of days.  But it can also move from a liquid to a gel form overnight for no reason. 

Here is a close up of the customers name in ruins.  It is a straight one-to-one translation in the major futhark. 

 

Here is the finished bowl with engraving.



 

 

 

 

 



Write Away! Wooden Pens turned on a lathe.

One of the items that we make is wooden pens. They are great fun to make. From the beginning when they are blocks of wood, to their turning and the trials and tribulations of working with wood. They crack and pop and sometimes the blanks (hunks of wood)dry and distort especially those made of fruit woods like pistachio and apple. It is a whole new ball game. . This is a blank of laminated woods which gives us stripes in the end product. These on still on the mandrel (metal rod) fresh from the lathe. . Here these are the pieces drying on paper plates, we use a nail to support them vertically. Best way to dry round things. If you have noticed, I write on the plates where the pieces are in the finishing process. It really helped when we were working on a large order for the Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin. . Here is the striped pen as a result of the blank from the first picture. We also make fountain pens but that's a topic for another day. To see more, visit our Etsy Shop: Lovgren & Daughter. Nice to visit with you today!

First Finish Layer - How does it look?

Here is the sanded piece with 1 coat of thinned shellac.

The exposure (brightness) is really turned up.  In person, the void looks simply like a dark spot.  This is our goal :).

Why choose shellac for the first finish coats?  That's easy.  It adds to the depth of the color of the finish layers.  Layers?  Why Layers?  Funny you should ask.  Layers are the part of the finish that 1) protects the wood from the environment 2) Enhances the color of the piece. 3) Increases the light that is bounced along the surface of the piece which enhances the color.

After the shellac comes the Poly finish.  Poly being the hardest and durable finish there is.  But poly can yellow after 50 years.  So it's a trade off.  In a Chair poly would keep everything very nicely.  Realistically  will you have your pen?  I hope so.  I believe in keeping things.  Passing them along for your children to sort out.  So, questions? Comments? Snarky rhetoric?  Let me know in comments.  Thanks Kristin

Here is the actual blank we saw in http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5277249808446304421#editor/target=post;postID=2348605354702953844

Turned and Finished in Letter Opener form. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LovgrenandDaughter

Laminates Glueing up and Yipes! Stripes!

Some of the items we make are from laminate wood.  Laminating is process in which you take several layers of thinly cut wood.  Each piece of wood is then coated with glue and compressed until the glue is dry.  We call this laminate the “bendel’s” after retailer whose signature logo is brown and white stripes.



 You can see on the end grain how the glue squishes out.  This edge is later cut off to make it square (give it a flat surface)

On the long end you can see how it will look after it is cut.

This is how it looks after finishing and assembling the pen parts.

The Lathe and the Mandrels

This is the lathe.  After the piece of wood has been placed on the mandrel (metal stick between two points) is spins really fast.  During the spinning, one shapes the wood with various lethal looking tools.

Some are for making curves or spindels others are for gently shaping.  Kinda cool looking and extremely sharp edges.

 These are several mandrels after they have come off the lathe.  They have some shellac applied to seal the wood.  This is the stage before finish and assembly into their letter openers or pen hardware.

Wood From the Beginning

Woodworking:  The First Steps

How do you start in woodworking?  The easy answer is you start with wood.  Or you can start with loving trees.  I started with trees years ago when my bedroom window looked out on to a large sugar maple in the hinterlands of New York State.  It turned the most amazing colors in the fall and was an excellent place to climb for me and my friends.

I also love of the smell freshly cut wood.  Whether it is intended for building or burning; wood is still important. It smells like all things fresh and new.  It also holds the promise of newly crafted objects.  It was a staple of life in the country.  My Dad, Eric, was always building something, a new deck, rustic clapboards for the house, or hand cut dovetails for a drawer.  He cut trees to create firewood which kept our house warm and toasty in the winter.  All was good when you could smell the first wood fire of the Fall.  The house would be warm and cozy after running around all day in the chilly air and damp leaves.

I think I am one of the few people who can fall asleep to the “comforting” sound of a circular saw.   

Every project we do starts with the wood, the color, the grain, its quirks and secrets.  I will write more on the different types, applications, and species of trees in the following posts.  Glad to have you stop by!  Do you have a have a favorite tree?  Type of tree? Type of wood?  Let’s discuss!