more woodturning

This is more of the Dry Bradford Pear wood I've had laying around in the woodpile. I'm moving on to other types of wood since I finally bought a bandsaw blade. One of my co-workers nearly gave me a heart attack last week when he told me he had a bunch of cherry burl and that it didn't split worth a hoot. He's been burning them for years!

I don't have dimensions because just after I took these pictures, I gave the toy away to a co-worker's child.

Woodturning - project #4

This is project #4 - Dry Bradford pear wood. The finish was much better until I nicked it against the tool rest parting it off.

Sanded to 400 grit. No finish.

Dimensions: 1.75" tall, 2" diameter




I'm spending too much time doing woodturning and not enough doing photography.

This weekend is a clean-the-house and fix-the-storm-door while the wife's at work kinda weekend, so no woodturning.

My first fine art prints

So that photo above and the one below are going to be printed on gallery wrap canvas to be hung in the office where I spend my 45-ish hrs a week doing what I don't particularly enjoy.

Haven't decided what size yet, but at least 24" x 36" if not 30" x 40".

Got my business cards in the other day as well and there's a drag-race shoot lined up for September 6th!!!

Lunchtime reading

One of these days, I'll find a different book to read during lunch breaks, such as they are.

For now, it's Augustine's City of God.

Quote for the day comes from Book XI, Chapter 21 . . .

There is no Creator higher than God, no art more efficacious than the Word of God, no better reason why something good should be created than that the God who creates is good.


I think I'll be meditating on that one for a while.

My Christmas Reading List

I'm boycotting the Olympics.

Yep, you read that correctly. It's not that I'm surprised the IOC awarded the games to Beijing, just that I fundamentally disagree with their choice.

China has a horrible human rights record. They censor everything they can and lock people up just because they don't agree with the Party line. The street sweeping operations have put more Christians in jail than the world will ever realize - only because the Chinese doesn't want any "disruptions". We have long forgotten Tiananmen Square and the shock of the world at the outcome.

Anyway, I'm doing some reading I've needed to catch up on since Christmas.

First off, I'm picking up Frederick Buechner's compilation "Listening to Your Life"


It's a wonderful little daily meditation on such things as Avarice, Darkness, Jobs, Wine, Limitations, Today, Myth, Sunset, Friends, Boredom, and Virtue. Today's read is "Alcoholics Anonymous".

One of the others is John Calvin's Institutes of Christian Religion



It's one of those books I just feel the need to read since I haven't ever read both volumes completely.

Another is John Owen's The Doctrine of Justification by Faith


It was a gift that I've started a dozen times and fallen away from as many times because of the 1677 eloquence found in the prose (that's my story and I'm stickin' to it).

I also hope to finish The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol 2 since I'm almost done with it - that will mean both volumes, although it's taken me 3+ years to accomplish that feat.

I also hope to kick start my photography thing by starting to post some stock photography to some agencies to see if I can begin the road to success and maybe transition into it within the next {cough, sputter} years.