WoodbyDoug and Sandlapper Photography

New kind of hobby like I really needed another one.

2012-01-30T11:04:00.005-05:00

The top photo is of my 1947? Shelby Airflo bicycle. When I received it I was a bit disppointed as it look terrible. However with a little spit and polish it now looks great and does not need much done to it. Only the headlight was in bad shape but I am now working on restoring it.

So far I have obtain four antique bicycles. I love bicycling and this goes well with my love of bikes. I am hoping to at least add a couple of more bikes to my collection. However when I do find vintage bikes that are in good shape and the price is right I may just add them to my collection as well.

If you know of any please let me know where and how to contact the owners of such bikes. I am currently hunting for old ballon bicycles made in the 1940s and 1950s

The upon two bikes are indian made bicycles. One is a Indian scout and the other is a princess Indian bike made in 1961. I am happy to be able to add them to my collections. Indian are rare bikes made by the company that also made Indian Motorcycles. In fact The Indian Motorcycle company made bicycles before they started making motorcycles.
To get a pair of Indian bicycles one a boys bike and the other a girls bike is indeed rare especially in the excellent conditions these are. The boys bike as a dyno hub in the front wheel to make electricity to run lights with. I hoping to adapt it to charge my iphone.

Wow this is indeed a rare find that I have. It is a Spalding chainless driveshaft driven bicycle made in either 1895 or 1896 which is the only two years that they were made. It is in great shape except the wheels are not correct. Some one also painted it and did a terrible job.

I am now workng at getting it restored. The original had wood wheels and I trying to get some to get the wheels like it originally had. Then I will have to strip the paint off and have it repainted the way it look back in the day. When completed I will have a true gem that should bring a good price. I only seem one other bike like this one and that was in a museum in Michingan. I will more news about my bike and restoration of old bikes as time goes by.

A dirt road to far

2011-08-19T14:34:00.003-04:00

This morning I went on my what mostly has become a almost dailey bike ride. The picture showing a old dirt road was taken on todays bike ride.

Now the story. Last week I was scouting a route that I thought would be a safe route from home to liberty hill SC, a distance of around 15 miles. Part of the route went over this dirt road. I had a feeling that this road was going to be dirt that is the main reason why I scouted it first before attempting to ride it. Good thing I did. The road is very steep even though it does not look like in the photo. It has a lot of lose gravel which would make roads tires not do well on the steep climbs. I marked this road as very unsuitable for biking unless it was on a mountain bike which I seldom ride now.

You think that after I scouted this road I would be sure and not put it on any of my cycling routes. Wrong I inadvertly added it to my todays route, a big mistake. This road name Rocky Creek Road is 2.1 miles long and it was uphill almost all the way, I mean really uphill. When I got to the start of this road I realized my mistake but it was to late. It was the way home unless I travel unfamiliar roads which I did not want to do. Doing so I would have extended my bike ride by several miles the distance to home. I was tired to do this and so I started up this road. My worst fears had materialized. Some of the climbs was so steep that my rear tire was slipping out from under me. It was so bad that I feared that I would crashed and get hurt. So I resorted to something that I have never done before. I got off the bike and pushed it up the hills rather than take a chance on falling and hurting my already bad leg. It was humilating to say the least but sometimes you have to what have to do.

By the time I got to the end of this dirt road I was totally exhausted and my neck started to huring real bad like a it did a couple days ago. I now was only three miles from home but I could no longer hold my head up to see where I was going. I did the only thing I could do and called my wife on the cell phone to come and get me. Thank goodness for cell phones.

Biking again and it about time.

2011-08-18T09:29:00.007-04:00

A self Portriat

It been a while since I last posted to my blog so I am catching up now. I started back riding my bike on a more regular basis and I been at it for about three weeks now. I put a lot weight so getting it back off is a additional incentive to keep biking. I have a new iphone with bike navigation and workout which I really like. My wife can follow me on the computer where ever I go. She knows where I am riding all the time now. Others can view me as well that are on my approved list to view.

Last week Idid have a big scared while riding my bike. A truck sideswipe me but luckly it was not hard enough to knock me off my bike. I was hit in the side and my mirrow on the bike got hit but did not brreak it. For reason I do not know it made a huge noise when it happen. My side was hurting but after a while the pain went away. The driver did stop to see if I was OK and to help me if I needed it. I was mad a heck about him hitting me but he was very apolgetic so much so I couild stay mad. I was going to call the police but decided against it since I did not see any damages to my bike and only some pain in my side which went away.

Although I am still riding my bike I am now more leary about vehicles approaching me from the rear. Yesterday riding i even got off the road completely because I felt vehicles was getting to close to me at times.

This is a new country road that I have never ridden on before. Hardly any houses on it and is beautiful ride but just not long enough.

A country home at the end of the above road.

Yesterday I rode down to Hanging Rock Battleground. This a battle fought during the revolutionary war. Years ago there used to be a fairly good road by where my bike is parked. The road has since been block and has eroded badly and over grown now. Couldn't even ride my bike on it so I push it to get where this picture was taken.

Another view of the road. It looks fairly good in this picture but believe me it is not serviceable anymore.

A marker has been placed there since the last time I was there back in the eary 1980s. It tells a little about the Battle of Hanging Rock.

I am gradually getting back in shape to ride long distances again. I probably will never be as good as I used to be before my leg injury but I still enyoy riding a bike. Doing a week long bike tour is questionable so I am not looking to try to any of them except maybe for the Katy trail next year.. I hope to do some day tours next year.

Well that all for now folks.

The tall Ship Gloria and one very nice cadet

2011-07-07T12:14:00.023-04:00

The Gloria

A tall tale but so very true

The Gloria is a tall ship from Columbia South America. In February 1992 she came to the port of Charleston SC for a good will visit. While in port the public was invited for a guided tour of the ship. The guides were all naval cadets from Columbia. I arrived there too late for the tours. However the ship's Captain did permit me to tour the ship and assigned one of the naval cadets to guide me. His name was Cisar Montengro and he could not speak a word of English and I of course could not speak any Spanish. However that came to be only a minor handicap as he was very good at being a tour guide. TThe Gloria dockside

After the tour was over I asked Cisar commanding officer who spoke English if I could take Cisar out sailing out in the harbor of Charleston the next day. Of course the had to translate all this in English for Cisar to understand. Permission was granted and Cisar was eager to go sailing with me on my sailboat the "Rambler".

The next day I arrived early in the morning for a day sail in the harbor with Cisar. A cold front had moved in and the winds where really howling at about 25 knots of sustain winds with higher gusts. A good day for racing but not a good day for a pleasure cruise. Worse was how was I going to tell him what needed to be done and when. Winds this high is no time to explain how to handle the sails especially when we needed to tack which is often in the harbor. I did not need to worry about that as Cisar just started to doing what needed to be done without me telling anything. He turnout to be a very good sailor and even though he had never seen my sailboat he knew how to do things as well as I did. I thought he would like sailing past his ship so we set sail to do just that. As we went by the Gloria all the grew recognized Cisar and started to hollering at him. He was easy to recongnized as he was dress to kill in his navy blues.

Looking down on the deck of the "Gloria"

That is me in the bar room aboard the Gloria. I never have seen a boat that was so well appointed as this was. No I didn't have a drink. I think this was only for the officers

(This is the Rambler named after my high school annual. Cadet Cisar and I went sailing on it out in the harbor when the Gloria was in Charleston 1992)

We did have one exciting time while returning to Ashley Marina where I kept my sailboat at. The knew Ashley River bridge was under construction and there was no way I could go under it where the channel was. Too much stuff dangling of the side of the bridge for me to clear it. The bridge height from the water to the bottom of the bridge is 55 feet at high tide and guess what my masked was 55 feet high and it was high time made even higher by the high winds blowing the water up the Ashley river. I had to get Cisar back to his ship before 5:30 PM or he would be in trouble with his commander.

I had no choice I had to get under that bridge even though it was too low for me to clear it with the mask. I sure did not feel like losing it either. Since the wind was very strong I adjusted the sails to capture the wind enough to heal the Rambler over to about 25 degrees thus lowering the over all height low enough to clear the bridge, I had to inch my way and watch to be sure I did clear it. Only my radio antenna hit the bridge but no harm was done. The only real worry I had was if the bridge piling block the wind enough for my boat to pop back up straight and then hitting the bridge. But I am a good sailor and was pretty sure I was going to make it.

CADET
Cisar Montengro

My tour guide

Cisar is in full navy dress ready to go out sailing in the harbor. Not the kind of clothes one would wear to go out sailing in rough weather. I guess that still had to wear their dress uniform to look good for the public.

I often have wonder what has happen to him over the years. Could he now be a admiral in the Columbian Navy?

The figure head on the tall ship Gloria

I think all tall ships had to have a figure head for luck or something like that. I always wanted one for my sailboat but then again it would have look sort of stupid on it.

Did a little woodturnng

2011-04-10T15:50:00.004-04:00

I finally found time to do a little woodturning, Some years ago I bought a hour glass with the intentions of turning the wood for making hour glass clock. For one reason or another I never got around to making it until about a month ago. It looked simple to make but it there was more to making it than meets the eye.

I did make a mistake that I can not explain why I did it except to say I just got unusually careless. The spacing for the spindles is not right and I failed to notice it before I drill the holes and even then I did not notice it. It sure was obvioius and I don't see how I could have overlooked it. It not noticable in the picture of it but I will correct it by making the tops over again, dumb me.

Hope to find more time to do at least a little more woodturning after all that is why I bought a new midi lathe.

New woodturning lathe.

2011-02-07T14:18:00.007-05:00

Last year about this time I saw the new designed Delta Midi Lathe. I new then that I would like to get one although I really didn't have a need for it, I just liked it. My older Delta Midi is working fine and there was no way that I could justfiy buying another Midi since I really only use it for small turning and doing wood turning demostrations which I haven't done since injurying my leg that left me with a handicapp.

Last week I saw that Woodcraft had this lathe on sale. That was all I needed to know and so I bought it even though I didn't need it. I have the lathe all set up and did my first woodturning on it today, It not finish but I was very impress with how good the new lathe worked.

Well the truth is I needed some inspiration to get back to woodturning more which I have neglected for the past year. I even considered just giving up woodturning and devote most of my spare time to my Bee Keeping and Photography. Finally I dicided I could still do all of them but I know I am going to have to manage my time better.

In my next blog I expect to post some pictures of new woodturning and I like to know what you guys think of them when I do.

Snow and more snow

2011-01-11T11:43:00.003-05:00

I can't beleive the snow we are getting this year and the winter has only just begun. The day after Christmas we got about 5 inches of snow and yesterday we got about 8 to 9 inches of snow with about a quarter to a half inch of freezing rain and sleet on top of that. I just tried to go outside and it is extremely difficult to walk in that stuff. There is no way I can get my car out of the driveway. I expect tomorrow too even be more slippery. I did manage to get a few pictures but I wish I could get around to take more but it ain't worth the risk.

A day trip to the mountains.

2010-11-04T08:42:00.008-04:00

I drove up to the mountains to see the fall colors. I don't think the colors was near as good as in past years but I think I got there after the peak when the colors are at there best. I did not take very many pictures as I lost a adapter that I needed to take pictures using my tripod. Never the less I did take a few hand held pictures. It was only a day trip and a long one at that (448 miles). This really did not leave much time to take pictures anyway.

One good news is that I now have my large format printer back operational again. I now can print pictures to look at rather than just a image on the computer.

Dreams

2010-07-28T18:05:00.003-04:00

This year while watching the Tour de France and the beautful countryside in France I was reminded of a dream I had for riding in France. In 2005 I had ridden my bike about 14,000 miles on the three bikes that I own. I was planning on doing a lot more tours in 2006. One was to ride all way across the USA from coast to coast, one was to ride cross country in Thailand to raise money for cancer of the blood research, Another one was to ride my bike on the west coast of France to see the WW ll battlefields. All of this was possible I had the money then and I was in the greatest shape of my 63 years of my life.

Elsewhere in my blog I posted a little about my accident on December 23 rd of 2005. That accident ended my dreams of bicycling touring. I broke my leg at the knee in 40 places and I have never recovered from that. For the first few months after that I did not give up my dreams of bike touring but after a while it became apparent that I would never be able to do the bike tours of my dreams. Although I could still ride a bike pretty good my walking left a lot to be desired and it still does.

It been about 5 1/2 years since that accident and watching the Tour de France has awaken my dreams of bicycle touring again. Riding across the US is out of the question and so is biking across Thailand but I have begun to feel touring on the west coast of France is a possiblity now. Riding the distance involved is the least of the problems that I will have to accompish this. The tour is much shorter than I am use to and I actually would like to ride for a much longer distance than the organized tours has on its schedules. Perhaps I can work this out and do more miles or kilometers as they say in France. I like to do about 300 miles but then that is all the way cross France. It not much bigger than South Carolina acording to the map, so I will just be content with staying on the French Coast.

Last summer I rode my bike sometimes averaging 35 miles a day in Lancaster on hills that I thought I would never be able to master. I did very well although hills was never easy for me even when I was in great shape. My average speed was actually a little higher on the hills than it was before my accident. I don't dred the hills as bad as I once did. France should be a piece of Cake to do on a bicycle. Sure as heck a lot easier than riding the hills in Northwest Kansas.

I have decided to do some research on bike touring in France to see how much it would cost me to do it. I would love to be able to do some bike touring in France. I know my wife will think I am crazy but if I don't do it in this life well I will never be able to do it.

I still have to do a lot of research about cycling in France and so I will see how this goes. Maybe I will, Maybe it will not be possible but I hope not. It a dream that I really like to fulfill.

The world is full of dreamers. And rightfully so, God created us that way. But at some point in our lives, we have the choice: to keep the dream for sleeping, or to wake up and live it.

2010-04-23T16:55:00.006-04:00

This is wooden turn box made from Cypress wood. I stain with blue gel stain. This is the first piece that I have made that I did not leave in it natural color. Cypress is not all that pretty of wood in it natural state. It looks really good to me when it is stained.

This is my last wood turning that I have made. Actually I finished it about a month ago but just now getting around to posting it on my blog.

I saw a piece that was made very much like this and like it so well that I had to make one similar to it for myself.

I not really into doing much wood turning now. I am not inspired to do anything now. The lid can come off this piece as well to allow things to be stored inside of it. However I really did not make this to be functionally, just decorated.

Honey bees and etc.

2010-04-16T10:49:00.005-04:00

I hadn't realized it been so long since I lasted wrote anything in my blog. We have now gone from it being a frigging cold winter to a nice beautiful Spring.

I started a new hobby and like always I get into something that is expensive. I am now a Bee Keeper. About three weeks ago I went to Pickens SC and pickup two 3 pounds packages of Bees. That is about 20,000 bees which is enough to start two Bee Hives.

If wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. One of the Hives of bees flew the coup so to speak and just disappeared. I have no idea where they went. However the one remaining Bee Hive is doing very well so far. I ordered a replacement of another 10,000 bees and will get next month which is the soonest I can get them.

I sure hope these new bees don't disappear on me as that can get quite expensive. I love honey and I am looking forward to eating honey made right in my back yard.

To change the subject I have not been able to get much wood turning done this year. I getting pretty discourage at not being able to sell any of my work in my hometown. I am for the first time since I started turning about 14 years ago considering quitting wood turning and sell all my equipment. I had expected or hope that is that I would be teaching wood turning in my home town like I used to do where I live before moving to Lancaster. So far nothing has come of this.I guess I will wait another couple of months to see if that possibility ever gets anywhere before deciding to quit but I even if I do teach wood turning I still may quit and sale most of my equipment and put the money in something else like Bees.

I have a lot of things that I love to do and it just a matter of pursuing the ones that produces the most pleasure and fun. If this Bee keeping is successful I may get a lot more hives and sell honey instead of wood turnings. Admittedly I haven't been able to promote my wood turning at any shows since I haven't been able to sell my other home and my wife is still living there until it does sale. It looks like that is going to be forever.

Bee keeping does have it draw backs as Bees are so susceptible to diseases and mites that can kill all the Bees if I don't stay on top of there health. Being new at this I have a lot to learn. However I am getting kick out of watching them at work. They really work hard.

Snow around home (This post is all screw up)

2010-02-15T12:15:00.034-05:00

Could this be Cotton hanging off the tree limbs? I remember when I worked in the cotton mills cotton as it was being made into cloth would float in the air and get suck out of the air vents into the outside and settle on trees fences or whatever was outside. This picture reminds me of that.

It is actually snow that is clinging to the berries left on the tree.

Last summer I planted some fruit trees beside our home. They looked all covered up by the snow in this picture.

Bradford pears trees as they are so pretty when they are flowering in the spring. They are equally as pretty when they are snow covered.

Speaking of our Tibetan Terriers here are my two best friends. They don't like the snow at all. I had to persuade them to even get out into the yard. It funny because there descendant came from the high mountains of Tibet where it snows like heck and it is very cold.

Goldie all by himself. He is really laid back and nothing ever bother him. He really a good dog but it does take time to get used to anyone he does not know. Once he does he is there friend.

Shania is in a hurry to get back in the house and is looking at as if to say why am I taking my time letting her back in. She hates the snow.

B

This is the front view of our home on James Island in Charleston. The Magnolia tree to the right has snow on the trees leaves and it really looks like that they are Magnolia blossoms. It sure looks pretty to me.

In Charleston we have some Grapefruit trees and orange trees as seen in this picture.

Lidded Vase

2010-01-24T16:16:00.000-05:00

This is another lidded vase that I made out of Cypress wood. I guess I would have to consider this a prototype. I think I will make another one similar but change the design somewhat as I think I can make it look at lot better or least in my minds eye I can.

As I said this is made from Cypress wood and because it a very soft wood It presents some problems that I have not encounter before in turning. However once I get more experience using Cypress I think it will become another good wood for me to use in turning.

I like to hear from other woodturners that have turn Cypress wood and what do you think of it.

This is approx. 4 inches in Diameter and a little over 12 inches high. The final is made from purple heart.

A nice surprise, turning a Bald Cypress Goblet

2010-01-12T14:30:00.004-05:00

Every now and then I get a pleasant surprise when I turn wood. The picture at the left is one of them.

Not quite a year ago I was given some Bald Cypress to turn. My one and only previous experience with Cypress was not that good. It a very soft wood and I was not too impress with it for use as a turning. When I got the cypress it had just been cut so I just seal the ends with sealer and left it to dry in my shop. Yesterday I decided to test it to see how much moisture was still in it. The meter show 7%. I was surprised it was that dry and still even more surpise that the cracking was not nearly as bad as I had expected that it would be.

So there was nothing to do except that I had to see how it would the wood would look and how much trouble I would get in warp-age or cracking after it was turn. Neither these presented a problem as I soon found out.

Since I did not think the wood would be good for turning I didn't take much care with finishing it and chose something simple to turn like a goblet. Well as I said I was pleasantly surprise and the wood did look better than expected and it turn very well. Makes me wish I had got more of it.

Well now that I know what to expect from the wood I will have to take more care and thought in design when I turning my next piece. I like nice surprises and this was one of them.

First woodturning of 2010

2010-01-06T10:05:00.004-05:00

Well I finally have got back to work wood turning. This is my first piece for the year 2010 and the first turning I have made in over 8 months.

I had friend give me a log last year and I decided to use it to make a vase a little different than some I done in the past. Since I have not turn any in the last few months I also wanted to keep it simple to get the hang of it back.

The biggest problem I had is where in the heck did I put all my tools when I last used them. I think I took more time hunting them than I did actually turning this piece. I think I need some new tools anyway.

This wood has some beautiful coloring in it and my friend told me it was Bradford Pear. I turn a lot of Bradford Pear but never have seen any like this before. I had fun turning this but the next time I do one similar to this I plan on being a little more creative in the design. Got to think about this.

A lot of wood turners name their creation something. I haven't name any of my work and wonder if I should start doing that. Not sure what I should call this if anyone has any ideas past them on to me in the comment place below.

Local color

2009-12-20T18:22:00.002-05:00

It been too long since I last posted. I haven't done much to even have anything much to post about. After New Year I do hope to get back to wood turning with a vengeance.

I just finish watching the movie "Local Color. Many times I have said they just don't make movies worth two cents anymore. This movie is an exception. It about a young man who love to paint and wanted not just be painter but felt like that is what he was meant to be. He met a old man who happen to be a great artist and he wanted to take some art lesson from him.

Well you will just have to watch it to see what I mean. It comes on satellite or cable and I am sure it will be on again sometime soon. Maybe you would need to lover of art to like and to understand this movie but for me it went to my heart. I feel a lot like the young man who thought he was meant to do something great and that something was to be a great artist.

I would be happy to just be known as a great wood turner even though I am not but it is dreams that keeps me alive. Art is what moves the world and with out art the world would be very dull place to live. To be able to create something beautiful that other people will appreciate is what makes life worth something at least to me it does.

Watch it when it comes on again, I bet you will like it as well.

Performance

2009-08-16T16:59:00.007-04:00

I have mapped out a 12 mile road course for me to use to train on my bike. It is all about performance. I want to get my legs working better for a old geezzer and hopefully loose some excess fat that I have.

The first time I rode the 12 miles I used my old Cannodale converted into touring bike. it took me about 59 minutes the first time. I now have ridden the 12 miles about 6 times and have gotten the time down to 46 minutes 55 seconds using my racing bike.That is about as fast as I can do it at the present time.

My goal is to get it down to at least 45 minutes for the 12 miles. To do this I have to get better on the hills which I hate. Several of the hills are very steep at least to me they are very steep. I would guess at least two hills are about 8 percent grade for nearly a half mile. When it hot my head is like a pressure cooker and the heat really built up which slows me down some. When it cooler like in the 70 I can go up the hills faster but not a lot. My bad leg is my greatest handicapped and that is why I want to train on hills. Hopefully I can get more strength in that leg.

Bicycle riding is a joy and I do like riding a bike as hard as I can sometimes. If I had a riding partner then a more leisurely pace at times would be more enjoyable. Well I don't have a ridng partner so I ride to suit.

Below is a map of my 12 mile training ride. I only do this about once a week with longer rides the rest of the time.

The video is about performance riding bike. It sort of describes me.

Training bike ride
Find more Bike Rides in Lancaster Sc, South Carolina

My Cannondales stable of bikes

2009-07-24T15:10:00.014-04:00

I never have taken a picture of all three of my Cannondales which I enjoy riding so much. I got them out of the garage and set them up in front of my house and here they are.

The first bike on the left is a Cannondale full suspension Jeckle 800 Mountain Bike. It built like a tank and can run over about anything that can be found on a rugged Mountain trail. I don't ride this bike much anymore as with my handicap left leg I just can't ride the bike as it was meant to be ridden.

The Bike in the Middle is my first Cannodale that I bought back in 1994. I rebuilt it in 2005 and converted it into a touring bike with European butterfly handlebars that I really like. It cost about as much to convert it as it would have if I bought a new one. The only thing orginal on it is the frame and brakes. This bike is fun to ride and I ride it a lot as it so comfortable to ride. However it is a few miles slower under most circumstance than my road bike on the right end. I injured my leg while I was in the process of rebuilding so I have not ridden it on any tours. May not ever get the chance to do now.

The red bike on the right end is my Cannodale R 2000 Road Racing bike and it is fast. I have ridden it on many bike tours in 15 states. The first year (2005) I did about 6,000 miles on it before getting injured,(not on the bike)I guess you can say this is my favorite bike as it like driving a sport car and handles real well. Although it is a racing bike similar or just like the Cannondales they used in the Tour De France I use it only for touring. I admit in some tours I did enjoy racing some with other that I was with on the tours. I won some and lost some.

It been almost four years since my accident that shatter my left leg and left me unable to ride a bike as good as I once did. Although my injury did not stop me from riding my bikes I can't ride none of them nearly as well as I once did. I have moved to a new home where the roads are hilly as heck and these is really testing me on the bike. I have never been good on hills but I can't avoid them now. The bad things is I can't stand on the pedals anymore to get that extra boast going up hill. Having to set down all the way up a hill now make going uphill extra hard but I am doing it.

The Cannodale Jeckle has hardly been ridden since 2005 and I guess I might as well sell it as I can't ride it the way is was meant to be ridden.

A nostaglia bike ride this past weekend

2009-07-20T09:10:00.011-04:00

Last weekend I took a nostagic bike ride around the neigborhood I grew up in back in the 1950s and 60s. The picture here is what by today standards could have been called a mall. It had a country store, barber shop, beauty shop, a clothing shop and not sure what else. It was in the barber shop that I got my first hair cut as I was preparing start in the third grade of school in 1950 . The Barber shop was called McManus Barber shop and is where I got all my hair cuts until I moved away in the late 1960s.

This picture is right beside the mall so to speak is where the McManuses Lived. This is also where I had my first motorcycle accident racing to beat my wife back home. I would guess this was back in around 1965. A little boy ran out in front of my and to keepfrom hitting I had to put the brakes on real hard to try to miss him. I got stopped in time but I also fell over and spit my left arm through the joint. Long time in healing.

This is the home I grew up in. I lived there from 1948 to 1962 with my family. It was a little crowded at times.

In 1962 I got married and left the nest. This is a recent picture and it looks like the house is not lived in anymore. Not much has changed except that the lot is getting over grown with trees and shrubs.

The picture below is of a very old oak tree, It is located just behind the house I grew up in. I climb this tree hundreds of times. At the very top of the tree I could see the town of Lancaster which was about 2 miles away. I once was hanging from a limb upside down about 25 feet off the ground and fainted. I woke up lying on the ground but was not hurt, miracles do happen.

This my favorite tree and I wish I could buy it and move it to where I live now. The home I am living now is about six miles away.

This is a picture of Lynwood Methodist church that I attended when I live on Lynwood Drive. It was in walking distance of our house.
Since moving back to Lancaster last year I have attended this church several times. My wife and I plan on splitting time going to this church and to the church she attend in Elgin when she growing up in Lancaster. This churh still looks pretty much the same as it back in the old days.

This is Lynwood Drive, the road that led into town. The Town is about 2 miles away at this point. I have ridden this road probably thousand of times on my bike while growing up. I have enjoyed the bicycle ride around my old home place and riding this road again was a real treat. I think the last time I rode a bicycle on this road was back in 1959. A lot of teenager to day have there own cars now but back thenI had only a bicycle to get where I wanted to go.

This was a very nostagic bicyle ride that brought back a lot of memories. I continued on riding my back to town on the very road picture above which is two miles from the point I took this picture from.

Now comes the bad part about my nostagic byclce ride. As I rode though the town I turn by the old courthouse and then BANG, I ran over some debri and got a nail in my back tire which went flat as a pancake. It usually only takes a few minutes to fix a flat but in this case a few minutes was not in the cards. I use a CO2 bicycle inflator to pump the tire back up. The inflator malfunction and I was only able to get about 25 pounds of air pressure in the tire. These narrow tires need 120 pounds of pressure. Lancaster does not have a bike store anywhere that I am aware of and I sure did not look forward to walking home. I can't go to a service station as the valve on my inner tube are presta valves and no service station has a pump that can pump up a tire using presta valves.

I knew of no one that I could call for help on my cell phone so I reluctantly decided to try and ride my bike bike home which was 8 miles away.

I was sure it would only be a matter of time beforeI had a blow out. I rode very slow to avoid a pinch flat and I did make it back home safely without having another flat,

Bad thing about riding by myself is I know no one in lancaster to call to help me if I get into trouble. Be glad when we sell our home in Charleston so My wife can finally get up here for good.

Bicycling across Kansas

2009-06-11T09:23:00.011-04:00

This week the bicycle ride across Kansas it taking place. In June of 2005 I did this bike tour and love and hated it. It was the most grueling long distance bike ride I had ever done.
The last four days of it was all hills and bad weather. I wasn't used to riding up and down steephills one after another and rains and wind was horrible along with lighting, hailstorms and whatever you can imagine..

In spite of the exhaustion that I experience particularly on the last day I still want to do this bike tour again. In spite of my leg handicapped I believe I could do it if I train for it. For now I will have to be contend to read about the good times everyone is experiencing this year.

Kansas is mostly flat in the west part of the state but the easter half is nothing but long steep hills. It is thrill going down them sometimes reachingf 55 miles but uphill I sometimes was as slow as 5 miles hour, just barely fast enough to keep my bike upright. although I have done a lot of bicycle tours in about 15 states this one is probably my most memorable one as is tested me to the limits of my abilites. It ain't easy for this old man in his sixties to ride 600 miles in little over a week not counting 200 or so miles I rode the previous week.

I sure like to do some more tours and plan on trying some once I sale my home in Charleston and my wife joins me living in Lancaster full time again.

The pictures make it look like the weather was always good. Goes to show you pictures can be deceiving. Well we did have good weather for the first few days but after that it was terrible. Temperatures was as low as 50 degrees to a high of 105 degrees.

Riding around the city of Lancaster SC

2009-05-18T14:34:00.013-04:00

Last Saturday I did another bike tour of Lancaster. I like riding around the places I used to ride back in my early teens. I also rode my bike around what is left of the Old Cotton mill which most of it has now been torn down. The Late Leroy Sprngs who built the orginal mill and is said to be still be buried under where the old clock tower stood. If he is still there he cover by a lot of old bricks that have been left by the destruction of the tower and cotton mill. Grave is not marked and probably it best that it isn't for now but I do hope sometme in the future it can be marked if they ever make a park where the old mill stood as Lancaster is supposed to do.
My bike computer did not work so I have no idea what the distance was that I cycle but it was enough. I took a few pictures while riding around the old mill and the town.

Mac's Grill use to be here and I ate a lot of hambugers there. The best there was. Bicycle in picture is just one of the bike's I have and ride.

Renovation of the old courthouse is starting to look good now

The Guard Shack leading into the old Cotton Mill. Past by the way many times going to work there.

Notches cut into tree by mill workers I presume. Don't know why.

Been extremely busy since weather has turn warm.

2009-05-14T17:09:00.002-04:00

I just realized it been a while since I made my last post. When the weather turn nice I started working outdoors putting in fruit trees, flowers and planting grass where I always had mud when it rain. I was just bursting out all over with work plans in the yard and just havn't had time for anything else.

I also took my first train ride on the L&C railroad and enjoyed that a lot.

I still have a lot to do in the yard and that is eating in to my computer time which I really need to spend less time on anyway. I hope everyone is enjoying themselve now that it is turn warm

My woodturning art reception

2009-04-05T08:14:00.002-04:00

Last thursday I had my reception for my art work at the springs house in lancaster SC. I was very apprenhsive about the turnout for it. The turnout was great and so I have to say the reception was a huge suscess for me. I was very pleased how everyone responded about my woodturnings.

Now that it is over I need a rest. Now instead of trying to create enough work to put in my art show I can concentrate more on the artistist work to my woodturnings and not on how much I make. Not that I neglected the artist work but I don't like working under pressure meeting a deadline.

My work will still be on display for all of April at the Springs art council.

2009-04-02T05:53:00.002-04:00

Today is a very special day for me. It is my birthday but also it is the day of the start of my woodturning show in Lancaster SC. The reception starts at 5:30 Pm today. I will have on display my work at the Springs house in Lancaster for all of this month.

I have done some shows and demostration before so this is not exactly new to me so what is so special about this show.

Well for one I have never done a show in my home town of Lancaster. This is not just showing my work before strangers but it showing it to my friends and family most of which have never seen my art work. I wonder how they will react to my being a artist or maybe attempting to be a artist is a better word. Will they think I am good or not? Of course I know I am good but the question is what will they think?

The Idea of doing a show in my hometown of Lancaster started three and half years ago. when if first came up it was just after I injured my leg bad. I though then I would never be able to turn again so doing a show as for as I was concern could never happen. I was cripple and the pain my leg was so bad that my life center around my leg.

Well mircalously I have been able to start turning again and for the past six month or so I have been busy making new work to put in the show. I just hope it they will be well received and my reputation as a turner will be enhanced in my hometown. Lancaster will become my home again and will be center for doing my art work instead of Charleston.

I am also hoping that this show will give me a big boast in reestablishing myself as a premier art turner that I had lost due to my injury and inabilty to turn wood for so long.

2009-03-11T07:55:00.008-04:00

Although my blogger is intended to show mostly my photography and woodturnng I like to occassionally add a little about my bicycling since it is my favorite sport.

For the past few days I have been to Charleston and had the chance to make my first bicycle ride for 2009 and I hope it just the start of many more bike rides. I have a home on James Island near the ocean and that is usually my starting point for a bicycle tour. I have ridden on James Island and Folly Beach hundreds of time but it been a while since I last done that. This weekend it was like riding it for the first time. The weather was beautiful but just teasy bit cool especially riding on the beach.

In all I rode 42 miles in three days which I used to ride the same distance in about 2 1/2 hours. Well I am not as good as I was once plus I am terribly out of shape. Riding my bike did make me feel a lot better more like I used to feel.

I also rode on the West Ashley Greenway for the first time in about two or three years. It is a old railroad bed turn into a walking and bike path. It will be part of the East Coast Greenway bicycle path that will run from Maine to Florida. I had hope to ride it all the way one day but that is not likely to happen now. I should be thankful that I can ride a bicycle at all now because of my injury to my leg back in 2005. This put a end to m active life style but I am trying to recover some of it back.

Today I going to attempt to ride my bicycle downtown Lancaster on part of what was my paper route back when I was a teenager. This will be the first time since I rode a bike downtown since around 1958 or 59. I know I can't ride the entire route as I can't even remember where all my route went.

I hope to publish more stories about my future in cycling.

Three woodturning that I have just finished

2009-02-25T15:51:00.008-05:00

Cherry Fluted Bowl
Competed March 2009
Aproximately 10 inches diameter by 4 inches high.

These are two pieces that I just finish. They are made out of spalted Elm and Walnut Trim.

I have done several pieces like this in the past few years. One is very similar to one that I saw on the web or it is similar to mind. I Don't know which. However not sure I will sell either piece but just used them for display and perhaps take orders for pieces like them with some minor changes.

2009-02-20T05:31:00.005-05:00

Well it getting closer to my art show in April. It is to run for the entire month of April. The reception will be on April 2, 2009 which happens to be on my birthday. Maybe that is a good sign.

I do not know the time the reception starts. Hope to find out that soon and then I will post it.

The show will be at the Springs Art Council building at 201 W. Gay Street in Lancaster SC 29720. Their web page address is as follows.

http://www.lccarts.org/contact.htm

Everyone reading my blog is invited to attend. Hope their will be a good turn out to see my work.

A visit from some new friends

2009-01-25T10:36:00.002-05:00

Last week was one of the best I have had while staying alone in Lancaster. I went out twice to eat out with some very dear high school classmates. To add to this yesterday I got a surprise visit from some wood Carvers out of Charlotte, Spartanburg and a little town called Silver Street near Newberry SC. I have never met any of them before not even online with the exception of one person who happens to be a good friend of mine.

They had heard about me from my friend that lives In Silver Street and had seen pictures my works on my blogs. So they came to my home to show me some woodcarving tricks that I had mention in my blogging that I wanted to learn to do. I am very interested in doing more woodcarving to my woodturnings. The really big difference between wood carving and woodturning is that the wood is revolving it is being carved out and wood carving the wood is stationary and uses different tools to cut the wood with.

I ended up doing some woodturning demonstration for them and we got to do a little woodcarving. These were a great group of guys and we intend on doing this again in March but this time it will be a planned event and I will be better prepared.

I forgot to take any pictures so I don't have any to post.

2009-01-20T19:17:00.008-05:00

It snowed today where I live. I was going to start back woodturning today but I took a snow day off. Maybe tomorrow I will get back to turning.

These are pictures of my home and studio where I do my woodturnng. It great to live out in the country.

Photography a subject I enjoy yaking about

2009-01-11T16:32:00.001-05:00

Photography is a subject that is of great interest to me, I love photography. I just read somewhere on the internet where someone cited that a well know celebrity was aloof. I am not going to say who that was because it really doesn’t matter. It did remind me of the time I spent in the summer of 1975 at the Maine Photographic workshop while I was taking some photography courses there.

The Maine Photographic workshops always have some of the best photographer’s instructors and that is why I went there. While there talking some courses in photography I was invited to eat lunch with one of the instructors along with a couple more students. This particular instructor was not one of my instructors and I never heard of him. We had lunch over several days together and I really enjoyed those times. Later I was invited to see his photographic works and his photography blew me to pieces. His photographs were exceptional and I thought to myself this guy should be famous for his works deserves it. His name was Arnold Newman and he indeed was famous as a photographer, I just didn’t know it.

One of the other students that I had become friends told me Arnold had commented that I seemed to be aloof. I wondered if that was supposed to be a compliment or what but did not think anymore of it until recently. That is were this story comes in. I look up in the dictionary what the meaning “Aloof” meant. I not so sure now that Arnold was paying me compliment. The definition of aloof is as follows: “chilly, distant, remote, reserved, standoffish, unapproachable, uncommunicative and disinterested. I have never though of myself being that way. I must admit that until I get to know a person better I am often times quiet until I feel comfortable with him or her. I don’t remember if I was that way back then but I can’t believe I was but for him to say that I must have been.

I started to wonder more about him and did some research on the internet about him last week. He is without question a very famous and well known photographer a lot more than I knew back in 1975. He died in June of 2006 at the age of 88. He was well known for his portraits of famous people. He was quoted as saying that he did not like photographing celebrities which is sort of ironic as he was sort of a celebrity himself.

In all the years since 1975 I never heard a lot about him and until now I just didn’t know of his fame as a photographer. His photographic works however did inspire me to learn how to be good at photography. I later open my own studio up for a time. Life however led me to pursue other interest which led me to moving to the coast and to live my dream of sailing my sailboat cruising on the east coast. I did a lot sailing doing things that I thought was to daring for me to ever do.

I am glad in some ways that I did not know who Arnold Newman was when I was in Maine back in 1975. I got to know him as just another human being who gets into his pants the same way I do who happened to be very good at photography.

I went on to study photography from other well known photographers. Some of them were Rock Gunn, Bill Stockwell who were exceptional famous wedding photographers, Peter Gowland , a famous glamour photographer to name a few. Rock Gunn and Bill Stockwell has since past away. I took courses from other famous photographers but I having a senior moment as I type this and can’t remember there names.

I never made it into the big time of photography but I did succeed in accomplishing a lot of what I love doing in photography and had my own studio until the call of sailing took me away from it.

Storms Clouds over the Horizon

2009-01-08T07:17:00.003-05:00

Well this is my first post for 2009 and I hope as I am sure most of us do that this year will be the turn around we all are wishing and praying for.

Last night while I took my two TT's (Tibeten Terriers) for awalk I saw the most beautiful sunset that I seen in a long time. These clouds was marching by much like soldiers marching in a parade.

I was mesmerized by watching them when I realize that I should take some picture of them. By the time I got my camera and got setup I had miss the best of the lighting as the sun had set to low in the sky. I was only able to get a couple of shots before the colors in the clouds was lost. Anyway this picture gave me a good reason to make my fist post.

I have not done any woodturning now for about three weeks because of Christmas and New Year break that I took. I think today I will start back to work and start making more turning for my April woodturning art show in Lancaster.

There will be times when you will be in the field without a camera. And, you will see the most glorious sunset or the most beautiful scene that you have ever witnessed. Don't be bitter because you can't record it. Sit down, drink it in, and enjoy it for what it is! ~DeGriff

Swapping Art and work in progress

2008-12-16T05:30:00.012-05:00

Picture at left is a vase that I am working on. It not finished but I thought I would go ahead a post it. In this picture I have it mounted in wood chuck jaws on my lathe putting a finish on it.

I am making this for a artist friend I met a few years ago on another blogging site I have and we became friends. She is also a avid bicyclist which makes her really special. Cyclist are special people you know and when they are a talented artist as well you can't beat that excluding me. I am not special and never have been.

A few weeks ago she send me a message about getting one of my woodturnings. I made a deal with her that if she painted a special picture I had in my mine I would make a vase for her in exchange for making her vase. She wants to use it to put her brushes in that she paints with.

This picture below is taken just after I took it off lathe and before I started to putting a finish on it. I will post the completed vase as soon as it is done.

The story about the picture she is painting for me is on myspace blog if you like to read it. The address is

http://www.myspace.com/sandlapperadventures

I will also post the picture she paints for me and give her full credit for doing it. You may want one of her paintings, she is good.

Added 1/12/2010
This deal never went through. I completed my part of the arrangement but the artist that was gong to paint my picture did not do her part. I received a number of emails on different occasions from her stating she was going to start on my painting soon but soon never happen. I wish she justwould have told me she wasn't going to do it. I could have sold this vase several times but kept it out of my inventory just for her but that is no more.

Another vase in the making. I have it mounted on the lathe using a steady rest so I can remove the wood from inside of the vase.

I will be trying to use new techniques in making this vase. I hope I can do them right and not screw the vase up. Will take me time doing them. Be next year before i finish this vase. That is right around the corner you know. Got to slow down now for Christmas, family is coming and I am not allowed to do any turning after they

arrived.

This is the finish vase from above. I didn't do all the details to it that I intended. I felt that to do this may ruin it so I changed the design slightly in a direction that I was more comfortable with.

Althought I started this piece last December it represents my first finish piece for 2009. Yepee.

I also got a small studio setup to photograph my work. This is also the first time I used it to take pictures of my work. I still have to modify it some to get the results I am after.

Walnut vase with carving on it.

2008-12-12T17:32:00.002-05:00

Well it been 10 days since I finish a woodturning. I am really slow now. this is a walnut vase that is 10 inches high by 3 1/4 dia. At first I planned on leaving it plain but after I finish it I knew it needed something else to make it stand out. So I added some carving and some dimples to it.

It getting close to my daugher comming to visit us this Christmas so I want be doing a lot of woodturning the rest of the year. I have one more vase that I am working on and plan on trying to at least make one other vase with a top cover to it. I almost have enough turning made for my show in April at the Springs House in Lancaster.

Now I can start taking more time to do a little more artsy turning after the new year begins.

Fluted Bradford Pear Bowl

2008-12-02T11:07:00.003-05:00

I finally finish another piece. I am perfecting my ablities to do fluted and ornamental work on my woodturnings. Part of this is developing the tools that I have to have in order to do this kind of work. So the fluted work is pretty simple right now until I perfect the tools I need. This is one thing that can't be bought ready to use. I have to modify the tools I used for this work.

This is a fluted bowl made from Bradford Pear. Although the fluted work is not terribly complicated I am learning how to do more complicated work using this technique through trial and error. Unfortunely it does involve a lot of trials and lots of errors. This Bowl did turn out kinded nice I think.

So does wood really talk to you??

2008-11-21T16:51:00.007-05:00

I have heard the phrase "The wood Talks to Me" used by woodturners. The idea is that the wood tell the turner how to bring out the best or beauty of the wood he turning.

I have attended woodturning demostration where the demostrator said flat out that no one should turn a piece when think are letting the wood talk tell them what to do. The demonstrator says a good woodturner knows before hand what shape he intends on turning and often designs the piece before trying to turn it.

I agree with this, a turner should have a good idea of what shapes he intends to turn. The wood is not going tell you anything or will it. I have used the phrase some in teaching woodturning. So just what does it mean to me? I use the phrase meaning that I listen to the sounds my cutting tool makes, I pay attention to how the tool is feeling in my hands as I turn the wood. To me that is the wood talking with me. It lets me know if I am having a problem that could lead to disaster like breaking my turning or throwing it out of the chuck so I have to dodge it if I fast enough. It also tells me if I need to sharpen my tool. Hey I used this thechnique a lot as a tool and die maker and I was a very good tool and die maker if I do say myself.

I watch some inexperience turners showing how they turn wood and I would cringe at the sounds there were making as they turn the piece. In some cases I actually predicted the wood was going to fly of the lathe in pieces by just listening to the sound of the wood being cut.

This piece in the picture above may have actually talked with me in the sense it told me how to turn it. Then again maybe it didn't tell me a darn thing. I actually had a design that I was going to make. As I was turning the wood it became clear to me that my design was not going to work with this wood. It also became clear that I needed to turn it different from what I intented. Well I had intended on Fluting the sides similar but not the same as in the post I made earlier about making a fluted bowl. Now I not sure if the wood told me to turn it the way I did but maybe it did. I decided not to do any fluting but just turn a plain simple ordinary Bowl.

I did turn it thinner than usual as I am not a fan of real thin walls. It takes skill to turn thin but I not sure it always looks that good being exceptionally thin except in cases where you want a translucent wall. This one is turn with 1/8 inch walls. It is about10inches Dia. by 4 inches high .

Well you be the judge.

A sunflower

2008-11-19T16:25:00.003-05:00

Every now and then I get excited about something that I turn. I also get impatient and photograph it before it is completed. This is one of them I still have more work to do to it before it is finish. Anway it sort of reminds me of a sunflower but I guess you need to use your imagination. The lacquer has not even dried yet in these photograph and once it is dry I still have to polish it.

I was actually working on another bowl that is bigger and could not photograph it yet. It is also in the state of drying from putting the finish on it. Well I thought I would turn something else while it was drying and did not want to start a big project. I had another piece of cherry wood that is left over after coring out another bowl. So I thought I would make something quick out of it while the other piece was drying. I wasn't so quick in making it as I did more to it than I intended to do. I glad I did change my mind and made this as I like it. Hope you like it also. the pictures are lousy so I hope you will over look them. I will photograph them again once I complete it as well as he other piece I am working on.

A fluted Elm Bowl

2008-11-15T16:02:00.004-05:00

I haven't done a fluted bowl in quite sometime now. I just completed making a adapter for my mini router which lets me do fluting easier. It is a piece of cake compared to the way I use to do fluting. I was not sure fluted sides would look good with this spalted wood.

I still have to polish this up before it is finish but the hard work is done. I am going to make another out of the same wood next. Oh! the wood is spalted Elm that I have had for sometime .

One of this days I will make a lighting setup so I can get some decent photographs of my turnings.

2008-11-13T07:59:00.004-05:00

I had a friend of mine to visit me yesterday. I was showing him what could be done to a photograph using photoshop. I was playing around with these picture and sort of like the results. Below is what the picture looked like without being altered. It not exactly the same picture as they were taken a few minutes apart.

I not getting to work on photography as much as I want to but hope that once we get everything settle from moving I will have time to work on photography as well as my woodturning and do a good job at both.

My first Native American style Flute

2008-11-03T11:45:00.009-05:00

Well I think this is just about done. It looks kind of nice to me but I don't know how it sounds. I mean I can make noises with it but how in the heck do I make it sound like music instead of a Owl screeching.

I am sure it needs some tuning but that I don't know how to do either. I want to learn now to play it. On my internet search everyone that makes flutes says it is easy to play even it one does not know anything about music. Well they never heard of me and I am not in the least bit musical inclined. I started to playing it but my two dogs ran in the corner of the room and covered their ears up with their paws, it is that bad.

I like the sound of this kind of flute and I really like to learn how to play it if I am not too dumb to learn. First I have to learn how to tune it or find someone that knows how it suppose to sound. Then I have to convince them to teach me how to play it. I know I wishing for a lot, more than you know

I have one more flute that I have started to make but I first want to learn more about how to make it sound good. This is necessary for me to know just how much wood needs to be removed when drilling the tuning holes and making sound chamber. It sure would help me if I knew a little more about music. Any volumteers.

Comments are very welcome, Just hit the comment button at the bottom and say some nice things.

A couple of months ago I watch a demostration at the Waxhaw woodturners club meeting about making teapots. Raymond Overman demostrated how he makes teapots.

Based on the knowledge I gain from his demostration I made my first teapot as picture here. It really is simple teapot as I just wanted to get the technique of making it down pat. It is a little to plain so I may add some kind of designs either carved or burned on each side of the teapot to make it a little more interesting.

Raymond did a very good job of explaining how to do it and I sure do thank him. I always anxious to learn new techniques in woodturning.

I added some pyrograhics to the teapot. This is something that I have never tried before. Well I guess you can tell.

2008-10-31T07:10:00.005-04:00

This is a new piece that I just finished. The wood is Cherry and has a story behind it.

I got this wood about four years ago from a guy who brought it to our club meeting in Charleston. He says he got it from a hog pin that was located on a old plantation dating back before the civil war. The cherry tree was bury in mud which preserved it.

No one in our woodturning club wanted it as it looked like dung to puts it mildly. I took it but at the time I did not know what I could do with it. I did make a few turnings from it and I sold all of them very quickly through the Artisan Center in Walterboro. I kept the largest piece of cherry wood and stored it until I could figure what I could make from it. It was full of big holes and did not seem to lend itself to any good form of woodturning. It actually look like rat holes. that had been tunnel into the wood, Ugh.

This week I finally decided I need to try and make something so I cut the cherry wood into turning blanks. This is my first turning from it. I thought I would make a natural edge from it as that allowed me to get rid of most of the holes with the exception of the one in the photo. The wood was very dry after being out of the weather ever since I had it and it was very hard almost like concrete. A lot of my turning it was interrupted cuts which was very difficult to do with it being so hard. I think it came out very well with the exception that the wall thickness is a litte thicker than I wanted its. I didn't want to take the chance of breaking it so I only turn it as thin as I thought it would go without breaking.

I wish I could have documented more about the wood as I do not want to misrepresent it. I only know what I was told by the person who gave it to me. I still have two piece left of this wood so I need to come up with some good ideas on turning them.

Finally got more woodturning done

2008-10-27T08:31:00.010-04:00

This is a Bradford Pear Platter or perhaps you could call it a bowl. Sometime ago someone gave me some Bradford pear that I kept in my backyard for several years. It spalted and is a very pretty wood when it spalts. It does not show well in the picture because the qaulity is not that good. One of these days I will make a good photography setup so my pictures will show my turnings at it best.This is approximately 12 inches by 10 inches by 2 inches high.

This a bowl made from wild cherry wood. As the tree was growing someone put what look like steel tent peg in it and the tree grew around it. Around the rim you can see it has some black coloring. This is cause by the tree reacting adversely with the wood. I think it added a lot of beauty to the wood.

Approximately 12 inches Dia by 5 inches high.

This is made from spalted Laurel Oak wood. This tree used to provide shade for my house in Lancaster. It died mysteriously in June of 2005 while I was biking in Kansas. At least I got a lot of good wood out of it to make some beautiful woodturnings. I still wish that tree had not died.

In my last post about making a American Native Style flute I said I would post a picture of it as soon as it is finish. Well I am kind of stuck on it right now. I have it finish for the most part but not sure if it sounds the way it should. Iam no music expert and if it needs to make some adustment I do not want to go any further with it until I know what to do. Right now I need to concentrate on getting more turning made for my show in April of next year.

Making a Native American Style Flute (Maybe)

2008-10-08T08:31:00.006-04:00

Last night I attended another meeting of the Waxhaw Woodturners club. The woodturning demostration was about making a Native American Flutes which greatly interested me. I had previously research Indian flutes and how to make them on the internet in preparation for seeing this demo. Now that I have a good idea on how to make one it is time to try. I will have to get a couple more tools before I do. By the way the demostration was well done and informative.

Back in 1995 while on vacation in Colorada I bought a CD with music made using a Native American Flute and I fell in love with the sound. It was also then that the idea first enter my mind about making crafts and arts to sell once I retired. It seem like only yesteday that I had this dream but now I am now living it at least to a small degree.

Making the flutes seems to be fairly easy to do but I sure as heck don't know a thing about music and I may have to find someone that knows music and how to play a flute. I need a little guidance on how to make it sound right and maybe how to play it.

I can make a flute just like what the native americans did but there is one major difference. The indians did not have modern tools and they had to make their flutes with crude tools which I don't intend to try and do. However they will work the same way to make the unusual sound. If I get pretty good at this maybe I can sell some also but of course they will not be indian made. I don't think I have any indian blood in me.

I could dress up like a indian and pretend that they are indian made but that would be illegal. There is a law preventing anyone from misrepresenting crafts as being made by real indians. So I have to tell the truth and say I am just a simple old Southern who is into Indian history and crafts.

This is a picture I found on the internet of a Native American flute similar to what I intend on trying to make. I hope I can make it sound good as well as look good.

Tour de Roundo

2008-10-01T17:53:00.008-04:00

Tour de Roundo is another bicycle charity ride that I have ridden in since it began about 5 years ago. For me it was a little more than a charity ride it is the only bike tour where I actually raced everyone to the finish. I finish in first place 3 out of the 4 times I raced in it. The one time I lost was after I injured my leg and I was not strong enough to be a contender that year.This year would have been my 5th try but I will miss it this year just as I did the MS150 charity bike ride.

When I live in Charleston it was not that far to go to Roundo SC where the event is held but it is too far since I am in Lancaster now and much too expensive for fuel for me to do it this year. It is one of the best charity bicycle events I have ever had the honor of doing.

I will miss being there this year but hopefully I can do it next year.

Back home

2008-09-28T19:28:00.007-04:00

I have been in Charleston now for almost two weeks. Now I am back to our home upstate. Tomorrow I will get back to work making some new woodturings. I will be posting some pictures of them after they are finish or even before they are finish.

Went to church today at the church Leila attended when she was growing up. It always like a family reunion when we go there. So many people she knows still go there as a lot of her family does. They have to talk and talk, I love it.

This is a picture taken from my side yard of my new home and my studio where I turn wood into bowls and vases. The Studio has three rooms. One is upstairs where my gallery is located and two rooms downstairs that I used for turning and other woodworking projects.

A showing of my work in Lancaster SC

2008-09-25T10:59:00.004-04:00

Well at last I have a date set for a art show of my woodturnngs in Lancaster SC. I don't have the details yet but it going to be in April of next year. This should give me plenty of time for me to add to my inventory so I will have enough made to put on a good show.

I will certainly post more news about this as soon as the details are worked out.

Not doing a MS150 this year

2008-09-20T09:48:00.015-04:00

In my Bio I mention that I was a avid bicylist. One of the things I did riding my bike was to particapte in rasing money for the MS Society which is a very important and good cause. Without it a lot people who have MS would not get needed help to make there lives better and more pain free.

This year for the first time in four years I have elected not to do another MS 150 which will be held next week. This would have been my sixth time to do one if I had particapted. In all I have ridden closed to a thousand miles raising money by riding my bicycle for the MS Society and raised approximately three thousand dollars . I do not really feel good about not doing one again this year but I felt it was a futile effort and I don't have the money to waste since I didn't do so well last year.

So why am I not doing it this year. It pure economics. Last year I raised about $670 for MS. It cost me out of my pocket closed to $500 to raise the $670. Participating in these events one has to pay for all of his own expenses except for meals provided during the bicycle tour. I always make a personal donation on top of my expenses.

It does not make a lot of sense for me to spend so much money and not do better at fund raising than I did last year. One person who had volunteer and committed their selves to sponsoring me withdrew their Pledge at the last minute . I did not have enough time left to try and make up the difference. It wasn't a money issue he just decided to sponsor someone else without notifying me of his change of heart until I reminded him that I had to ge all the money pledged turn it. He was one of my best friends and this did not go over very well with me.. I had others who pledge to sponsor me and and they did not live up to that pledge.

I was even banned from particpating in my high school web site by a person I grew up with and like very well. I was not allowed to mention my charity work and it got posted anyway on the site by one of my friends and so we both were banned pernamently.

Asking money for charity is hard enough without these kind of things happening. To often I am made to feel like I am begging for money for myself or that somehow I am personally benefiting by this. If I am benefiting it is by the exercise I get and the knowedge that I am doing something worthwhile. I am very proud of my past efforts.

I have also paid a high price for doing these charity rides by losing friends that I did not want to lose just because I ask for sponsorship. They now avoid me so I want ask again. Maybe next year I will try to do one again in spite of my bad experiences.

On another post below I have a lot errors in it. For some reason the software is not permitting me to edit them. I may be doing something wrong but I havn't figure it out.

A show of my work coming at last

2008-09-18T06:57:00.007-04:00

Since my last post I have been contacted about my doing a show in Lancaster. It going to happen now. I not sure of the date as I need to first take inventory of what turning I have left after I return from the Artisan Center this weekend. How much I have and how much I will have to make in order for me to have a very good show will determine how soon I can be ready to do a show.

I like to do one this year but that may be pushing it.

A picture of one of my first ornamental jewelry boxes I made sometime ago.

This is the ornamental bowl I am currently workng on. It is not finish yet. I still have to turn the bottom of it and finish it with lacquer. That will have to wait until the next time I come to Lancaster.

I not sure I like it now as I deviated from my orginal concept and I wish I hadn't done that. I think it is still nice but not as good as it would have been if I stay with my concept.

Oh well there is always another turnng and I will get it the way I wanted it in the first place.

My Summer

2008-09-17T09:03:00.000-04:00

What a summer I have had. I can’t believe that I have been in Lancaster for just about the whole summer. I only went back to Charleston two or three times for a few days each. But we are not quite ready yet to move to Lancaster full time and so I must go back to Charleston once again today but it will be only for a very short time.

I manage to make about 20 new turnings this summer which is more than I expected to get done. That is pretty good when I consider that some of them were new techniques I never done before.

I wasn't sure how my leg would hold up standing at the wood lathe but it did not bother me that bad. I sometimes had to quit to rest but otherwise I had few problems. For those who reads my blog and don’t know I severely injured my leg almost four years ago and this nearly ended my woodturning career. I really never though I would be able to turn wood again which I was not able to do for about three years.

I had hope that on my stay at our new home this time I would have had a date set to do a show of my woodturning. This has not happen and I done all I know to do and I still have not heard a thing about this from the folks at the art center. I had hoped to know something by now. Most of the work I was planning on saveing for doing a show in Lancaster I am now placing them instead in Walterboro Artisan Center this weekend. Sales have been very good there and my stock is low.

Although I do quite well with my woodturning in the Charleston area I am not known in the Lancaster area and I want to do something about that. My hopes to do a show in Lancaster as I had been planning has not panned out so far and I will have to find other ways to building my reputation up in my hometown of Lancaster which I should do anyway. This has been really a let down for me as I really wanted to do a show in my hometown but I will find other avenues to promote my arts.

Well I have to get the house of clean up and my shop as well so I don’t leave a dirty mess behind. I will post a picture of my latest OT turning when I get it finish hopefully sometime next week.
My daughter is trying her hand at woodturning. I am just standing by and letting her go at it. I gotta give her some lessons.

Second day working on making A OT Bowl

2008-09-16T15:40:00.000-04:00

Day two working on making a OT Bowl. Had a time today making the design on the inside of the Bowl. There is a plate on the OT turning attachment that has three rows of holes in it. These holes are used to space the cutter so it will cut the design that I came up with using a computer.

The OT attachment has a pin that is put the the holes on the plate needed to get the spacing right. Once the cut is made then the Plate is rotated to another hole so another cut can be made over and over again until the pattern is completely cut. This is repetitouos and if I lose count I screw it up.

Well I can't count so good and screwed it up. I screw up the second time because I forgot to position the pin to the right hole pattern. Luckily I salvage it by just changing the design which allow me to continue using the same hole pattern.
The above picture was taken just after I finish cutting the design in the bottom of the bowl

This pictures shows the design in the bottom of the bowl and the design on the side that I did yesterday.

This a close up view of the pattern that I cut in the botton of the bowl. I had planned on cutting more designs in the bowl but the shape I chose to use for this bowl did not lend itself to doing any more OT designs on it.

The next step is to do a little more sanding then put sanding sealer on and it will be ready to put lacquer on it which I am doing now.. Hope it looks as good completed as I think it will.

Well tomorrow is clean up day when I am through with that I have to pack up to head back to Charleston so I can go to Walterboro to put some more turnngs there. This OT Bowl will have to wait until I get back for me to finish it.

Starting a OT woodturnng (Ornamental) today

2008-09-15T18:02:00.000-04:00

Today I started a OT turning (Ornamental). OT turning is a little more complex than conventional turning. I use a Ornamental cutting attachment to cut designs in the Bowl or whatever I am making.

This is a picture of the setup I used to cut the OT design in the side of the Bowl. It not much now as there is still a lot of work left to do. If you click on each picture they will expand for a better view.

This is a close up showing the OT design in the side of the unfinish bowl. Still have some sanding to do on the side.

Tomorrow I will take the OT attachment off and remount the bowl to turn the inside out. After the inside is turn more OT designs will be cut on the inside of the bowl.

I will post more pictures of the progress in making this OT Bowl. Stay tune more to come.

This is another OT bowl I recently made and posted a picture of it in my last blog. I just thought I would add it again in this blog so you would know it is a OT design in the side of the bowl.

Some new woodturnings

2008-09-11T06:43:00.003-04:00

I been busy as a bee the last few weeks making some new forms in wood. I having to relearn how to turn after not being able to turn for so long due to my injury. I thought I would post some pictures of what I have been doing lately

These are not very good pictures but for now they will have to do. I hope to make a setup sometime soon for photographing my work so they will be of higher quality.

A rant but I just had to make it.

2008-08-31T09:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I visited Woodcraft in Charlotte NC for the first time. I have spend a lot of money with woodcraft in Charleston the past years and had expected to make some major purchases this year with wood craft in Charlotte because I am closer to them now. I had hope that they would go ahead and allow me the 10 Percent discount that the woodturning club members are getting.

I wanted to go ahead and make some purchases with them provided that I got the 10 per cent discount. The first salesman I talk with said he knew nothing about any discount and said I would need to talk with the big boss about it and then left without directing me to the big boss.

I then talked with another salesman and ask him the same question about getting the club discount. He ask what I was interested in buying. I told him that it was a number of items and gave him a couple of specfic items I needed assuming I got the woodturning club discount.

Well I never got a answer to my question as he just walked off and started waiting on other customers just like the first saleman did. It finally dawn on me that they were not going to answer me or attempt to help me anymore. I guess they decided I was a dead beat and wasn't going to waste anymore time on me.

Whether that is true or not it sure changed my mind about doing any business with the Charlotte woodcraft now. To just walk away was very rude and I will not put up with that kind of treatment. As the old saying goes I will take my business elsewhere.

Internet connection cost (A rant)

2008-08-20T09:40:00.001-04:00

In my new home upstate I recently had Comporium internet service installed. My other home I have Bell South (ATT) internet service. Both are basic DSL connection.

I pay $19.95 for ATT internet service and $ 44.95 for Comporium. Even though comporium is over twice as high it is much slower. To get the same speed as I have with ATT it would cost me $60.oo a month with comporium. That is three time what ATT charges for the same service.

I have no choice but to use Comporium as that is the only highspeed internet available. I am ticked off at having to pay a lot more for internet connection and getting a lot less in terms of speed of the connection. It not much faster that Dial up which brings up another beef. Dial up with Comporium cost more than High speed internet connection in Charleston does . Here we have choices of who we can get for high speed conection but I have no choices in my upstate home.

It just goes to show you when there is no competion you pay through the nose just like we are with fuel cost. I just had to rant about it.

Well what is next

2008-08-17T06:36:00.000-04:00

I found a blog by another artist that I like very much. So I thought I would start a blog about my woodturnngs and photography.

Now that I have started it I not sure what to do now. Give me a little time to figure out how all this works.

This is a vase I recently made from Hickory (Ashe) wood.

I had to remove a hedge from my front yard. I kept the root ball to used to make a woodturning

This a picture taken on the last day the old cooper river bridge was used. It was replaced by a state of the art new suspension bridge which also has a walkway and bike path across it.