Woodturning

Hi folks, sorry it's been so long since I've posted, the winemaking has slowed down as I have a lot of wine bulk aging and really don't have room to start any more until I get some bottled. I may try to bottle this weekend or at least next week, but as for now we're in a winemaking lull at Open Water Winery. However, that doesn't mean there aren't any happenings going on, my attention span is fairly limited and so I've been switching back and forth between several hobbies lately. Of course gardening season is kicking into gear, both flower and vegetable, and I have planted a lot of veggies that may make their way into a wine bottle later in the year, and I have been working on the flower gardens also. I will post about my green thumb efforts later though, today I am highlighting another hobby with results that are at least occasionally somewhat wine related, woodworking. Specifically, turning wine bottle stoppers on the lathe. It's often difficult to get a wine cork back in the bottle if you have leftover wine (I know, who has leftover wine?!?) so these are a way to preserve it for a day or so until you get time to finish it off. Son Eric is entering a craft show in a couple weeks, where he will be showcasing his excellent cutting and charcuterie boards. Since a) I have had some time on my hands with the longer days lately, and b) I have some really nice turning blanks in the shop, and c) he has already paid the entry fee, I thought I'd turn some wine bottle stoppers for him to display and market both at the craft show and possibly on his Etsy site as well. You can find him on Etsy.com at 864Woodcraft, stop in and browse his selections. He is adding more fairly regularly so check back often, or if you have something particular in mind, message him for a quote on a custom board.

Back to the wine bottle stoppers, I have turned some in times past just for fun, but lately daughter Kasey has gotten into wood turning, and subsequently rekindled my interest in it as well. Since wine goes well with cheese, I figured some wine bottle stoppers might be a natural addition to his wares, so I ordered the stopper bases, cut and tapped some blanks, and started turning. Below are some of my recent creations, in woods like walnut, maple, cherry, and ash (I think it's ash, not 100% sure!) I also bought some pieces of spalted maple, spalting being caused by the natural decay of the wood leaving patterns and markings usually absent in the grain patterns. Fungi leave the black lines and swirls in the typically lighter wood, and the resulting grain can be stunning. One issue with it though is that since the wood is essentially rotting, it typically makes the wood soft, often too soft or "punky" to finish well, or to turn at all. Enter Cactus Juice wood stabilizer. Cactus Juice is a heat-cured epoxy resin that stabilizes the wood through a simple but fairly lengthy process of putting the wood blanks into a vacuum chamber, filling it with the resin, and replacing the air with resin as the air is evacuated by the vacuum action and the resin soaks through the wood block. Then the resin impregnated blocks are placed in an oven for a couple hours to cure the epoxy. This results in a hard, stable blank that retains the spalting but is hard enough to turn on a lathe and sand to a glossy finish. Pictures of both "raw" and stabilized spalted maple are shown below, natural spalting on the left, stabilized on the right.. Stabilizing fills the wood pores with hardened resin, making the wood quite a bit heavier, probably more than doubling the weight, and also darkens the wood slightly, but it turns beautifully and holds a nice finish. The featured image on this blog post is a wine stopper I turned out of stabilized spalted maple and finished with walnut oil friction polish. Spalting is fairly rare to find, but I have several pieces I am in the process of stabilizing so I will be turning more stoppers and who knows what else with it. I am toying with the idea of turning some duck calls, and maybe pens as well, but more likely my ADHD will kick in again and I'll move on to something else before I get to that.

Anyway, that's it for tonight. If you're in the area, stop in at the 2022 Spring Fling Craft Fair being held April 30 at the Greenwood YMCA, 1760 Calhoun Rd, Greenwood, SC. Eric will be there with an assortment of cutting boards, charcuterie boards, and assorted other woodcraft items, and you can also check out (and purchase!) some of the wine bottle stoppers you see pictured below. Have a great weekend!