An Ulu and Bowl for Toni

Vaughn McMillan

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This is part flatwork and part turning, but flatwork won the coin toss, so I'm posting it here. :D

As I mentioned in this thread, I needed a welcoming gift for Toni when he visited SoCal last weekend on the Tour de Wood. A couple of years ago, he sent me a piece of olive wood that he'd found...it was on the side of the road, if I recall the story correctly. He said he had contemplated making something out of it, but didn't have any bright ideas, so I sent it to me in hopes I could make something nice out of it.

Like him, I studied it for a long time, and couldn't come up with anything very remarkable to make out of it. Its size and shape would have allowed for a very small hollow form (maybe 3" or so in diameter), but I never felt convinced that's what it should be. So it sat. And sat. For a couple of years. All the while, I wanted to make something for Toni out of it, even though I knew his intent was for me to use it for myself instead.

Fast forward to a month or so ago, and knowing the Tour was on its way to my house, I had to make up my mind. I finally decided to use the olive for the handle of an ulu knife, and turn a maple chopping bowl to go with it. I already had an ulu knife blank on hand (cryo-treated stainless steel, from Texas Knifemaker's Supply), and some wide 8/4 hard maple, so here's what I came up with...

The handle of the knife is very simple, mirroring the shape of the blade. The dark stripe along the edge of the handle is three layers of thin sapelle veneer, added to the glue-up to compensate for the thickness of the blade. (It's actually about 2.25 thicknesses...I glued up three and sanded it down to the necessary thickness.) I used some more of my mosaic knife pin material, but the pins are a bit lost in all the nice wood figure.

Bowl 086b - 04 800.jpg

Used in a kitchen, an ulu knife needs a chopping bowl to go with it. Most of the ones I've seen were simple blocks of wood with a bowl dished out in the middle. I wanted something a bit more curvy, so I made this...

Bowl 086b - 02 800.jpg Bowl 086b - 01 800.jpg

It's intended for use, so it's sanded to 1200 grit and soaked in mineral oil. As it's used, it'll get scratched and gouged, but for now it's nice and smooth. (I didn't really need to sand it to 1200 grit...I got a bit carried away trying to make it smooth.)

And here's the whole package...

Bowl 086b - 03 800.jpg

I also had enough of the olive wood to make Toni a bottle stopper, but I failed to get pics of it. He scolded me for not making something for myself out of the olive, but I've still got two pen blanks left over from the little piece he sent, so those will be for me. :)

Anyway, this knife and bowl are only small tokens of my appreciation for the fact that Toni and the rest of the Tour boys came to visit. They made for one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. :thumb:
 
Folks, I have held the knife and the bowl in my hands and I must say that Vaughn has done a fantastic job. I could tell by the expressions on Toni's face that he was really proud to receive the gift. Anyone would be.
 
Who Knew Vaughn was a knife maker as well!

That's a great way to turn an unused knife into something special! :thumb:
 
That was a fantastic gift Vaughn, and I will cherish it for ever, if I come across some more olive wood I'll send you some more for you to make a bowl out of it, and this time it will have to be a non return piece ;-)
 
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