About Herb

Herb's work is all about creating individual pieces of art each different in colour, grains and textures. Shapes and sizes vary; no two pieces are alike. Every piece of wood used is obtained from naturally damaged trees, from various piles of firewood and from suppliers of lumber who obtain their material from loggers and manufacturers who use ecologically sustainable forestry practices.

This is about Herb's love of the art and the pure joy of crafting in wood. His creations are enjoyed by wood lovers around the world including Canada, United States, Ireland, England, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and various countries in continental Europe.

This is functional art, bowls work like bowls and serving trays are built to be used and enjoyed. The finish is designed to preserve the wood while bringing out the natural grains and textures to be admired and enjoyed. Wood pieces last almost indefinitely and, while functional, they are beautiful to look at and display.

Herb lives in Kingston, Ontario, Canada and displays in local galleries, at studio tours, on eBay and through the Internet.

About How It's Done

New life to a fallen tree

It starts here. The piece of “Walnut” shown here was cut from the trunk of a small dead tree. As there is still a lot of moisture in the wood, the piece needs to be dried before being used. To prevent the wood from drying out too quickly at the ends, thus causing shakes and checks to form, they have been coated with a layer of wax. The formation of these defects will be markedly reduced through this process because it will slow down the loss of moisture at the ends and even out the drying process.

The Rough Timber is Prepared for Mounting on the Lathe

A short length of “Birch” log was cut lengthwise down the centre. Each piece was end-sealed and dried for two years. This piece has now been cut round to prepare it for mounting on the lathe. Depending on the designs being considered, it could now be turned with the bark side as the top or bottom of a bowl. If used as the top, the result would be a “natural edge” bowl; otherwise a bowl with true edges would result.

The Outside Shape is Established

The outside of this piece of Maple has been turned to the finished shape of the bowl design. Note that the design will incorporate the “bark” side of this bowl as a “natural” edge. In this example, the outside surface has also been sanded to a fine finish.

Turning the inside of a Bowl

This picture shows how woodturning gets its name. Here you see the inside of a bowl being shaped and finished as it spins on the lathe. The outside has already been completed. In this view the piece has been reversed on the lathe so the inside can be hollowed out to match the contour of the outside.

Laminating

In order to create pieces with different textures and colours you sometimes laminate different species of wood together.

Plate made from laminated wood pieces

The Ash and Ebony plate shown here is a simple example of lamination of different species of wood.