My First One Of These and Will Make Many More

[William Young]

This was a fun little project that was on my long list of gotta do things that can be made on a lathe . After turning yet another natural edge bowl yesterday afternoon , ( 8 now and 6 more to go) , I finally got around to trying one of these toothpick holders for a change from hollowing out big bowls.
Sorry about the out of focus pictures . I was either too lazy or too busy to go back and re-do them.
W.Y.

[Daryl185]

now thats pretty darn neat William, and the wood is beautiful nice grain and lovely colors, what kind of wood is it?

[William Young]

Daryl;
That wood is from one of the largest limbs of a Saskatoon Berry "bush".
Those berrys make yummie Pies. .
One of my friends from Saskatoon , Saskatchewan , two provinces to the east of me supplied me with some of that wood. .

For anyone that has not heard of Saskatoon berries here is a little info.

Prairie Berries

W.Y.

[Rolf]

What mag was that design in? I should say concept because you put your own design to it.
Nice job !!

[William Young]

Rolf ;
I am not sure if it was in a magazine (probably was at one time) or from a tutorial from a turner or where it came from.
There were some discussions earlier about it on my Woodworing Friends site and apparently the original plan had a very shallow cup in the bottom and if it got pulled out too far the toothpicks would go all over the place.
Rick Hutcheson who is also a turner and scroller like I am , was in one of those discussions and he made some with the deeper cup and showed pictures of them.
That was where I got the idea of the modification . The cup can beremoved completely from the one I made and the toothpicks all stay in it although it is not necessary to pull it right out at all. When the top is pulled up they flare out as shown so it is easy to select one and then they all go in close to each other again when they are lowered down.
Should turn out to be a good craft sale item for anyone that is looking for a unique and "different" gift to give to someone .
W.Y.

[minowevie]

love your project Bill. I realy love the finial on the top. if I was ever to do any lath work. I would do finiales. you are a master for sure. nice. your friend Evie

[Tor]

I am sure some have uses for those, and will buy them. Very nice indeed.

Tor

[William Young]

Sorry for the late response . I have been very busy catching up with orders in my shop as well as doing some spring outdoor work.


Rolf.

What mag was that design in? I should say concept because you put your own design to it.
Nice job !!
__________________
Rolf

That is one of the things that is really nice about turning . We don't have to worry about copying somebody's "pattern " .
I have never seen a copyright concern in any turning site . There are often "plans" available for free here , there . and everywhere and are shown largely for instructional or display purposes . Turners look at at picture anywhere in a book or on the internet or displayed anywhere else in real life and they get an idea in their head of what their next turning could resemble . Most turners are quite honored of the fact that someone copied their own project as closely as they could and they also like to see variations of it. Never once have I seen a dispute from any turners about making or selling anything that resembles anyone else's work and it is practically impossible to duplicate one without having the original turned piece in your possession and using a duplicator on a lathe to duplicate it almost exactly . Yes, there are duplicators available for lathes but that would take the fun out of hobby turning and they are generally only used for mass production and it doesn't give customers a choice of something slightly different to choose from in batches of the same item. .
Most hobby turners can never catch up with making just one or several of the many hundreds of different items they see around them. Every time I think I am catching up on mt To-Do list it gets longer. I don't expect I will ever catch up and I enjoy the variety.


Evie;

I realy love the finial on the top. if I was ever to do any lath work. I would do finiales.

Yes , finials are just as much fun to turn as anything else is on a lathe. There is a lot of satisfaction in putting a small square (or round) stick of scrap wood on a lathe and turning it down it down to a true round piece in about a minute and then proceed using a little imagination to turn a finial that you feel would look appropriate on top of the item you are making it for. No two are ever exactly the same neither in size or shape or in grain pattern of the wood.
W.Y.

[thecopperfish]

Beautiful toothpick holder! I think those should sell easily.
Chris