In my opinion, the MiterSet tool is the easiest to use, most accurate way to set up miter angles for cutting segments on the table saw. No more hours spent in calibration. No more fixing "gaposis". Click here to visit miterset.com and learn all about it. Now Rockler has a competing product and I'm using it as well. It'll be interesting to compare them,
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Here are some samples of my work. Many of them are for sale as indicated in the Status column. For those that are already sold or have been gifts, the Price indicates what their price would be if I made another. All prices include handling and shipping. Can I design something to fit your wants or decor?

If you want more detailed pictures, I'll be happy to provide digital images to you via email for any piece I still have in my possession. Just tell me what you need.

Each piece is signed and dated.

Item Description Status Price
I didn't start out to do it, but the final shape was a frustum, AKA a truncated cone. With a little more flare at the top, the maple segments would be more obviously pointed. Reducing the sides count would do the same.

This is my first piece with 18 sides and my last use of the Incra miter fence. All my future pieces will use the MiterSet tool for setting up the miter angles. It's much easier to use.Click here to visit miterset.com and learn all about it.

145 pieces of Maple and Jatoba make up the piece and it's finished with clear lacquer. It would best be displayed as an art object because of the small base.
For Sale $200
I call this pair, Tites and Mites. On the left are stalagtites, while the mirror image on the right contains stalagmites.

Using 24 sided rings doubles the miter angle accuracy requirement over what is needed for 12 sided rings. And, at 24 sides, the rings need a little more help during gluing to ensure that they are true circles.

Black Walnut, Maple, and Bloodwood make up the 169 pieces in each vase. Each one is about 5" high by 6" diameter.
For Sale $200 ea
This vessel, composed of 24 sided rings, is an interpretation of a Ray Allen piece. I think it's a set of small pyramids. You have to pay attention to how many layers and how many sides to use to come out even on the number of structures depicted.

Black Walnut, Maple, and Bloodwood make up its 169 pieces and the size is 5" tall by 6" wide.
Gift $200
This is my Mayan High Rise. 24 sided rings reminiscent of the temple at Chichen Itza. It's composed of 193 pieces from Black Walnut and Maple.Size-wise, it ended up being 6" tall and 6" in diameter.

With its thin walls, a steady rest is required to control the chatter while turning the top 3 layers.
For Sale $230
An Oak tree was threatening our new home, so we cut off its top and this piece was made from one of its larger limbs. I discovered, with this twice-turned piece, that dried Oak is very hard. Mike Jackofsky's hollowing tool was instrumental in coping with the hardness. Gift $200
On October 9, 2017, wild fires swept through Santa Rosa, California. Our home was in the path, so all of the pieces below, that were there, were destroyed.
Grecian Urn This is a classic Grecian urn shape with a feature ring that is an interpretation of a Clarence Rennefeld design. The primary wood for this item is Cherry which will darken over the next 6 months to a lovely reddish brown.

The vase measures 10" tall by 5" diameter and the feature ring is made of Maple, Black Walnut, Yellowheart, and Bloodwood. A Maple plug in the bottom completes the 217 piece urn which is finished in gloss lacquer.

The construction of the bottom employs two, staggered layers and a multi-size plug to prevent any wood movement due to atmospheric changes. Hollowform techniques were required for shaping the insides of the last 3 layers.
 Destroyed 10/9/17  $300
Vortex-1 This flaired vase is an exercise in using vertical spacers to the limit. Each one is sized at the widest it can be for each individual ring. The combination of the miter cut of the segments and the wall slopes, make the segments look a bit like arrows. And they look even better on the inside!

The vase measures 7" tall by 7 3/4" diameter. The light wood is Curly Maple and the dark wood is Black Walnut. A Purpleheart plug in the bottom completes the 241 piece vase which is finished in gloss lacquer.

The construction of the bottom employs two, staggered layers and a multi-size plug to prevent any wood movement due to atmospheric changes.
 Sold  $250
Vortex-2 This hollow form is another exercise in using vertical spacers to the limit. The combination of the miter cut of the segments and the wall slopes, give the segments a tapered look. Too bad you can't peek to see what they look like on the inside!

The vase measures 9" tall by 6 1/2" diameter. The light wood is Maple and the dark wood is Black Walnut. A Purpleheart plug in the bottom completes the 289 piece vase which is finished in several coats of gloss lacquer and buffed/polished to a perfect finish.

No cheating on the construction of this one by building as two halves and then joining. This one was assembled a layer at a time all the way from the bottom to the top!

The construction of the bottom employs two, staggered layers and a multi-size plug to prevent any wood movement due to atmospheric changes.
Destroyed 10/9/17  $350
Vortex-3 This hollow form is an exercise in using vertical spacers to the limit. Each one is sized at the widest it can be for each individual ring. The glue joint between the miter cut of the segments and spacers gives a tapered appearance caused by the wall slope. And they look even better on the inside!

The vase measures 9 3/4" tall by 5 1/2" diameter. The light wood is Maple and the dark wood is Black Walnut. A Purpleheart plug in the bottom completes the 313 piece vase which is finished in gloss lacquer.

No cheating on the construction of this one by building as two halves and then joining. This one was assembled a layer at a time all the way from the bottom to the top!

The construction of the bottom employs two, staggered layers and a multi-size plug to prevent any wood movement due to atmospheric changes.
 Destroyed 10/9/17  $300
La Fontaine This is a Weed Pot gone wild! 805 pieces using Cherry, Yellowheart, Ebony, Bloodwood, and Cocobolo (plug in the bottom).

After deciding upon the Navajo border pattern and a zigzag for the feature ring, I still needed something to provide movement in the piece, but I wanted to keep it simple. Playing around with vertical spacers, I happened on the idea of a progression of spacer widths. I tried various relationships to the object diameter and ended up with a simple progression starting with a minimum size just above the feature ring and growing as you move upward to the top. It looks like a fountain!

I learned a new detail on the assembly of rings with a full set of vertical spacers. You can make the ring as two halves so you can touch up the diameter ends to match. But you better think about it before leaping. One half has to have both spacers!
 Sold  $400
Hell Fire - hollowform No, it'st not a segmented piece! But where else can I show it? This is a simple hollowform turned from a log of White Sycamore (I think?) and then dyed in the fashion of Chris Pytlik using Procyon dyes (yellow, orange, red, black) and finished in clear lacquer, sanded, and buffed to a high polish. When you start applying the dye, the first thought is "What have I done?." Then you keep on applying dye, watching it develop and the colors merge until an inner voice calls out ("It's done dude!").  Sold  $150
Lasting Vision - segmented vase The feature ring design in "Lasting Vision" represents the butterfly, a symbol of everlasting/eternal life. Its colors of Maple, Walnut, and Lacewood are echoed in the two simple mosaic rings above it. The clear acrylic inserts are repeated above the two mosaic rings as a set of vertical spacers through which you can actually see the wood grain on the opposite side of the neck interior. All of these special features drove the piece count up to 674 and the project time to about 20 hours. The piece was finished first with clear lacquer to preserve the wood colors as much as possible and, after the grain was filled, coated with one layer of polyurethane to provide a durable finish. The piece is fitted with a 12 oz. tumbler inside so it may be used for real floral arrangements instead of merely dried flowers.  Sold  $800
Lightning - Segmented Salad Bowl This project is a 10" salad mixing bowl with 12 sided layers and mostly comprised of hard Maple. Its design, fabrication, turning, and finishing are the subject of my new 120 minute DVD on segmented turning. The feature ring is actually two rings made up of zigzag elements turned on their sides to form chevrons. Above and below the chevron rings are thin rings of Yellowheart and Purpleheart to set the lightning-like design off from the rest of the project. After final turning, the bowl was sanded to 600 grit, sealed with a Lacquer based sanding sealer, and then the surface was filled with clear lacquer to preserve as much of the natural wood colors as possible. A final polyurethane coat was applied then to provide a super durable finish that will allow the piece to be used regularly. The total project time was about 12 hours for this 397 piece item.  Destroyed 10/9/17  $600
Jupiter - Segmented Sphere This project is a 6 3/4" sphere atop a 3 1/4" cube of Plexiglass. The design of the piece was made using the Sketch-A-Bowl, Zigzag Designer and Layer Tuner features of Segmented Project Planner and with a little help from Paint. The sphere contains 410 pieces consisting of Birds Eye Maple, Black Walnut and Ebony dust. Decorating the sphere is a central band of zigzags (1st generation lamination) and two chevron bands which are zigzags turned on their sides. I learned with this project that chevrons are a lot easier to accomplish than pure zigzags; even after coping with the high angle miter cuts (65 degrees) required for them. The Ebony dust was mixed with polyester resin to make two accent rings just off the poles of the piece after the sphere was turned using the multiple axis method. The project is finished with clear lacquer to preserve the original wood colors as much as possible. The Plexiglas/acrylic cube was constructed from 1/4" clear material and then put on the lathe to cut out the hole in its top for the sphere. The total project time was about 10 hours.  Destroyed 10/9/17  $400
Thunderbirds - Segmented Salad Bowl Tunderbirds - Best of Show Award This piece took "Best of Show" at the 2006 Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles. While the major part of this bowl is Cherry, there are a lot of other things to look at. The primary feature ring is as set of thunderbirds constructed in the "Cookie Log" style. The background of each bird is Maple and the bodies alternate in Mahogany and Black Walnut. Notice that the heads of the birds are all facing to the right. Above the thunderbirds is a ring of chevrons (actually a double zigzag laid on its side) alternating also in Mahogany and Black Walnut with Maple as the background color. This time the design is facing left to keep the whole thing from getting wound up too tight. After you count up all the pieces, the magic number is 480. 48 of the pieces are Ebony. The finish is brushed on gloss polyurethane using my super-slow turning attachment.  Sold  $350
Sequences - Segmented Salad Bowl - 2005 Mid State Fare Sequences - Segmented Salad Bowl - California Contours 2006 This piece took a first place and the judges award at the 2005 Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles and was sold, on display and won 1st Runner Up in the California Contours 2006 show in San Luis Obispo. Dubbed 'Sequences' the feature ring is composed of Yellowheart and Purpleheart vertical strips with their widths determined by the Fibonacci Sequence (1-1-2-3-5-8-13, etc.). The second sequence/series comes into play with the half-sine waves. The effect was achieved by first making two sticks with alternating woods of the appropriate widths. One stick was the mirror image of the other. Then the two sticks were stacked and the sine wave was cut on a bandsaw with its table tilted about 3 degrees. The upper half from the top piece is mated with the lower half from the bottom piece to get a perfect fit. The left over pieces make another set that is almost as good. The finish was special for this project as I wanted to preserve the light color of the Maple. Clear lacquer was used to build up the finish and then a final coat of polyurethane was applied to get the super glossy and tough finish that will allow this piece to be used daily for many years.  Sold  $350
Moving On - Segmented Bowl Inspired by a piece made by Clarence Rannefeld, this 13" bowl boasts Cherry, Lacewood, Black Walnut, Maple, and Ebony. The interlocking chevrons alternate in Lacewood and Black Walnut on the Maple background. Including the small plug in the bottom, the piece totals out at 253 pieces. It is finished with polyurethane varnish and polished.  Sold  $350
Nested Segmented Balls Here's a challenging project. It's a set of 5 nested balls composed of several kinds of wood and using varying constructions. And what you see is only half of the effort; there were 10 jamb chucks to be made to hold the balls during rounding. The inner-most ball is solid Maple at about 1.25" in diameter. The next ball is solid Bubinga with walls about .25" thick. Then comes a glue-up of Purpleheart, Yellowheart, and Redheart, looking much like a pool ball. The next one is made of Bubinga and Cocobolo with Yellowheart stripes between. I'm reminded of a Bocci ball. The outer-most ball is composed of Maple, Cherry, and Black Walnut and is constructed of segmented layers. This piece is on display in the California Contours 2006 show in San Luis Obispo during May and June. The finish in this case is friction polish and paste wax.  Sold  $300
Evil Eye - Segmented Salad Bowl The feature ring for this 10" Cherry bowl was made as a 1 1/2 generation lamination. The diamonds were created starting with a lamination board composed of Zebrawood in the center, then symmetric bands of Maple, and then borders of Lacewood. I cut this board into 1 1/2" strips, flipped every other piece over, and glued it all together to form the typical 1st generation zigzag pattern. Then I split the whole thing down the middle, slid one half by one-half of a repeat, and glued it back together to form the diamonds.

Immediately above and below the feature ring are narrow bands of Maple and Ebony to set it off.

If you count every little glue joint, a lamination drives up the piece count; in this case to 325. The finish is brushed on gloss polyurethane using my super-slow turning attachment.
 Sold  $350
Segmented/Solid Object I made this combination project (part segmented, part solid block) as a present to a person who recently helped me obtain a pile of very nice wood at a very attractive price. I want him to think of me in the future. The base started as a disk cut from a solid block of Maple. I started this project by mounting the Maple disk on a screw chuck and turning the outside and chucking mechanism on the bottom. Then I added a segmented ring to the top composed of Black Walnut and Maple and turned the piece around in my standard Nova chuck to cut the inside. After I completed this, I reversed the piece again in a set of Cole jaws to remove the chucking mechanism from the bottom. The piece was finished with alternating applications of Watco Danish oil and paste wax after sanding to the 1500-grit level.  Gift  $100
Segmented Salad Bowl - Navajo border pattern This salad mixing bowl uses a Navajo blanket border for the feature ring which is composed of Ash and Black Walnut. The rest of the bowl is Cherry save the bottom. For the bottom I used Cherry, Maple, Walnut, and Ebony to form a Tumbling Blocks medallion. The piece count for this 6-3/4" x 10" piece is 192 and it took about 10 hours for construction and finishing. While I've promised this one to my wife, along with 4 small bowls to match, I'm willing to try it again.  Gift  $335
Segmented Salid Bowl - Running Snake Pattern This bowl uses a common indian design that shows a black snake coiling around a red line. The red line is Redheart and the dark snake is Rosewood while the remainder is Maple. I carried the red and black theme into the bottom of this bowl forming a bulls eye pattern. The piece count for this 6-3/4" x 10-1/4" piece is 169 and it took about 10 hours for construction and finishing.  Sold  $300
Segmented Bowl I started out making a modified form of the earlier Delft bowls but managed to design it with a Glue-Up tolerance of only 1/16". That's what I usually achieve but making it a requirement and basing all the cutting on that assumption led to a problem in the feature ring. I discovered that my roundoff compensation wasn't quite large enough so a couple of the sub-rings couldn't be used. My 1/8" Glue-Up tolerance was masking the problem. The next release of the program gives more compensation and the bowl came out a little different. In making it different, I got the opportunity to try out some new pre-glued, iron on Walnut veneer. For the finish I've gone back to Polyurethane varnish. The piece is very new, so the Cherry hasn't even started to darken. In 6 months the contrast between the Maple and the Cherry will be quite pronounced. The piece count for this 4-1/2" x 10-3/4" piece is 205 and it took about 10 hours for construction and finishing.  Gift  $250
Segmented Weed Pot Sometimes I like to get playful with a project and here is an example. The shape is the basic weed pot. Don't ask me where the name came from. I used Cherry for the base wood and inserted two swirls of Maple. In the center of each of the Maple segments, I drilled a hole. Then, as I assembled the bowl, I used a coping saw to cut out the path between the drilled holes. When all was done, I used a rotary rasp, then a file, and finally sand paper to sculpture and smooth out the swirl. For the finish I went to Watco Danish Oil Finish and Carnauba wax in alternating applications using wet-or-dry sand paper with each oil application. The piece is still new, so the Cherry hasn't done much darkening. The piece count for this 7"x10" hollowform piece is 253 and it took about 12 hours for construction and finishing.  Sold  $300
Waves - Segmented Salad Bowl The basic shape of this bowl was borrowed from my Indian Motif project. But I wanted to try something with some scroll saw work. I searched through all my clipart files and came up with a simple wave. But the Segmented Project Planner did not allow me to show what it would look like. So, the program got a new capability which allows one to paint any segment with virtually any graphic. If you could figure out a way to put your favorite photo on the side of a project, the program would show you what it would look like. The base wood for this project is Cherry while the waves and sky are alternating pieces of Walnut and Lacewood. Framing the waves and sky are Maple, Narra, and Paduak. I used outdoor polyurethane varnish for the first three coats of finish to help preserve the paduak's color. The piece count for this 10"x6" bowl is 193 and it took about 10 hours for construction, including the scroll saw work, and finishing.  Sold  $350
not a segmented project No, you're eyes do not deceive you. This is not a segmented piece. This started as a block of Redwood burl my son gave me for Christmas 2 years ago. It had a large open area and I wasn't ready, at the time, to tackle it. Well, now I finally have. With a gap of ~25% of a rotation, you would have thought the chisel would be bouncing all over the place. But it really wasn't all that bad. Sanding, however, was another story. I ended up wrapping sand paper around pieces of dowel. The finish is Watco Danish Oil Finish and Carnauba wax in alternating applications.    N/A
Delft II - Large Segmented Bowl I liked the feature ring in the previous bowl but thought it could be improved on. I spent a few minutes in the Segmented Project Planner to add another layer below the feature ring and reworked the feature ring pattern to make it simpler. But, to get what I wanted, the project went to 18 sides. Use a little math and you'll see I immediately broke my new vow and created yet another 72 segment ring. The base wood is again Cherry but I changed the light wood in the feature ring to Ash and oriented its grain to get more character. The piece count for this 13" piece is 307 and it took about 11 hours for construction and finishing.  Destroyed 10/9/17  $350
Delft I - Large Segmented Bowl I switched to Cherry as the base wood for this bowl whose design is loosely borrowed from a china serving bowl I saw in a catalog. The feature ring is composed of Maple and Black Walnut and the center band of this ring ended up being a ring of 72 segments. I vowed never again to cut so many pieces for just one ring. The project was designed entirely within the Segmented Project Planner, using Sketch-A-Bowl to get the shape and AutoBowl to set the wall thickness. The total piece count for this 13" bowl is 193 and it took about 9 hours for construction and finishing. One of my wife's quilting pals has decided that this one is "hers".  Sold  $275
Mountains - Segmented Salad Bowl Here is a new project designed entirely within the Segmented Project Planner. I used the Sketch-A-Bowl function to get the shape and then used AutoBowl to set the wall thickness. For adornment, I created a mountain-like pattern as a Segment Design and applied it to all segments of one layer. This pattern consists of Yellow Heart for the sky, Lacewood for the mountain bases, and Purple Heart outlining the tops of the mountains. Above and below this layer I sub-divided a layer into bands of Maple, Cherry, and Ebony which were glued up as a sandwich. The rest of the bowl is Maple. The total as built piece count is 193 for this 10" bowl and it took about 11.5 hours for construction and finishing.  Sold  $300
early segmented project Designed entirely within the Segmented Project Planner, this project started with the Sketch-A-Bowl function to set the initial shape. Then I used AutoBowl to set the wall thickness. Finally, I created an indian style pattern for the ring near the top which is composed of Mahogany, Black Walnut, and Maple. The rest of the bowl, except for the Cherry layer, is Maple. The total piece count was 157.

This piece was sold for $500 at the Hospice of San Luis Obispo County auction on 9/27/2003.
 Auctioned  $500
Segmented Lamp I had a 12" white globe from an old "touch" lamp that had long since lost its "touch". I resurrected it by constructing a 12" globe to match it for a new lamp. This was my second project using the "Segment Designs" capability of the Segmented Project Planner. The band in the middle is composed of Mahogany, Yellow Heart, and Maple. The checkerboard band just above and below it is a combination of Red Birch and Maple. The segmented globe is composed of 250 pieces and the completed lamp stands 25" tall.  Destroyed 10/9/17  $375
Segmented Pen/Pencil Holder This is my first project using the "Segment Designs" capability of the Segmented Project Planner. The band is a simple slash of Yellow Heart on a field of Purple Heart. Then a thin band of Yellow Heart is added to the top and bottom of the band. This project caused me to redesign my miter sled so that I could quickly and cheaply accommodate the multiple miter angles. 121 pieces make up this piece.  Destroyed 10/9/17  $150
Segmented Spitoon I tried a simple, but unusual, shape for this project which is intended as a vase. It looks sort of like an old spittoon. The primary material is Maple with Black Walnut making up the two swirls as well as the two bands at the top and bottom. It measures 9" x 7" and is composed of 133 pieces.  Destroyed 10/9/17  $185
Click for full-size image I bought some 1/4" thick Zebra Wood and tried to come up with something that would show off its grain. The top ring of these bowls is a complex ring. The base of this ring has the Zebra Wood oriented to show its grain to the side and is backed with some Maple to give it stability for gluing and flattening. The interior Maple was removed during the turning so the grain shows from both the inside and the outside. The upper half of the ring has the grain oriented to show from above. The rest of the material is Maple. Each bowl is made up of 72 pieces and they measure 6" x 3".  Sold  $100
Click for full-size image Here's proof you can make use of those rings you made in error! I had several assorted Maple rings laying about taking up space. I cut a couple more rings and made bases to end up with a set of three nested bowls. My mom got these last Christmas.  Gift  N/A
Click for full-size image Here's a tall bowl, 9-1/2", featuring complex curves. The base wood is Red Birch. Near the top is a sandwich of two pieces of Bolivian Rosewood and one of Yellow Heart. Just below the middle is a checkerboard ring of Yellow Heart and Purple Heart banded above and below with Walnut. The piece count is 234.  Destroyed 10/9/17  $195
Click for full-size image This simple cookie jar is my first project designed entirely within the Segmented Project Planner. No sketch of any kind was made prior to going to the computer. This project also caused me to add segment coloring to the program's capabilities. The base wood is Maple with the "C" on the front and back made from Walnut segments. It measures 7" x 9" and is made up of 234 pieces. Destroyed 10/9/17 $210 
Click for full-size image These hemispheric salad bowls are fashioned from Black Walnut with thin rings of Maple added for contrast.  Gift  N/A
Click for full-size image These straight-lined creations come from well aged hard Maple flooring material with thin rings and divisions from Black Walnut. The maple came from a friend who had the pieces in her attic for several years. What a surprise when the wood came back to her in this form!  Gift  N/A
Click for full-size image Maple, Alder, Red Oak, Cherry, and Black Walnut adorn this piece. Stacking the layers in an offset fashion gives the dramatic illusion of spirals. Shaping the cross-section as a quarter circle heightens the effect.  Sold $145 
Click for full-size image Who says all turnings have to be bowls? This plate is Maple with inlaid Black Walnut diamonds. This 11" project is composed of 31 pieces. While the picture looks pretty good, I think it looks best when piled high with chocolate chip cookies. Do you think the nut people would be interested?  Sold  $75

I used the Segmented Project Planner on most of these projects to get from ideas to the lathe faster, with a better set of plans and measurements, and fewer errors. Take a look and see what you think.


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Page Last Updated: 10/27/2024

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