August 2025 Challenge: Wooden Version of Non-Wood Item

[Michael Anderson]

Hi everyone! For this month's turning challenge, I want to do something a bit different, in a couple of senses of the word: turn something that normally wouldn't be made from wood. To be clear, your turning should be wood (or another turning material), but your inspiration shouldn't be wood. Your piece can be functional or non-functional, embellished or non-embellished, etc. This is wide open to your interpretation. Here are a few pieces to inspire (made by forum members @Bruce L Jones, @Guillaume Fontaine, and @Linda Ferber):





The most important thing about this challenge is to have FUN. No one is judging you on your realism (well, not directly), but you should try to get as close to your inspiration as possible. Here are the challenge rules, as determined by AAW Forum legal counsel Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe:

• Entries must be posted in this thread by ~11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Friday, August 29, 2025.
• Feel free to post a two photos of your piece in this thread (I will use my favorite of the two when I create the voting thread). Please don't crop your images tightly (meaning, leave a bit of room in the image so I can add your name later). You are welcome to post a third photo of your inspiration if you want.
• Your turning can be any size, embellished or natural, one piece or multiple. Include the dimensions in your entry post.
• As always, this is a turning contest, not a "moldy oldie" photo contest, so in fairness to everybody, make sure your work is something you have made since this challenge was issued on August 11, 2025.
• You may not post any photos of your entry in this month’s challenge in any other thread or in the gallery until the voting has ended and a winner has been declared.
• Voting will take place from August 30, 2025, through 11:59 pm EST on September 1, 2025.
• Solicitation of votes will result in disqualification.
• The winner might have to pass a lie detector test before collecting the grand prize: this month it is an unreliable center-finder. Good luck, have fun, make shavings, and let the chips fall where they may!!

 

[Phil Hamel]

I had a real hard time thinking up what to make on this one. while sitting in the library (bathroom)at the shop I happened to look up from my position and saw one of these hooked to the wall.
Made the container from cedar and the valve and nozzle from maple. Ink and paint for colors. Laserjet printed the labels. I even made a fire to put out!

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

This hitch parts are made from Walnut, birch, ash, hornbeam and Brazilian rosewood.
The ball is a standard 1 - 7/8" on a 2" receiver, the rosewood bolt is 1 -1/8" hex and 3/4-10 thread just like the steel original.
The only part missing is the cut washer that just didn't seem worth the trouble to make. The locking pin and it's retainer are not direct copies.
The finish is DO because you can't chrome plate or powder coat wood so I hope that doesn't disqualify me.

 

[Walker Westbrook]

This hitch parts are made from Walnut, birch, ash, hornbeam and Brazilian rosewood.
The ball is a standard 1 - 7/8" on a 2" receiver, the rosewood bolt is 1 -1/8" hex and 3/4-10 thread just like the steel original.
The only part missing is the cut washer that just didn't seem worth the trouble to make. The locking pin and it's retainer are not direct copies.
The finish is DO because you can't chrome plate or powder coat wood so I hope that doesn't disqualify me.
View attachment 78858View attachment 78859View attachment 78860

What's that thing rated for?

Nice piece!

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

What's that thing rated for?

Nice piece!

I once heard that pound for pound wood is stronger then steel so just using equal strength the wood hitch is 669 grams and the steel hitch is 3550 grams, which makes the wood 18.8% of the steel. The 1 -7/8th inch ball is rated for a 3000 LB trailer so the wood hitch would have a capacity of 565 LB.

 

[Dave Potts]

Here's a Faux Fly Fishing Reel made from Walnut, dyed and stabilized Maple, Sassafras, and African Blackwood. The indexing for the spool holes was done on the drill press, but the rest of the spool body, the spool of "fly line", the winding knob and drag button were products on my wood lathes. The only coloring was the yellow dye used on the spool's core while it got a lengthy bath in Cactus Juice. Because of the treatment, the ⅛" beading tool cut like butter when three surfaces were cut to simulate the fly line. The finish is gloss polyurethane from a rattle can.

The reel is 4" in diameter and 1.5" thick.

The irony is that I never really have the time to stand knee-high in a trout brook, yet .... There were LOTS of hours planning, building jigs, turning on the lathe, and then sanding this project. But I would do it all over again; it's been a hoot! I should give a shout out to Calgary's Kai Muenzer for the IRD he gave our club back around 2021 demonstrating the drill indexing jig as he made a faux bicycle gear stack out of wood.

 

[Wyatt Holm]

Here are some buttons turned from elk antler. They are 1/8" thick and 5/8" diameter. Very hard material, dulls tools quite quickly.

 

[Vincent Vogel]

My daughter has two daschund's so I made this for her. White oak from her yard, about 6" long and 3" tall. Used brown dye and Tried and True. I usually make functional pieces, this is kind of artsy and not what I usually do.

 

[Rick Moreton]

Danielle Barbour demonstrated making flowers with a skew at our local club the other month. These are my first attempts. The wood needs to be fresh cut and growing straight upright so the pith will be in the dead center. My nectarine tree needed a trim so it was a win/win. Stems are small branches from the same tree.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Danielle Barbour demonstrated making flowers with a skew at our local club the other month. These are my first attempts. The wood needs to be fresh cut and growing straight upright so the pith will be in the dead center. My nectarine tree needed a trim so it was a win/win. Stems are small branches from the same tree.
View attachment 79028

Those are simply amazing.

 

[David Wyke]

Danielle Barbour demonstrated making flowers with a skew at our local club the other month. These are my first attempts. The wood needs to be fresh cut and growing straight upright so the pith will be in the dead center. My nectarine tree needed a trim so it was a win/win. Stems are small branches from the same tree.
View attachment 79028

Those are very cool! Do you spray it with anything once they are dry to firm them up?

 

[Rick Moreton]

Those are very cool! Do you spray it with anything once they are dry to firm them up?

There's no finish on these, they stay relatively firm but are somewhat delicate. About the same as a thick plane shaving. Danielle does add thinned out paint to hers to color them, I haven't gotten that far yet. These dried within a couple weeks or so.