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Bush Custom Woodworks

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United States
Fargo, ND
Bush Custom Woodworks

My name is Chuck and I like to turn wood into beautiful and functional objects. Thanks for visiting!

I will be using this page to share my projects and to interact with anyone looking to have me make something for them.

03/15/2025

Made from Padauk, a brass flare nut and an old masonry drill bit. Sanded to 600 grit, polished out by wet sanding with 600 grit and walnut oil. Finished with friction polish and beeswax. I have made many awls this one is by far the nicest and my favorite.

02/17/2025

Charles and Co. plough plane with a complete set of I. Sorby irons. Manufactured in London around 1850 or 1860. This plane came from the same person I bought the mortise chisels from last summer. As you can see it is in beautiful condition and only required a light cleaning and wax. The irons are a complete set numbered 1 through 7 and have likely been with the plane since it was originally purchased 170ish years ago. I removed the rust from the irons and sharpened each one before coating them with light oil. This plane was used to plough or make grooves in boards. A job it does very well. Happy to have this in my collection.

02/09/2025

All three of the big "pigsticker" mortise chisels are rehandled with white oak. I also made a handle for a 1/8" mortise socket chisel on my lathe. The wood for this one is spalted black locust that I got from my friend and woodturning mentor Paul Hedman. Since mortise chisels take a beating with a wooden mallet I made two leather washers to help absorb the shock from the mallet. Most chisels from the days before plastic handles that were intended to be struck with a mallet had leather caps. So I am continuing on with the historical tradition. Lots more chisels in my collection need handles so this was good practice.

02/03/2025

I picked up these antique mortise chisels last summer from a guy selling his grandfather's tools. These two didn't have handles the third one has a handle but it's broken and needs to be replaced. I went with White Oak that was salvaged from old pallets since I have a lot of it and its thick enough for this project. The largest one is 1/2" thick the smaller one 5/16" both made by I & H Sorby the larger one also having the hanging sheep mark above the name. This would date them to sometime between 1822 and 1846. The third one is an Isaac Greaves 3/8" mortise chisel from about the same time frame. They both turned out well and we will see how long the oak holds up. I do have a pile of old wooden planes long past their prime I could cut up and make Beech handles out of if these don't work out.

01/05/2025

It's been a while since I posted a project. I made a dozen pens and a bunch of pepper grinders for Christmas gifts this year. With those behind me I started on this pet urn for a coworkers cat. It's made from Walnut with a Mahogany lid and corner splines. Sanded to 400 and finished with boiled linseed oil and wax. I hope Tonks the cat approves of his new home. I had fun with this project.

06/02/2024

This was fun restoration. I found this little six inch sweep brace about a year ago and picked it up even though it was missing the grip and ruated so badly it barely turned. I took the whole thing apart and cleaned all of the rust and congealed oil/grease. I reconditioned the Cocobolo top pad using my lathe and made a new spinner handle for it out of a scrap of unknown wood that matched closely enough. Once it was finished I split it roughly in half with a chisel and glued the peices in place effectively replacing the spinner handle. It turned out great and now has a permanent spot in my collection.

05/19/2024

I just finished this pen and pencil set in Bocote. Hopefully the grad they are intended for likes them. This is the Penn State Ind. Executive kit, the wood is Bocote sanded to 400 grit and polished to remove scratches. Four coats of homemade friction finish and a coat of hard finishing wax to help hold the shine.

05/05/2024

I spent some time on the wood lathe lastnight. This was my firat time making an acorn box. The top is Kentucky Coffeewood the bottom is White Ash. The lid is snap fit meaning it wont fall off when treasures are placed inside. Its sanded to 400 grit then polished with Tripoli abrasive wax. For finish it got three coats of Walnut Oil and then three coats of homemade friction polish lightly sanded between each coat with 1200 grit Micro Mesh. It turned out great, I will likely make more of these.

01/07/2024

My first Lee Valley tool. The Woodworker's Mechanical Pencil kit. I decided to go with Bocote because of the awesome grain patterns as well as it being a heavy tough wood. The kit's hardware includes decorative hexagonal nuts so it wont roll while on the workbench, and a huge 5.6 soft lead that wont snap while marking lumber making it perfect for rough layout. It even has a built it pencil sharpened cleverly hidden in the finial. This was a fun one to make.

01/01/2024

I finally made a bowl. Truth be told this is my second bowl. The first one suffered a horrific failure mostly due to me not knowing what I am doing. I obviously did things different this time and i learned from the failure. We don't just learn from our failures, we also learn from our succeses. This bowl taught me that I need a lot of practice with my bowl gouge, I also need a lot of practice with my scraper. The sides of my bowl are too thick which the afore mentioned practice will solve. The bottom of the bowl is just right, a win for any first time bowl turner many of whom succeed in turning a funnel instead of a bowl. It was fun but I still prefer spindle turning.

12/24/2023

My first time turning solid Bocote, and is it ever a pretty wood. I now understand why my buddy loves it so much. It was a joy to turn as well. This is also my firat time making the Big Ben kit. It's a cigar style pen which is my favorite type being that they are fatter and have some heft to them. Another win in my book.

12/19/2023

I spent the weekend finishing up Christmas gifts and commissioned pens. I very much enjoy building the segmented blanks. All of the cutting and gluing back together of the tiny parts is worth the hassle when you see the pattern come to life on the lathe. Everyone has been in awe when they see their pens. Such a fun time.

Address

Fargo, ND

Telephone

+17017413254

Website

facebook.com

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