Richard Raffan turns a short log of freshly-cut Japanese maple into four bowls.

These green-turned bowls were made from a small tree that was growing two days before they were made. The bowls were dried in a microwave oven. In this video you see the bowl to the right being made. The smaller two are in their own video.

[@kevinparker4160]

“Might keep that for pens. Not that I ever made a pen or ever will.” - 😂

[@jakegevorgian]

😂 how much I feel Richard! Love his work!

[@Phil_Cleaver]

Wait until your grandson asks for a pen and you will be immediately ordering a kit on line.

[@johnwhitteron5296]

Love the tiny bowls... perfect Sake cups.

[@bradbyers7505]

Thanks for showing us your backlighting technique. Excellent as always.

[@johnnyb95678]

Great use of what would otherwise end up as firewood. As Lefty so aptly put it from the firewood rack to the keepsake collection. Thank you so much for showing all of your tips and tricks along the way. Thank you!

[@MadonnaThornton.Woodworks]

I have a lot of those “I’ll just keep that may make a pen outta it one day pieces of wood lol. They won’t be pens haha. Never turned one probably never will. Lovely bowls! ❤

[@matthewstewart3446]

Took down a neighbor’s Japanese Maple 2 years ago on their request. It was a huge beautiful tree but they really wanted it gone. It is a strange wood to turn and very prone to cracking when drying. Turned a few green bowls with success. Found you have to turn quick after felling. After about a week or more in hot weather cracks appear more often. Left the rest to dry and work with the cracks to decide where to split. Once dry they are incredibly hard but turn beautifully with a sharp tool. Unfortunately, carving is nothing short of a nightmare due to the hardness. Thanks for showcasing this interesting wood.

[@sylvesterguszregan1643]

Love your style, saw you in Anchorage in the late 80s I believe. Been turning since 88, love being creative. Thank you, was part of the Anchorage turners guild

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

I remember those very enjable workshops and visits in Anchorage and also a workshop in Kodiak on Kodiak Island.

[@sylvesterguszregan1643]

@@RichardRaffanwoodturning Do you remember Arnie Geiger and Doc. Doc wrote some nice books on Turing. He also had or made that very unique lathe from which the math blew my mind. Love your style and tools. Finally got me a Robust American Beauty lathe and my world has changed dramatically.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

@@sylvesterguszregan1643 I do remember Arnie, Bob Espen and Bill Bowers amongst others who I also met many times in Provo at the Utah Symposium. Bill is the best cook I've had the fortune to encounter.

[@jackthompson5092]

Beautiful little bowls Richard.

[@DennisSuitters]

Very nice Richard, thanks for sharing.

[@CJsWorld101]

@RichardRaffanwoodturning Hi Richard! You are one of the main people I look forward to seeing a new vid! I think you're one of best turners I've found on youtube. YOU inspired me to get my first lathe a few months ago! :) It's a JET 1221 Midi lathe and it's 1.hp, has digital speed control and reverse. All the chucks and chisels are from a company called WEN. Not the best chucks or carbide chisels but being disabled and on a fixed income, it was what I could afford at the moment. After watching many, many vids on wood turning from several people such as yourself, I just knew I had to try my hand at turning! My hope was, when I feel up to it, I'd be able to get off the couch at least long enough to make something creative that I could either keep and admire myself, or give away as gifts So far I've made a few bowls, some Christmas ornaments, a small Acorn box, some spin tops and for my mother, a vase for Valentines. I've had a couple bowls fly off the lathe. I blame that on the wood and me probably not making a proper tenon for the chuck. I've also had a couple blows blow up, exploding into pieces after a bad catch. Again, I'm sure some of that comes from the wood as what I've mostly been using is wood from a 200 year old Hackberry that came down in a storm a year ago. The wood is very spalted {beautiful wood, but unstable} as well as the carbide tips biting and of course, me being inexperienced. Anyway, I haven't found many vids on using carbide chisels and there are no turning clubs in my area. Most of the vids I've found don't really explain much or are silent [no talking]. So I was wondering if you have any tips or better yet, could you please do a few videos on turning projects from start to finish using only carbide tools? ...that is, if you have any carbides? P.S. I don't log into yoube very often, but will reply to you when I am logged in the next time. Thank you! ~ CJ

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

I don't possess any tools with replaceable carbide tips, and only a few McNaughton deep-hollowers and undercutters with Stellite edges which are just for hollowing through narrow openings and undercutting rims. Carbide doesn't hold a reallly good edge for very long so I prefer traditional scrapers that are easy to resharpen, as are the McNaughtons

[@CJsWorld101]

@@RichardRaffanwoodturning ..... Thank you for the advice! It'll be at least a year before I can afford proper lathe chisels and a sharpening system. Until then, I'm going to get diamond cards for sharpening the carbide tips. Thank you for your time answering my questions and the videos you produce. Much appreciated Richard! ~ CJ

[@alanjackson4646]

Lovely work, thanks for sharing !

[@leftymcshea6876]

From the firewood rack to the keepsake collection. You surely do lead by example Richard. 👍

[@les.6343]

Nice one looks great Richard.😊

[@MarklTucson]

It's really interesting watching the art in these videos. Kind of hard to articulate, but seeing the way you bring out a shape that is appropriate to the piece you are working with is very instructive.

[@MichaelKieweg]

The small bowl looks exquisite. Best wishes from Germany

[@johnkriplean1148]

The wood looks a lot like ambrosia maple. Love the little bowls.

[@jakegevorgian]

Beautiful ❤

[@josephpotterf9459]

Nice Richard thanks

[@garcmol1]

You must be a sharpening master. I just can't get my tool sharpening mastered to get quick clean cuts like this

[@tricolorturners]

Very handy.

[@Cancun771]

Thumbs up for the pen-turning diss.

[@MikePeaceWoodturning]

Interesting stain that grows along some of the growth rings. It reminds me a bit of some stain I see on Sweet Gum when looking at the end grain.

[@malbun3275]

Hi Richard, Great selection of bowls thanks for sharing. I was given some very wet what the person thought was Japanese Cedar the tree was felled by a huge pine tree that came down in the last cyclone. The grain is similar to Oregon hard and soft growth rings,I’ve turned two bowls with 6 mm walls,haven’t microwaved them ,and they haven’t warped at all “yet”😮really look forward to your videos Regards

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

Some woods are all but inert and barely distort no matter how the grain is aligned.

[@kenvasko2285]

Appreciate it. There are some unique brown markings in the grain. Do you have a thought on what caused them?

[@scottstubberud1137]

“Not that I’ve ever turned a pen or that I ever will!” Worth repeating!! Hilarious!! I do the same thing, it’s hard to throw any wood away even though I will probably not live long enough to turn what I have!! Lol! Doesn’t stop me from accumulating more! An indication of my age and my pack rat mentality!

[@im4dabirds]

wonderful project, lovely bowls, so ! minute in the Microwave? I have used a Crockpot as a drier,seems to work ok

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

I've never heard of that one! The main advantage with microwaving is speed. You get to know what the wood will do in just a couple of minutes, but by no means is it the only way to dry roughed-out or finished bowls.

[@morningsong7885]

Beautiful collection of little bowls ☺️ Perfection in imperfection, so to speak, love the colour and the pattern of the wood. Will you put a finish on them now that they have dried or do you expect them to dry i.e. move even further? Well done, Mr. Richard, your videos are always very insightful and even quite funny, I find, even though you may never turn a pen 😉😂

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

These bowls will get some boiled linseed oil in a ew weeks when completely dry.

[@glencrandall7051]

Very interesting coloring in these pieces. I don't think I have ever seen any wood like this before. Is Japanese Maple the same wood as the maple from the US?. I really like the warping as they dry. Thank you Richard. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂

[@OregonOldTimerWOODTURNING]

Different species, Glen. Small, ornamental trees, some with dark red leaves. I have a red-leaf one and a green-leaf one in the yard.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

As said, Glen, it's a small ornamental tree. This one was dying - the marks are early stges of rot so I got it at the right time.

[@jorisdemoel3821]

Another video in how to use wood that looks decidely unpromising to create something wonderful. Does the light method work on darker timbers too? Or is it more trouble than it's worth in those instances? Looking forward to the small bowl videos. Thanks for making the video and sharing your insight and experience once more.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

You'd need a very bright light to shine through ebony or cocobolo, but it's good for turning brown or reddish woods like elm or oak thin. As always, cut a thin slice and test. Water helps transmit the light, so this doesn't work so well with seasoned darker seasoned timbers.

[@timofeyzhukov-khovanskiy9173]

Makes me sad I didn't keep the two little maples that fell to some insects a while back. Well I did keep one little bit I made a scraper handle for. How fast do you turn them when you start roughing?

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

I think these were started at about 1600rpm but lathe speed is always govrened by the size and balance of the blank being turned.

[@davidshaper5146]

Do you ever wet-sand green wood? I do on pieces I'm not twice-turning.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

I used to wet sand and also with oil, mostly to keep the dust down, but it gets messy.

[@Brush0akie]

Just to be clear, we want the wet turned bowls to be totally dry before applying oil & wax or another finish?

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

I wait for bowls with a flat base to dry before oiling mostly so I can be sure they've finished warping. Bowls with rounded bases I'm not so worried about and am happy to oil those when 18% or so. I probaly not the best person to consult on finishes and finishing as I've rarely used anything other other than oil and wax as you see in these videos.