Happy New Years Eve everyone. Be safe out there. Carved up this monster sweet gum on Monday. It's 23"x12"x6" and weighs 13 pounds. Spent 5 hours making it. If you look close at it you'll notice tool marks left giving it a rustic look. Margie it should be ready to go in about 2 weeks.

Merry Christmas To all. Thank you for a wonderful season. It was such a pleasure to meet so many nice people. I feel so blessed to create pieces for you and your loved ones. Please keep in touch through the winter by dropping an e-mail or through this site. Just a few more bowls to make for some folks and then a little rest, well maybe after cleaning the shop.

What wonderful day it was at Yorktown yesterday. It wasn't the sunny chilly weather( not at 6:30 am. and 26deg. out when we left the house) that made it so bliss. It wasn't the beautiful scenery being 300' from the rivva and actually getting a slight whiff of salty air that caused the day to be remembered for a lifetime. It wasn't the generous appreciative folks coming out and supporting my work by trading money for altered wood. Of whom I do appreciate and thank you very much for your comments and enthusiasm for my carving. I'll tell you what really made my day so incredibly sweet. I spent the whole time with my life(wife). It's not often we get to do many shows together and this was her first time going to Yorktown with me other then vending at The South of the James Market. I have to say if I did not even make dime and it was freezing rain with the cold wind biting my face the day spent with Roberta was pure contentment. She truly is my better of the best half if not all of it. I suppose though, my bad half does not need her to tell me I'm driving to fast or to slow.
Thanks again not just to the Yorktown folks but everyone that has acquired a piece of my work.

Here is what I have for large bowls.
I do have a Sweet Gum bowl the same size as the Magnolia, but it is in a local gallery right now.
Drop me an e-mail if you like what you see.
woodcvr@juno.com

Locust with a few worm eaten scars. $100 size 15"x15"x7"





Maple. (SOLD) size 18"x11"x6"














Magnolia.(SOLD) $120 size 20"x12"x6"

Here is what that hickory looks like on the inside. Carved up on Thursday the 4th. in about 5 hours and weighing about 8 lbs. The spoons took 2 hours apiece. I use to think that cherry was the toughest to finish, I stand corrected. The bowl has lost almost half it's weight in 7 days. There are checks that appeared on the outside end grain after the 2nd day. I think future bowls will need to be bagged so the moisture does not escape the wood cells to fast.

I just e-mailed someone about a bowl and wrote "It's been quite a hectic season this year and can't wait for Christmas. " which reminded me of many seasons in the sign business from the age of 17 - 26. It's the mad rush from November into December and can't wait for Christmas. Not even thinking how the heck your going to make money for the next 3 months. Ahh, such the life of a wood carver/ go do home repair for 3 months and pay some bills. When we first moved to Virginia 14 years ago we found it strange to have to keep one job throughout the whole year. Growing up on Martha's Vineyard you work with the tourist season then find another job for 3 or 4 months and that's pretty much what 25% of the population of the Island does. I tried unemployment once for 2 weeks when I was 21 and had to find something to do other then wait for a check to come in. That's when Guilford Furniture Restoration came into the picture. Wonderful memories of whacking apart chairs with a rubber mallet cleaning and reglueing. Scarfing broken rungs, styles and every now and then a little carving. That was then, now I'll be running around with a hammer and putty knife for a spell.

Hickory, and lots of it. 6- 8.5 foot logs. Counted 126 rings from the slab there. Hickory is tough stuff. Carved up a bowl 14x10x3 and 2 deep scoop spoons and with each stage from the roughing out to the final sanding just took longer, cause it's dense!










The sycamore was a large tree, whats left of it. This and the root ball. It was 38" across and that was about 5' up from the base. It grew fast being right on a creek . In between the wide growth rings though is some beautiful grain flecks that seem to radiate depth holding a piece at different angles. Carved up 12 spreaders on Tuesday after getting home from the mountains in the afternoon. It's re-energizing over there in that peaceful valley.

I've really been slackin..... November flew by far to quickly and I only made one new post for this site. Time fly's when your out in the shop making new stuff. It's nice to get out of the shop and get away during the height of the busy season though. The get away for the second year now was going to Craige Co. just West of Roanoke to get sycamore and spend time with a good friend Dale as well as others I met last year when I got 400 year old oak. Great music fresh from guitars, a banjo, mandalin and toss in a flute and recorder made for a very relaxing Sunday evening get together. Plenty of food and fine friends to catch up on things going on in the valley (it's not really gossip if you don't know the person). So now I'm back home refreshed and ready to make more saw dust. The rest of this week will be coffee scoops and spreaders.

Baby spoons! The top 2 are hickory then magnolia and cherry. The handle is nice and chunky for the little one to grip and the spoon is half the size of a tablespoon. These are right handed spoons I do have some lefties as well.

Building up inventory and filling orders. Everyday making sawdust, what more could a carver ask for. Maybe more time in the day would be nice. Here are the cedar bowls, salad tongs and spreaders from a 12" girth tree. An order I took some time back this summer. The couple that placed the order will be giving these pieces as gifts for family. There is still time for anyone who wants their tree made into gifts for Christmas. Just don't go crazy and cut down healthy trees please.

Well I'm on my way to celebrity status now. I was interviewed on WHAN 1430 right here in Ashland yesterday. For some reason I was quite nervous, however Roberta said I sounded fine. What a neat atmosphere being on the Market Umbrella radio show. Hope to do again and not have sweaty palms the whole time.
I received a request for a 9" long spoon about 2 weeks ago. They are magnolia. Notice the grain matches because they were cut from a thick piece like being stacked.

Well next week is the Powhattan wine festival which means wine bottle holders. The woods are pine with the bottle, magnolia and cherry. The cherry takes forever to finish sand. A lot of hand sanding because of the contours. $30 for the cherry, magnolia and $25 for pine.

Another busy week.. This time it was all spent in the shop and not with the dogs. I am so glad and grateful my loving wife is back. I was able to process cedar, cherry and the walnut from Lion Chaser Alpaca Farm. All in all 15 bowls were carved and I still have today for three more.

What a busy week it's been.

Roberta and her mother Betty went off gallivanting around WV for the week. I'm glad she's always around to take care of the dogs that are so darn demanding!!!
I finally cleaned and rearranged the shop. Spent a whole afternoon blowing fine dust off everything. Had to even clean the face mask filters 3 times compared to once a week. Carved up 2 (very nice spalting pattern) red maple salad bowls (pics will be later) as well as 2 pine platters with gloss lacquered finish.
It was a gorgeous day at the Thurs. 17th street Farmers Market. It was great to meet the new manager George. We're all looking forward to vend with you. Thank you Lanette for doing double duty for such a long time. Maybe your hair will finally grow back.
Today gotta process a small cedar tree for a client. She requested a few baguette bowls and 4 sets of salad tongs.

Wow, finally done. 30 platters were shipped out on Friday. I think the first three were o.k. after that I was hoping they would finish themselves.

That persimmon is quite the wood. It's very dense and difficult to finish sand, but when it's done wow. It always amazes me that from one piece of wood you can get such a different look by the way it's cut.

Picked up redbud,maple and walnut yesterday. The redbud came from good friends Bob and Bonnie Rike (2 dye 4 tie dye queen). You'll find Bonnie and her awesome dyed tees and trunks at the South of the James market in the Forest Hill Park every Sat. from 8-12. The tree is still standing, well actually leaning and I only have a large branch. It will be enough to make spoons and spreaders though. The walnut and maple came from another friend Todd Carey down on Charles city road (quite a hike). Todd raises alpaca. He had to cut down the walnut because it is toxic to alpaca.

It's been a productive week I think. A good variety of wood was carved as well as a variety of items. River Birch spoons, Magnolia spoons, Poplar ladle, Sweet Gum spoons, Walnut spreaders and Cypress platters. Sawdust is really starting to build up in the shop.

Well we are back from a work get away from a friends place down in N.C.. A little work on the house and a little work on carving. That's Ro and Lillie Mae taking in the sunset. It was very nice to work out of the back of the truck and check out the scenery.

Back to new wood.
Returning from the river with the dog earlier this spring. I came into Oakhill Estates from the back side on Melton Rd. which I never do, and took 2 lefts which turns you facing back. I passed right by a house with a pile of magnolia cut to 5'. Pulled in the driveway and went to the door. He told me it was cut down that day and the rest would be picked up the next morning. I came back after unloading the truck and dog then brought home 30'. The first bowl was a pleasure to carve(2nd.,3rd.,4th. ect. ect.). It's a very heavy wood, dense with a lot of water weight. The grain is creamy smooth with no transition from hard to soft texture within the growth rings. For such a wet wood it is very stable during it's cure time which is surprisingly short.

Ohh Boyyy... I'll be starting a 30 cypress oval platter project today I think. Well at least cut the wood into sections. Already having a pattern speeds things up for production. The length cuts will be close as I am restricted by a few short pieces. Each platt will be 19.35" to 19.65" by 11.25" and an 1.50" for a height. Right now the cypress is rough cut to almost 12"x1.85" cut from 16' boards(to fit in the Toyo truck).

New wood

I keep thinking I'm going to run out of wood soon and every time I do I get an e-mail or call about wood. This year has been quite busy since March. We haven't quite figured out if it was busy in a good way or not. I have, however been carving up some nice new woods. I took a large order for 25 platters in April. The first three carved from sugar pine were enjoyable but the last 24 were monotonous!. Now my math may not look right. It usually doesn't, I wound up going to deep on one(of which is hanging around here) and selling another, one beautiful evening at !st. Friday Quirk Gallery.


I finally got a hold of persimmon. It only took 2 years of asking. I found out from VA Dept. of Forestry that (Persimmon heartwood is dark brown to black, and the sapwood is cream colored to light brown or gray. The wood is very hard and has been used for spindles, shuttles, golf club heads and other items that require shock-resistance. The fruit is eaten by humans, as well as by opossums,) The base of the(20-25 year old) tree was riddled by boring insects, great protein at no extra charge.

I have carved eastern white cedar before but not this big. A very large cedar right here in the center of the universe. for those of you outside of the center that's Ashland. If anyone is interested in some intense shavings let me know(woodcvr@juno.com). I have only begun and have a trash bag full.

My sister, Amy had her 5th. 7-23-08. Finally a boy. Mom and Dad drove up from Fl. and arrived on the 18th. I was able to persuade them to stay a few days before I drove them up to Vermont. Dad threw 3 large camphor tree logs in the truck for me to play with. What an aroma! If your constantly snorting Vick's vapor rub you'll love this wood. It took 4 days for the shop to not make my eyes water. I'll get some pics if I actually carve another bowl. Also I have a bag of shavings for anyone.

Tom Lowe Woodcarver

Tom Lowe has been woodcarving for 24 years, starting with Sign Carving on Martha’s Vineyard Island.
He has a passion for creating unique one of a kind pieces. He started carving bowls upon his arrival in
Virginia. The first few bowls he made were not food safe but odd shapes, upon displaying a few items,
people starting asking if he could create food safe bowls. He then started with small peanut bowls,
and continued creating larger and different items. Some of the many different pieces he produces,
include Salad Bowls with Tongs, Salt Cellars, Cheese and Cracker Platters and Spoons, even ones
for left handed people. The woods he uses come mostly from Virginia and range from Oak, Maple,
Walnut, Cherry and Sweet Gum.
The price range for items: