Biography: Winston Spates spent thirty years in the military as an instructor/supervisor of Dental Laboratory Technicians. He started his own Laboratory close to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (his original home) and has recently retired. Avid Bluegrass musicians, he and his wife Dorothy spend most of their summers in a motor home helping to put on benefit shows around southern Nova Scotia. A session on a wood lathe a few years ago got Winston "hooked" and now most of his spare time is spent gathering - then drying - wood burls or in his Lathe Room turning them into various unique items.
Making these beautiful bowls takes time and effort. Winston gets the tree from the woods or buys the burl from somebody, dries it for a year or so, rough turns it to the shape desired. Then he paints it with a solution from Lee Valley that slows down the drying process so it will not split (quite often it splits anyway and you lose it), dries it for a year (down to 12% moisture) then brings it into the basement of the house for six months to bring it down to 8%. Next, Winston turns it on the Lathe and sands it to a minimum 600 grit (getting ALL the scratches out to give that glassy finish takes a long time), then three coats of Danish Oil hand rubbed and finally buffes it on large buffing wheels with two different compounds.
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