Handmade Gifts for friends and your home

T-078 - Long Hackberry Spurtle

16½″ x 1″     Hackberry and Cherry                   $46.  
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine 

This spurtle is long enough for a porridge kettle in the busiest diner. The next step would be a porridge stick you can lean on the wall; if you’d like one just let us know. 

Hackberry is strong and is light enough for a child to use at home. The cherry inlay on the handle does nothing for its stirring ability but may encourage the owner(s) to keep it for generations. 
 

Cost each: $46.00
One of a kind

T-071 - Bluetooth Speaker

5″ x  2¾″     Cherry burl                   $118. 
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine

What?? That’s a bluetooth speaker?

Yup. This is 1) a sweet-sounding unit and 2) Temple has turned it into a gorgeous piece of craftsmanship, perfectly fitted and finished in cherry burl.

The speaker itself comes from Rockler. Its site has over 300 reviews, about 90% of them four or five star. Google “Rockler bluetooth speaker reviews” or copy this: 
https://www.rockler.com/rockler-stereo-wireless-speaker-kit-with-2-speakers-and-playback-volume-controls

About 10% of the reviews are negative with two complaints: difficulty wiring the kit and volume of the on-off notice is too loud for the reviewer. (Mark didn’t notice this.) Temple has tested the assembly so it is totally enclosed and ready to go.

Comes with instructions and charging cord. When this one sells Temple can make another on fairly short order, though this is an exceptional piece of wood. Each piece is one is one-of-a-kind.

Cost each: $118.00
One of a kind

T-076 - Cherry Maple Spurtle

13½″ x 1¼″     Cherry and Sugar Maple                   $45.   
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine  
 
There is text about spurtles throughout this site so we’ll skip it here. It’s not likely that you’ll find a spurtle with a handle like this anywhere else, and you won’t find another one here that is exactly like this.  
 

Cost each: $45.00
One of a kind

T-080 - Tea Candle

6″ x  2½″             Spalted Cherry                   $44.    
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine   

Burns about four hours. You can see over it at the dinner table. Lovely piece of cherry. Comes with two candles. 
 

Cost each: $44.00
One of a kind

T-069 - Burl Bowl

7″ x  9″     
Cherry burl                   $132.
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine

All burls are fascinating, the grain, the “deformities,” these signs of a tree dealing with stress that we can appreciate – more than that, we pleasure in the beautiful evidence of life “dealing with it.”
 

Cost each: $132.00
One of a kind

T-054 - Spalted Birch Dish

8½″ x 1¾″                      $90.
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine

Spalting is beautiful but it can weaken the wood if cut too thinly. Temple kept this dish strong for use or display. It is finished with food-safe walnut oil.

Cost each: $90.00
One of a kind

T-039 - Spalted Beech Bowl

6½″ x 1¾″                             $60.
Peter Keniston, Turner Maine

Another rescued from the firewood pile. Ideal for candy or pistachios!

Cost each: $60.00
One of a kind

T-072 - Egg Cup

4″ x 3″           Cherry                                    $39 each.
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine  

Breakfast eggs for two; maybe one likes to eat out of the shell and the other uses the large end as a bowl. Coffee or tea, a piece of good bread, quietly enjoying the moment or talking about the coming day. Then, one day years from now, looking at the delicate handwork in these cups, trying to remember where they came from, and thinking about those days long ago.

Cost each: $39.00
One of a kind

T-044 - Spalted White Birch Bowl 1

8½″ x 3½″                             $120.
Peter Keniston, Turner Maine

This bowl and T-045 came from the same piece of wood that was split down the middle. Sold separately, but this and T-045 would make a handsome pair to display. Tung Oil satin finish.

Cost each: $120.00
One of a kind

T-045 - Spalted White Birch Bowl 2

8½″ x 3½″                             $120.
Peter Keniston, Turner Maine

This bowl and T-044 came from the same piece of wood that was split down the middle. Sold separately, but this and T-044 would make a handsome pair to display. Tung Oil satin finish. If used for food, we recommend dry only.

Cost each: $120.00
One of a kind

T-021 - Serving Bowl

Cherry and sugar maple. 
7¾″ x 2½″                   $70.
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine 

Show off cheese, dips, stir-fry or layers of crepes. The rim is one of the hard maples – also called rock or sugar maple, depending on where you live.

Cost each: $70.00
One of a kind

T-102 - Gosh James ! Rolling Pin - SOLD

23½” x 1½”  Tulip Poplar                      $62
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine
 
If it’s dough Jim Heckman has rolled and baked it. He received one of our long rolling pins recently and writes:
 
“The length is perfect. The tapered ends allow you to apply different pressure on each side. It feels natural, like an extension of your own hands….  You feel the dough in your hands as you roll – unlike the rolling pins with handles on bearings and a center rod. I truly love it. It will be my go-to pin for as long as I bake."
 

Cost each: $62.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-101 - Multi-wood Lidded Bowl - SOLD

7¼″ x 3½″                                      $86.   
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine  

On the table or on a shelf this bowl will feel perfect for side dishes or condiments, assorted pocket things, jewelry, or malt balls. The woods are listed on the underside of the lid: cherry, sycamore, and American walnut for the bowl, tulip poplar and cherry for the lid. 

Hackberry is strong and is light enough for a child to use at home. The cherry inlay on the handle does nothing for its stirring ability but may encourage the owner(s) to keep it for generations. 
 

Cost each: $86.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-100 - Walnut Lidded Bowl - SOLD

3” x 3½”                         $46.
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine 
  
This little charmer is about the size of a teacup. It’s made to live on the counter or table with butter that will stay spreadable, sugar by the spoon, salt by the pinch – or what do you think? She’s a small gift that will keep giving for a long time.

Cost each: $46.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-083 - Hors d'oeuvre dish - SOLD

9″ x 1″   White poplar                $90
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

Space for your choice of sweet or savory finger snacks arranged around a burst of color. Then, waiting for your next happy guests, the dish is a pleasant decoration propped up on a shelf. Finished with hard lacquer for easy cleaning with a sponge.

Cost each: $80.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-077 - Yarn Bowl - SOLD

7″ x  2¾″                  Cherry                   $105.   
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine  

Now this is a pretty, non-electric, 100% hand made knitting machine for the coziness of your living room. And, empty and adorning a shelf, it may even dumbfound some of your non-knitter visitors. 
 

Cost each: $105.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-082 - Cherry and Maple Dry Vase - SOLD

7″ x  2″                  Cherry and maple                  $28.   
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine  
 

This vase is similar to T-073, which was sold. Here’s a comment from a customer that we quoted with # 073: 
“Before visiting my mother in her assisted living apartment I walk the edges of the parking lot and the runoff pond for bits of green and twigs for her dry vase. She changes the display every morning and admires it for the rest of the day. Her neighbor says, ‘She won’t tell me where I can get one.’ My mother can be a bit mouthy so I don’t butt in, but if she ever does share the secret please have a selection on hand.”
  These “dry” vases may be used for twigs or other interesting dry arrangements or for greens that may have to be changed every day. They will hold a small amount of water if you like.

Cost each: $28.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-081 - Deep Cherry Burl - SOLD

7″ x  4″             Deep Cherry Burl                   $132.    
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine   

All burls are fascinating– the grain, the “deformities,” these signs of a tree dealing with stress. More than that, we pleasure in the beautiful evidence of life “dealing with it.”  


This one even can have a life beyond beauty – perhaps large cookies or where to find your eyeglasses, so you can join the tree in dealing with stress.

Cost each: $132.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-079 - Kobutsu Mirror - SOLD

5¾″ x  ¾″                  Spalted Birch                   $80.   
Kobutsu, Brooksville Maine  

What to say? A lovely little mirror of exceptional spalted birch, elegantly finished with a particularly time-consuming method.

Cost each: $80.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-074 - Cake Knife - SOLD

14″ x  ¾″     Rock maple, teak                   $60. 
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

This maple has it all; it’s spalted, with tiny worm holes (no problem), and fiddleback grain. Handle is teak, Blade is 9½″ long. The edge is sharp enough for cutting cake and safe for a child. If needed (not likely) it can be touched up with sandpaper. Best washed with a sponge and dried. A rub with walnut or boiled linseed oil or “butcher block oil” will keep it bright. For a birthday? Wedding? Mother’s Day? Yourself? 

Cost each: $60.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-073 - Cherry and Maple Dry Vase - SOLD

7″ x 2″                                      $28.     
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine 

A customer said, “Before visiting my mother in her assisted living apartment I walk the edges of the parking lot and the runoff pond for bits of green and twigs for her dry vase. She changes the display every morning and admires it for the rest of the day. Her neighbor says, ‘She won’t tell me where I can get one.’ My mother can be a bit mouthy so I don’t butt in, but if she ever does share the secret please have a selection on hand.”
 

Cost each: $28.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-070 - Calabash Bowl - SOLD

9″ x  4″     White ash                   $90.
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine

The original calabash bowls were painstakingly made from the fruit gourd of the calabash tree found in the Pacific, Caribbean, Indian Ocean islands, and in Africa. In Hawaii they were reserved for royalty until the late 1800s.  

Modern calabash bowls are turned with the same round bottoms and sides. Done well they will rock a bit on a hard surface but not tip. Traditionally they would nest nicely on the ground.

This one is turned from a large fallen white ash in Castine, Maine, a good size for salad for two or three, or some other serving. Finished with walnut oil.
 

Cost each: $90.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-068 - Gnome Guard Box - SOLD

See description for materials.
6″ x 2″                                               $54.
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine  

Approximately for always the Sami people of far northern Norway have kept secrets that were important but small, so they were easy to carry as the people travelled their beautiful land with their reindeer. The secrets needed to be protected the way only gnomes can protect a secret.

This is not an ancient Sami gnomegard but Temple Blackwood has crafted it for us using the wisdom of his own beard. Materials are cherry, maple, pink ivory wood, and the tip of an elderly ulv (wolf) tail, which the ulv donated to help protect the secrets. Temple, whose great great etc. grandfather was Samisk Hemmeligheter, is not saying where he got the ulvehale. For more information contact HistoryDepartment@BorealisPress.net, or the cultural desk of the Embassy of Norway, 2720 34th Street NW, Washington DC 20008, USA.

Cost each: $54.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-067 - Oakeef Bowl - SOLD

5″ x  2¾″     Cherry burl                   $118. 
Temple Blackwood, Castine Maine

What?? That’s a bluetooth speaker?

Yup. This is 1) a sweet-sounding unit and 2) Temple has turned it into a gorgeous piece of craftsmanship, perfectly fitted and finished in cherry burl.

The speaker itself comes from Rockler. Its site has over 300 reviews, about 90% of them four or five star. Google “Rockler bluetooth speaker reviews” or copy this: 
https://www.rockler.com/rockler-stereo-wireless-speaker-kit-with-2-speakers-and-playback-volume-controls

About 10% of the reviews are negative with two complaints: difficulty wiring the kit and volume of the on-off notice is too loud for the reviewer. (Mark didn’t notice this.) Temple has tested the assembly so it is totally enclosed and ready to go.

Comes with instructions and charging cord. When this one sells Temple can make another on fairly short order, though this is an exceptional piece of wood. Each piece is one is one-of-a-kind.

Cost each: $95.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-065 - Spurtle Christine - SOLD

Poplar
12″–13″ x 1″                              $19 each.
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine 
 
They are called Spurtle Christine for my friend Christine in Ayrshire Scotland who has been stirring pots of porridge since she was a child – which is not as long as the over 500 years that spurtles have been in the breakfast and soup business. 

There have been many variations on the spurtle but traditional ones are a fairly thin tapered stick, more or less embellished by the maker. (Look up the annual Golden Spurtle Prize for the best traditional porridge.) In the old days some were long two-handed jobs for big kettles on an open fire.

The handle end of Spurtle Christine has flattened parts that resist rolling off the counter. The flared working end helps clear the inside corner of the pot and the flattened can be rubbed across the bottom. The porridge tastes the same with either the flared or rounded ends so the debate may still be fresh after another century of Golden Spurtle awards.

Your order will be for one or more T-065. They all work exactly the same; it’s just more interesting for this wood turner to give them slightly different looks. Finished with walnut oil.

Cost each: $19.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-064 - Cherry French Rolling Pin - SOLD

15¾″x 1¼″                       $24. 
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine 

If you feel inclined to send us four cookies you've made using this elegant Rolling Pin we’ll send back four greeting cards. Otherwise we’ll just be happy that you put a smile on some other faces.

Cost each: $24.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-063 - Small Walnut Dry Vase - SOLD

4″ x 1¾″                              $18.     
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine 
 
My kids say I keep piles of wood that “is too good to use for anything, ever.” Not true: here is an old hunk of wood that’s moving from my place to yours.

In 1967 the late Willy and I were switch-backing down a West Virginia mountain on our way to Washington DC. We had almost reached flatland when we came on a pile of walnut logs cleared by a road crew. To Willy and me walnut was a prince of woods but in those days it was common enough in West Virginia to be used for fence posts. A short way back we passed the crew chipping such a pile. We whipped around, asked the road crew if we could take some of the logs, and then dashed to a U-Haul garage we’d seen on the west side of the mountain. Next morning we took the logs to a sawmill on Maryland’s Patuxent River, and a few years later schlepped the best pieces on our move to Maine. I think this little sweetie is the very last bit of it. That’s all: just a little piece of wood shaped, smoothed, and a hole drilled in it, waiting for some fanciful arrangement.

Cost each: $18.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-062 - Choke Cherry Dry Vase - SOLD

7″ x 2¼″                           $28.
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine  

Almost any walk beyond a city’s concrete caverns will turn up twigs, dried flowers, fluffy weeds, evergreen tips, windblown bunches of leaves, a twig full of berries, a wayward red ball for a curious flash of color (you see it?). Maybe you are, or could be, one of those who keep a box of findings for their ever-changing displays. It makes sense: these simple dry vases are carved from, what else? found wood.

Cost each: $28.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-061 - Taller Spalted Cherry Dry Vase - SOLD

8½″ x 2¼″                           $28.
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine  

Almost any walk will turn up handfuls of flora – twigs, dried flowers and weeds, evergreen tips, windblown bunches of leaves, a twig full of berries, a wayward red ball for a curious flash of color (you see it?). Some people keep a little box of findings for their ever-changing displays in these simple dry vases carved from, what else? found wood.

Cost each: $28.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-060 - Fiddleback Spurtle - SOLD

Spalted rock maple with flddleback grain.
12½″ x 1½″                                    $45.
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

I never heard of a porridge stick until I read Haldor Laxness’ Independent People. In that Nobel Prize novel from Iceland the crofter’s porridge stick was long enough to lean on the wall and a boy thought it was alive. The Scots have called it a spurtle for over six hundred years. They knew that the tapered round shape was best for stirring a pot of almost anything partly because the small end can wipe around a pot’s inside corners. Lest modern Scots forget their history (fat chance) the annual World Porridge Making Championship awards the Golden Spurtle to the year’s best maker of traditional porridge. 
 

Cost each: $45.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-055 - Small Ash Footed Bowl - SOLD

White Ash with a bit of spalting.                  
4¼″ x 2¼″                                                 $24.    
Mark Baldwin,  Surry Maine

Pass the chutney please – or guacamole, or whipped cream, or butter, or any condiment that pleases your table.
Outside of the bowl finished with heat-rubbed tung oil. Inside finished with edible walnut oil.
 
Is it interesting to know that this piece started with an ash fallen in the Penobscot Maine woods? Cut off and split a chunk, plane one side flat enough to mount on the lathe, and presto (almost) your bowl. Why not $40  Because as we speak I am warming myself with the off-cuts and shavings in the woodstove, and it warms me to imagine your hospitality.

Cost each: $24.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-053 - Long French Rolling Pin - SOLD

Fiddleback rock maple and cherry. 
23″ x 1½″                                            $70.
Mark Baldwin.  Surry, Maine

This French-style rolling pin is a hefty 23″ long, including the tapered ends which can be pressed down to thin the edge of the dough.
The rock maple came from splitting a lot of firewood to find its fiddleback grain. The ends are black cherry from Pennsylvania. Keep it out of the fireplace and great-grandchildren may treasure it. Wash gently by hand if need be. The finish is edible walnut oil, a good way to keep the grain bright. Food-safe oils like tung, boiled linseed oil, and pharmaceutical mineral oil also work, though no finishing is necessary.

Cost each: $70.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-052 - Carved Spreader Knife - SOLD

Fiddleback rock maple and mahogany. 5½″ x 1½″         $32.
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

The edge, sharp enough for anything spreadable, goes all around the blade. Finish is walnut oil, good stuff for eating and finishing. Boiled linseed oil tung oil and mineral oil are good food-safe substitutes to keep utensils bright. The blade comes from a bunch of firewood split while looking for the fiddleback grain. The mahogany is culled from the off-cuts in my son Andrew’s cabinet shop – infinitely tidier than mine.

Cost each: $32.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-051 - White Ash Spurtle - SOLD

White ash.  12½″ x 1½″                           $32.     
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

Please check T-049 for the Spurtle Story, or google it. If you serve porridge you don’t want to be without one say the Scots, who should know.

This particular ash grew in Penobscot, Maine, on a mildly boggy slope of ash, cedar, and red maple. It’s finished with edible walnut oil, a tasty addition to the kitchen: un-refined for finishing, refined for higher heat cooking, either one for wiping on wooden bowls and implements.

Cost each: $32.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-049 - Fiddleback Spurtle - SOLD

Fiddleback rock maple. 12½″ x 1½″               $45.
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

I never heard of a porridge stick until I read Independent People, which has been called “the Icelandic national novel.” In Haldor Laxness’ book the stick was long enough to lean on the wall, and a boy thought it was alive. No doubt you know that Scots were using the word “spurtell” since at least 1528. They knew that the tapered round shape was best for stirring because porridge doesn’t stick to it as it might to a spoon. Lest modern Scots forget their history (fat chance) the annual World Porridge Making Championship awards the Golden Spurtle to the year’s best maker of traditional porridge. (Duncan Hilditch was a four-time winner.)
      This spurtle came from opening up a pile of firewood searching for a few pieces of that beautiful fiddleback (or tiger) grain.

Cost each: $45.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-043 - Red Maple Dry Vase with Red Split - SOLD

2½″ x 7″                           $19
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

This red maple branch was turned green with the heart left in so it developed a split when it dried. (What to do but paint it red?) The strength is not affected. It was turned slightly asymmetrically for a bit of visual interest.

Cost each: $19.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-042 - Larger Dry Vase - SOLD

3″ x 8″                           $45.
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

This old sugar maple had a full life on its way to a new home. Hard conditions spalted her wood. Post beetles laid tiny eggs in it, which left tracks when tiny beetles chewed their way out in search of a way to make more post beetles. Maybe she donated some of her sap for maple syrup. When she finally fell some of the wood split (a hint is left at the bottom). And, for reasons only a maple can know, it expressed itself with that shimmering fiddle-back grain. I like her story and I know for a fact that she will hold other grown things – green, dried, or twiggy – that you bring into your life.

Cost each: $45.00
One of a kind

- SOLD