Handmade Gifts for friends and your home

T-109 - Mortar with Pestle

Rock maple crotch and black walnut
Mortar: 4” x 4”  Pestle: 5” x 1½”                              $59.  
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

The crotch of a tree where branches and trunk merge is a confusion of interesting grain. An effect In this piece of rock maple is a tight density of the wood.

Each end of the pestle is useful. The rounded end grinds nuts, seeds, or whatever small thing you want to into smaller pieces. The flat end easily and powerfully mashes garlic so he skin politely flakes off. The pestle is shown twice here so you can see both ends.

The maple grew in Hancock County Maine where, after fading for many years, the old tree finally came down in a fierce Nor’easter. The walnut grew in West Virginia where a constriction crew was clearing for an overpass – but hadn’t finished hauling it to a landfill. What a gift to a passing carpenter!

This kitchen implement was made with a chainsaw, axe, and hand lathe tools – no automatic lathes or cnc machine in sight.

Cost each: $59.00
One of a kind

T-113 - Two-Cherry Mushroom Pestle

Cherry 
4¼” x  2”                              $32.   
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

This charming little pestle will demonstrate its over-size power to grind (in any practical bowl) and to crush a garlic with its flat end. Besides all that, using this little baby is a captivating chore for a child.

Notice that there are two pieces of cherry glued together. The dark piece is from a log cut for WWI airplane propellers in 1915 but broke through the ice on Maine’s Green Lake when the woodcutters were towing a load to a sawmill. Scroll to T-003 on page 2 to see more about that. The lighter piece was cut and milled in the 1990s.

Why were we were astonished that the first “mushroom pestle” sold within 15 minutes of putting it on the site? It works so well.

As this note is written there is a south-southeast gale blowing; the bay is full of white froth, minnows are jumping in a calm little nook in the marsh making brilliant white flashes among the hard-driving rain drops. It’s the kind of day you’re happy to be on solid ground, at the lathe.

Cost each: $32.00
One of a kind

T-078 - Long Hackberry Spurtle

16½″ x 1″     Hackberry and Cherry                   $36.  
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: $36.00
One of a kind

T-076 - Cherry Maple Spurtle

13½″ x 1¼″     Cherry and Sugar Maple                   $36.   
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: $36.00
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-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-118 - Old Bottle, New Lid - SOLD

Blue glass and choke cherry 
4” x 6¼” including lid
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine        $32

This old Noxema jar was in the woods of a Maine farm probably abandoned during the great depression. It was half buried  in the damp red dust from rusted-away cans, a memory of the time when that’s what you did with trash that would not compost or feed a pig.

The lid is from the crotch of a choke cherry that fell not far away. Down in the log was a grown-over soft spot, still showing a rim of bark and now filled with black epoxy resin. The lid fits the jar opening but is not screwed down and simply lifts off.

Cost each: $32.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

T-106 - Mushroom Pestle - SOLD

Choke cherry
3½” x  2”                              $29.  
Mark Baldwin, Surry Maine

How sweet will this little pestle look in your kitchen? And how surprising when it demonstrates its over-size power to grind (in any practical bowl) and to crush a garlic with its flat end. Besides all that, using this little baby is a captivating chore for a child.
 
Handmade, finished with numerous coats of food-safe oil.

Cost each: $29.00
One of a kind

- SOLD

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-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-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-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-071 - Bluetooth Speaker - 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: $118.00
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