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

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

Love the tiny bowls... perfect Sake cups.

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

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

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!

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.

@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

Beautiful little bowls Richard.

The small bowl looks exquisite. Best wishes from Germany

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

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! ❤

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.

Very nice Richard, thanks for sharing.

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

Nice one looks great Richard.😊

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.

Lovely work, thanks for sharing !

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

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

Thumbs up for the pen-turning diss.

Beautiful ❤

Very handy.

Nice Richard thanks

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

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 😉😂

“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!

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.🙂🙂

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

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

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.

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

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?