A class with Christian Burchard

Christian Burchard came to Columbus to give two hands-on classes for the Central Ohio Woodturners. I was able to take the one on thin wall hollow forms (Nov. 17, 2005). We worked with green madrone burl, which turns like butter. It was really a fun day and I learned a lot about pushing the boundaries of technique. Christian is a good teacher and had much to offer us in terms of techniques and design ideas.

We used a light shining through the wall to gauge thickness. My vessel has walls that are 1/16 inch thick. That was a lot of fun!

Here are some pictures from the day.



Christian demonstrating how to shape the outside of one his madrone basket vessels.



Christian hollowing the inside of the vessel and using a light to gauge the wall thickness.



Christian and I at the end of the class.



My finished vessel.