Wednesday, July 20th, 2022
Winning Super Bowls
Woodworker turns tree stumps into beautiful bowls
By Leslie Gartrell
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
A handmade segmented bowl sits in the garage shop of Doug Barhorst in Montezuma.
MONTEZUMA - A retired woodworker is transforming the remnants of a 600-700 pound tree stump dragged out of a Grand Lake channel into beautiful, handmade bowls.
Doug Barhorst, 67, said he discovered a huge wooden stump floating in the channel near his Montezuma home on June 7. With the help of Ohio Department Natural Resource staff and a backhoe, the stump was freed from the channel and brought to dry land on June 8, Barhorst said.
"We didn't want it floating in our channel for the boats to hit," he said. "I asked them whether I could take pieces out because there's usually some neat grain ... and I thought I'd try it, see what it does."
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Doug Barhorst, 67, Montezuma, turns a bowl on a lathe in his garage shop.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Blocks of wood cut from a salvaged 600 pound stump of wood. They will become bowls.
Once the stump had dried for about two weeks, Barhorst set to work separating it into manageable segments to begin the bowl-making process. Barhorst said he anticipates he will be able to make 15 bowls in total from the salvaged wood, and he's already made six.
Although he's not sure what kind of tree the stump came from, Barhorst said the exterior of the stump was dark and the wood was dark and ashy in color throughout.
The stump was also more rigid than other woods such as cherry, which Barhorst said was likely due to the fact that stumps are typically more unyielding than other parts of the tree.
"It might be ash or oak," he said. "When you get down in the root of a tree, it's usually pretty hard. The (ODNR) guy said it probably was (a tree they) took down years ago and then just started floating in the water. But it was black all the way through. I thought maybe it'd be white in the center, but it's been in the lake a while."
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Two finished wooden bowls made from a stump.
Barhorst said this is his first time using wood he's salvaged, and he's been rather impressed with the results.
He segments wood in the approximate size of the bowl he wants to make and weighs them.
The segments are weighed, and Barhorst will microwave the pieces for 30 seconds at a time to draw out the moisture.
Once the pieces are dried, Barhorst gets to work carving out the shape on a lathe, a piece of machinery which rotates the wood.
Bowls made from one piece of wood are rather straightforward, he said, as those pieces are segmented, dried, carved out, sealed and lacquered to preserve them.
Some of the bowls Barhorst makes, including one from the salvaged stump, are made with live edges, meaning the wood still has the natural edges of the tree, commonly including the bark.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
A finished bowl made from the salvaged 600 pound stump of wood.
Other bowls he makes are more complex. Some bowls are segmented, which he said are made with banding strips of wood. The bowls feature geometric shapes in differing shades.
"You have to cut all these little angles and you got to put a diamond in the middle first, and then you start putting pieces on the outside," he said. "Then you have to cut them all on an angle to fit in there."
Barhorst said when he's making a piece, he looks for good quality wood with no voids so the piece doesn't fall apart.
After retiring earlier this year and letting his son take over the family business, Barhorst Woodworks in Fort Loramie, Barhorst said he's been happy to to keep busy with similar projects, although his wife has started to insist he give away some of his bowls rather than let them stockpile at the homestead.
"I always did art classes in school. I started woodworking because I loved woodworking, but I'm not a very good businessman," he said with a laugh. "Now my son has taken over and our business has grown triple, quadruple since he's taken over."
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Doug Barhorst has a variety of tools and supplies hanging from the wall of his garage.
