‘People like imperfections’

Tim Peitz and his handmade wooden bowls have become a staple at craft and vendor shows all over eastern Iowa.

Each of Peitz’s creations are one-of-a-kind, taking on an individual look and personality from the wood and patterns he uses.

“Some people like neutral, some people like weird, some people like different, and some people like different color combinations,” Peitz said. “It’s just what they want.”

One of the things that makes the bowl unique is their imperfections.

“People like imperfections,” he said. “They like worm holes and knot holes. I used to cut them all out.

“If I do a real good job and sand them all down perfect, people don’t want them. They can buy perfect out of the store.”

He held up one of the bowls in his workshop, showing where a knot hole created a small gap in the side of the bowl.

Rather than scrapping it, Peitz said he filled the gap with colored epoxy, giving the gap a kind of stained glass look.

“You can put colors in the epoxy,” he said. “I do that for fun, and it makes it look nice.”

Peitz operates Tim’s Woodworking out of the garage at his West Point home.

He said it takes him about five hours to make a bowl.

He starts by picking out the wood from a collection of logs he keeps outside of his workshop.

“All the wood comes from Lee and Van Buren counties,” Peitz said. “I don’t have to have top quality wood. I take a piece of firewood and make a bowl out of it for you.”

He has a rotating collection that includes walnut, cherry, oak, soft maple and cedar.

“Think of what the colors look like together,” he said. “Some cedar is very pale looking, while some cedar had like a blood red to it, and it really pops.

“There’s light colored cherry and some really dark colored cherry. You look for contrasts.”

He cuts layers and pieces off the different logs to put together.

“Nothing is really junk,” he said. “Nothing is waste. It’s whatever your mind thinks of.

“I make layers to whatever looks good.”

Peitz glues the layers together under a 20-ton press.

“That holds them down so you can get them glued up,” he said. “A lot of people use small clamps, and they’ll get gaps in them.”

Once the glue has set, Peitz attaches the wood to a lathe and begins turning it, using different tools to carve out the bowl.

“I’ve got to glue up one and cut one every day to keep up with people getting them,” he said.

Peitz, who has done carpentry work in the past, began turning wood because he liked the idea of not having to be perfect.

“I wanted something that I didn’t have to worry about exact,” he said. “Exact gets you in trouble. If you want cabinets built, they have to be the exact size.

“If this happens to break right here, I’ll just cut it off and start over again.”

He enjoys creating something that is his own.

“This is mine, and there’s something to be said about that,” he said. “You want to be able to create something that’s yours.

“I think the more people create stuff, the better they feel.”

Peitz’s bowls have started making their way around the country. He recently sent bowls to Wisconsin, Florida, Kansas and Colorado.

“Sooner or later, someone’s going to call you and say, ‘I’ve got one of your bowls,’” he said. “It gets around. It makes you feel really good, because you’re making other people happy.”

He tries to keep his creations as affordable as possible so more people can enjoy them.

“If I price a bowl at $80, about anyone who wants one can get one,” he said. “If I go above $100, that might put a hardship on somebody else.”

Peitz hopes to continue to grow his business.

He is planning to build a new workshop building on his property this fall and have it up and running early next year.

He hopes to expand his online presence.

“I’ve got a Facebook page, but I haven’t developed that into an Etsy market or anything like that,” he said. “My family is working on that. I just make things.”