Well, the camera seems to have just left Omaha on Tuesday, 6 days after it was supposedly shipped from New York, so I'm not sure when it will get here.
Meanwhile, the camera I'm waiting for has an 18-55mm lens, so I'm thinking that will work for what you recommend. I just looked up a Nikon 1.4 extender, which Amazon says is no longer available, and is $177 if it were. This is more than I want to invest right now, so I will have to go with the light manipulation and maybe the old "hole in a black card" trick. Thanks for staying with me on this, you give me hope.

Cool, great info. I'll be getting the new camera today, and should be able to report success by tomorrow.

Thanks ever so much.

I've attached three pics, first is a typical bowl, with the light glare, the washout that I want to get rid of. Next is my setup, with the sheet of velum over the bowl, and the skylight, which is frosted, above. Last is of the setup with the tripod. I want enough light to show how the light dances in the grain of the wood, but if I do it reflects off the surface of the finish. The camera I'm using now is a borrowed Nikon coolpix 510, and the polarizing filter doesn't fit, so I taped it on to get the shot of the bowl I've attached. I'm expecting my Nikon D5100 tomorrow, and the filter will fit it. Sure appreciate your help, this has been a thorn for a couple of years now, and the beauty of my wood is the main selling point of my work. I use these on ETSY, and there is lots of competition there.

Thanks for the help, what was that spray, and where would I find it?

I'm trying to photo my wooden bowls, which are made of highly figured local woods, which is the main attraction of my pieces, so I want that figure to really come through. I use a hand-rubbed finish that leaves a deep soft glow on the surface of the wood, and when I try to photograph them the light reflection glares out at least one place in the photo. I'm using a Nikon Coolpix 510 on a tripod, a sheet of vellum to diffuse the light, low light to make as little glare as possible, and finally a circular polarizing filter, all to no avail. Are there any other tips, tricks, or devices I can try, and what settings should I be using?