I'm all choked up...

A buddy at work told me he had a interesting piece of wood for me to work with. A day or two later he handed me a two foot long piece of oak that had been choked by a vine. The vine caused disfigurement to the branch that wound up making a great vase.

The wall width is a little wider than I planned but the lathe was taking a beating while turning this huge chunk of tree, so I had to leave a little more material than I had wanted. The paper thin vessel has alluded me yet again.

This is about as large as the lathe wants to go without exploding.

I do do the bamboo.

Here is an experiment with some bamboo in a lidded box.

It’s a little trickier than it looks because bamboo may look round, but it’s really not. I needed to hollow out a lip on the top and bottom to accept a glued in lid on the bottom. The top has a cap with a tennon which fits snuggly into place. The top is a little oversized to make up for the oval shaped bamboo, but I’m going to go a little smaller next time.

It’s a CA finish, but with CA being so darn hard and the out-of-roundness causing the sandpaper to rhythmically bounce off the walls, it’s not as smooth as I’d like. Next time I’ll probably try some wipe on polyurethane. Anyhow, it was a cool experiment and I’m sure I can improve on the idea.

Not finished finishing

Slowly chipping away at my wood reserve, I decided to use a little more of my Winthrop stash. If I had a pickup truck, I would have grabbed a bed load of this stuff. Being that my only mode of transport was a Volvo station wagon, I grabbed what I could. And it’s almost gone!

I tried a small bowl, taking from other lessons to avoid all the pith I could, I set to turning. An overnight soak in a DNA bath, a mere 4 days of drying and it was ready to be put back on the lathe.

So far, it’s probably the best thing to be made from the Winthrop wood, but the finish still isn’t right. I may look into some wipe-on poly or something like that. This was a coat of CA, which was then removed because it didn’t set right. Next a good sanding and a hit with spray lacquer. Still not as smooth as I’d like, so I’m going to have to pick up some more finishing goods till I find what I’m looking for.

It's all about the girth...

Really, it apparently is and I have the spam mail to prove it.

Ah, the mini lathe. It’s meant to turn small things, things only a couple inches in their diameter. When, I ask you, when is small ever enough? I need to see how big I can go with this thing. See if I can make use of the whole 8” which is listed as it’s max. Is it’s 1/2hp motor going to spin thins hunk of timber, we’ll just have to see.

I grabbed a piece of the Winthrop hickory for this. I’m slowly going through it while practicing the bowl tuning, which probably isn’t wise, but it was all I had within arms reach. I knocked the bark off it as ants had already eaten through it, leaving a layer of dirt (crap) underneath the bark. I started roughing the edges down slowly, eventually getting to a shape I thought was nice. Reversed it and started hollowing. It was a lot of material to remove with such an anemic motor, but it did it’s job.

After taking shape I gave it a baptism in DNA, not that I thought it would do too much good, but it wouldn’t fit in my soaking container. Wrapped in newspaper to dry a while. Pith at both sides of the piece will insure it to warp out of round, but we’ll just have to see how it looks after drying, sanding and finishing.

Flatsided experiment numero uno.

On the cusp of seeing the flat sided bowl being turned, I wanted to put my hat in the ring. I took a piece of the walnut that Raymond had cut square for me and I turned a small footed bowl. I thought about it for a few days, not wanting to simply turn your average small bowl. Time is short so there’s no room for mediocrity for me. My sanding of this piece may fly in the face of that statement, but I was more concerned with the shape of this than the finish. Just to see if I could create what was in my mind.

All in all I’m pretty happy with the experiment. Had the block been a little thicker I could have had the feet a little more pronounce. It's got a few tool marks, needed some more sanding. With a vacuum chuck or even my donut chuck completed I could have turned off more of the foot. Regardless, I knew the shape I wanted to try, I did it, so I'm pleased.

Hackjob...

Not having step foot in the shop for a while, I managed to get out and turn a bit of the hackberry log I had won, as mentioned previously. I actually started this a few days back and it’s sat, chucked in the lathe, for a few days before hollowing. Surprisingly aside from a little darkening there was no ill affects apparent. I turned the darkened spots off and hollowed it out.

I was able to use the hollowing tool that Raymond gave me, which works surprisingly well for such a primitive tool and such a small cutting surface.

Not much to be said about this piece as of yet. It’s still unfinished, drying in a ball of newspaper, hoping not to crack like the last one. Once dried it’ll be chucked again, rounded again, sanded, foot removed, maybe some black Gesso on the rim, I haven’t decided. Regardless, I’ll post an update when it’s ready.

‘Flat’tery will get you somewhere.

Thursday night I had attempted to figure out why our wireless router was dropping Lydia from Facebook. Needless to say, this was something that had to be solved before the world came to a screeching halt, flinging mankind into the cosmos, so I took a stab at it. With the saying 'No good deed goes unpunished' proving it's unwavering truth; I somehow killed the laptops wifi signal. Lydia makes it about 30 minutes before the hunger begins. The Facebook hunger. She needs a fix and needs is bad. Reduced to sitting in a chair, in front of an actual monitor and full keyboard and mouse, she sits.

Friday we are luckily occupied with school/work and an evening on the town, so she's able to cope with the withdrawal symptoms.

Saturday Raymond calls me. His wife is entertaining that evening which leaves him free to play in the shop. It's a rainy, nasty day but the shop is enclosed, room enough for two people, only a small amount of waltzing required if we need to move around. Lydia gives me the thumbs up so long as I take on hair washing duty, and I'm out the door.

Raymond was commissioned to turn a bowl from someone using what is called by some people 'legacy wood'. It's a piece of wood with a story behind it. This was a board of walnut that was taken from a family's land, brought to SC, then stored for 10 years or so. While not the first time I'd seen a flat edged bowl, it was the first time I had seen someone make one from scratch. When finished, it was a nice looking piece and I'm sure the customer will be more than happy with it.



Here's a note about that photo. That piece of walnut is spinning around 600 revolutions per minute. That's about 10 per second. It's got four corners. That's a corner spinning past a given point at about 40 times per second. Now, notice the dark circular outer edge of the bowl? That's not outer edge, that's actually the inner edge. What you can't see is another inch or two beyond that edge. It's moving so fast that it's basically invisible. When turning these you have to be VERY mindful of where your hands are. In a collision of your finger bones and dried wood at 600 RPM, there will be a clear winner and a clear loser.

He was also good enough to send me away with a hollowing tool he made. Recently he had made a larger one and this one would be more than enough for my mini lathe. I'm looking forward to testing it out, now I just need to come across come free time and decent weather. Wonder which will come first?

Just pith-etic

Turning this chunky hollowbowlform (my own copyrighted term) I had high hopes for it’s final stages. A bowl that’s almost a hollowform with some styling queues from some of the many wine bottle stoppers I’ve turned. The wood is an unknown type, more from the pile in my parent’s backyard but free wood is good wood, especially if it’s sat for a year or so.

Upon hollowing I soaked it overnight in DNA, then wrapped it in newspaper as I’ve done many blanks in the past. This one though, this one had something working against it, something so evil it had no defense against it; the dreaded pith. This is the centermost part of the tree according to its rings and its chock full of softer, spongy cells called parenchyma. Think of it as the center of a corncob and the same reason why those little corn cob holders never stay lodged in the cob. It’s just not a stable part of the wood and because of that; it causes a lot of ‘checking’ in the wood. Case in point.

So, what will I do with this thing? Toss it in the burn pile (if I had a burn pile, damn city ordinances), try to fill the cracks, purposely cause more cracks? I’m not really sure but I know one thing; Pith is the pits.

Lady Luck

Sunday night, Lydia was good enough to let me slip away after the kids went down till almost midnight to play at Raymond’s shop.

Lady Luck was smiling upon me at the last AAW meeting and I walked away with nice little Hackberry log from the raffle. I’ve been itching to see how the wood turns and what the grain would look like and fortunately Raymond invited me over and we were able to knock out two natural edge bowls.

The hackberry turned smooth as butter, the grain lines are a creamy caramel against a milky white wood. It turned ribbons like a green wood should, and while he finished his bowl much quicker than myself, I still consider it a darn good outcome and after some drying, sanding and polishing, it’ll make a very nice piece. I’ll update the blog when it’s finished.

Winthrop Bowl...

One day while driving by Winthrop College I noticed a large, old hickory tree had cracked almost in half. I drove by it again later in the day and noticed the grounds crew had already cut it into pieces. Knowing it wouldn't be long until the tree was hauled off, I spoke to the person in charge of the grounds and was told I could take all I could haul away.

Apparently it's core had been chewed away by these HUGE black ants. I mean, these things were science fiction movie prop big. I grabbed a few that weren't still covered in them, tossed them into the back of the car. I came back later for a few more. They're like potato chips...

It's been in my shed for over 6 months or so and I decided to hack into a smaller log. The pic on left is the piece with the bark stripped off and the right is after I've rounded it. I've really no idea how I'm going to shape or finish it, but right now it's soaking in DNA. It should be fully dry in two weeks or so, check back for an update on this piece.

Pens and Poets

Tonight was the local chapter of the American Association of Woodtuners meeting in Charlotte. Meeting in a secluded metal building with nothing but the sounds of airplanes flying over head on approach to the local airport, we collectively froze our buns off. The building, while not immense, is large enough that heating would be far too costly and the cement slab floor conveys the cold with stunning efficiency.

The meeting was a focus on spherical turnings. An interesting demo followed by all the attendees who brought an item sharing a little info about it. I brought a few of my roughly turned lidded boxes, a pen, and a few bowls. All in all, it was a good time.

Raymond and I stopped by The Grape Vine in Baxter on the way south and I had a few of my new favorite beer 'The Poet'. While from a bottle, a very good stout made by the New Holland Brewing Company. A mildly dark stout with enough solidity in the head to leave a ring on the glass indicating each swallow. It's not often a man finds a beer that he'll actively seek out in the future, so I consider this a good outing.

While we were there I ran into a friend from high school, Kevin Lavender, who I haven't seen in more than 15 years. Time, it waits for no man. So many years passed, so much living under our belts but a little conversation and we're right back in High School.

This was not a bad day. Lydia was vested as the single parent tonight, but she managed to make it through and I'll be repaying the favor tomorrow night. Wonder what I'll be posting about then...

As the worm turns...

This is a bowl I finished recently. It's made from an unknown wood from my parent's house. At the rear of the property there's a natural gas Right of Way and it's wood was stacked and set aside rather than being carted off. So, like any other wood hog would do, I grabbed a few logs and stashed them safely in my shop.

As I was turning this hunk, I noticed a small rotted area which I thought might lend a little character to the piece. I turned some more wood away, exposing the hole, then suddenly was shot in the face by an invisible squirt gun. I stopped the piece to get a look and then I was reminded of a joke:

Q. What's worse than finding a worm in your apple?
A. Finding half a worm in your apple.

You guessed it. Apparently a juicy grub worm had taken up residence in my piece of timber and I had shaven his hind end off. At 1,200 revolutions per minute his innards became outards. With hook tool in hand I removed the rest of him and finished roughing the piece. An overnight soak in DNA, left to dry for a week, and then finished.

Not as smooth as I would have liked and there are some tool marks, but it was a learning experience of drying the wood as well as going one step thinner on the walls of the bowl. It'll be good enough to put my loose change in at least.

Bringing out the dead – Cleaning out email.

Today I decided to clean out some of my old Gmail emails. It’s a great free software but with gobs of space, you tend to hold on to a lot of junk. In my case, a little over 4,000 emails. I started at the oldest and kept a few, tossed the rest. I cam across some that made me think.

1: Simply how time flies. I found some as old as May of 2006 that were in regards to woodturning. I got the lathe for Christmas, so that it must have been Christmas of 05, meaning the beginning of 06. Three years later, here I am. I’ve moved forward, but three years worth? Probably not. I think it’s time to step up the progress. Unfortunately a lot of that is dictated by money and time and both those are seemingly always in short supply.

2: You don’t have forever. A handful of the emails were from a very talented artist who passed away a year ago. He was either loved or hated, there was no real middle ground with this guy. He had a gruff personality, we got along as often as not, but we mostly remained on speaking terms. He really pissed me off last time we spoke on the phone and then I had not heard much about him until I learned he died suddenly. Time for reconciliation had passed me by. Whether it be relationships or personal goals, you best get going. If you’re not moving forward then you’re doing nothing. There will be plenty of time for that when we’re gone.

Ivy been infected...

Here's a closed box I made a month or so ago.

I was helping a group clean a wooded area for the Children's Attention Home here in town. While moving some wood around I came across a spalted piece of mystery wood, it's bark had long fallen off, just an unremarkable log of unknown species.

After hacking it into a piece that would fit in the wagon, it sat in my shop until I felt it was fully dry.

Certainly after such a noble effort as cleaning out their woods, good luck would befall on me, right? Well, apparently this wood had either been covered with the same poison oak/ivy we were stripping off the other trees or the spalt was just too much for me because my top lip and right hand both broke out in a rash. To add insult to injury, one toe on my right foot even fell victim to the outbreak. If I weren't wearing a double canister respirator, I'd hate to think how my breathing would have been the next day.

Homemade sharpening jig..... just not my home.

I was at my buddy and fellow turner, Raymond Overman's, house and he was good enough to save me some bread and made me a sharpening jig. It may not be shiny painted metal, but the it's going to do what it needs to do.... and that'll more than do!

Natural Edge Sweetgum Bowl

Two years ago or so, my dad cut down a Sweetgum tree in his back yard. If you have to ask why, then you've never had a Sweetgum in your yard. Aside from a Magnolia, they're probably the most worthless, unbeneficial trees you can have. Nothing like having 10,000 spikey grenades in your yard, waiting to either pierce your bare foot or cause you to sprain your ankle.

I've only turned two or three bowls, but I'm pretty impressed with the way this one came out. Much like the pens, I've never been content to just turn a plain ol' pen and I can already tell that with bowls it'll be the same way. The shape, texture, grain, etc will have to be something very nice or I'm not going to waste my time with it.

Sweetgum trees; This is the only positive thing I've seen come out of one:

Day one.... anyone here?

Well, I decided to start a blog. I was reading another blog by a turner who has perfected the art of drying roughed out bowls in DNA, shortening the drying time to two weeks. Not only that, but he has also kept the wood from checking. Now, this may not be a particularly interesting thing to 99% of the people who read blogs, but that the rest of us may find this somewhat interesting. We'll just have to see how this goes.

This blog will be a way for me to keep record of certain things. Social things, things I need to remember, journaling certain projects, etc.

I'm sure there's some stamp collector out there with a blog people follow. If he can do it, dang it I can too. LETS GO!