showin' off some of my stuff.

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aquan8tor

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Just showing off one of my recent pieces, a piece of spalted Hickory, probably picknut but I'm not 100% on that--possibly mockernut. It was a blowdown in one of the turning club members' yards. Thanks Paul Pierce! This was at and partially below ground level; the roots were totally rotted away, which caused the wonderful green and red/purple colors. The wood was absolutely solid, and no punky spots in the bowl at all. These were turned green, and cored with the McNaughton center saver. I did use black CA glue on a couple small hairline cracks that formed as the pieces dried. I soaked them in DNA and dried them very slowly in a double layer paper bag for a few weeks, then sanded and varnished them with Antique Oil. They are all between 1/8 and 3/16" thick, with approx. 1/4"-3/8" thick bases depending on the size bowl, to balance them. The largest started out at 13.5", but moved a LOT, to about 12.75. The others are about 10" and 6" at their widest. Although quite thin, Hickory is surprisingly heavy even at this thickness, and very dry in the winter in my wood heated shop.

I'm new to photography; this was just a box and some tissue paper, and a daylight spectrum incandescent bulb. Next time I take pics I'll have to come up with better lighting. The glare spots drive me crazy!!

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Face the light away from the object you are photographing onto a white surface like a big piece of foamcore board. The reflected light should be enough to get a good pic without the glare.
 
Wow, that's something. How did you get them so thin without any cracking? I just got my lathe setup, I can't wait to turn a bowl. Taking a course uh, I didn't think about that. Wonder if there's something in my area?
 
Adkpk said:
Wow, that's something. How did you get them so thin without any cracking? I just got my lathe setup, I can't wait to turn a bowl. Taking a course uh, I didn't think about that. Wonder if there's something in my area?
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Thanks for all the comliments, folks. Well, As far as the thickness is concerned, I've turned a few pieces of hickory, and knew from before that even when turned pretty thin, its still pretty strong. Turning them thin is actually how to keep green wood from cracking as it dries. I also soak green bowls in DNA; denatured alcohol. Somebody figured out a long time ago that when you soak wet wood in alcohol, it dries quicker--the alcohol doesn't "displace" the water, it bonds to it---same way they use alcohol drops in peoples ears to dry them out when you have swimmers ear, or adding alcohol to the gas tank to get rid of water that may have gotten in there. Anyway, I then put the alcohol saturated bowl into a double layer brown paper grocery bag, and let it sit for a few weeks to a month, and then sand it. I'm pretty methodical with sanding; 80,100,120,150,180,220,320,400,600, then 2 scotchbrite synthetics. When I finish, it honestly shines without varnish. I don't have to goop the varnish on to get a shine. That's three coats on each bowl.

As for holding it on the lathe, I have a OneWay Stronghold Chuck. I use a faceplate to shape the outside of the bowl, and form a tenon, then reverse it and put it in the chuck. I reverse turn the foot on a jam chuck with tailstock support. Hickory moves too much when drying to use a vacuum chuck to turn off the tenon.
 
Coat the burl with anchorseal and practice a bit first! No offense intended! check out www.sawmillcreek.org , its a big site, there's a turning forum that is very helpful. I'm pretty much self taught, but I did read a couple books, "turning a bowl with Ernie Conover" and "Turning Bowls with Richard Raffan", I think both are Taunton Press published. Before you start anything, and not knowing what lathe you have at all, make sure it is as completely stable as possible. Putting sandbags on the stand, etc. is very helpful. Either buy or make a "wolverine" style sharpening jig, and Vari-Grind fingernail grind sharpening jig. If you join the site, you can search the threads and find info there. I just don't have a link saved for it. I bought a Oneway vari-grind fingernail grind jig, and build my own wolverine style platform. You'll use a bench grinder almost as often as the lathe itself once you start turning a lot. Bottom line, have fun, and be safe; always always always wear a faceshield. Did I mention always?? Even a mini-lathe has the ability to throw a piece at you about as hard as a majorleague fastball. Stay safe.
 
Thanks agua, I learned something already from that site. I didn't realize you get multiple bowls from one burl. I'll post a pic of the burl and you tell me what you think.
 
Thanks guys. I love the spalted stuff, but I'm super paranoid about breathing it. I'm slowly working my way through nursing school (taking a break now b/c of job not working with my schedule--hard to find another job these days with health benefits), anyway, in my microbiology lab class I learned about the fungal lung infections you can get from breathing spalted wood dust. BAADD. very bad. I have a 3M full faceshield respirator with a polycarbonate impact shield. Kindof a pita, but worth the safety factor. Gotta wear the PPE in everything you do, I suppose.
 

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