Best grain orientation on curly maple?

[Ken Kimbrell]

Getting ready to turn a salt and pepper set using this Rockler set.
The blanks need to be 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 2 1/2 and my available curly maple blank is 3x3x12, so to save as much of the existing blank as possible I'm thinking of cutting my small blanks off one end. That would mean that instead of the grain being parallel to the ways it would be crossways.

So my question is how would the 'curly' look be affected, would it be lost with the wood in this orientation?

Thanks... Ken.

 

[john lucas]

I'm guessing that the curl runs horizontally across the blank you have. It would simply change the direction of the curl to vertical on you salt and pepper shakers. As long as the grain runs the same direction in both I think it would look pretty good.

 

[hockenbery]

Ken,
I agree with john the curl runs perpendicular to the grain.

Normally a pepper mill is turned Endgrain to centers and face and side grain displayed.
This allows crisp spindles details and hides the endgrain in the top and bottom.
The curl is displayed all around except maybe a little area of the side grain.

The simple lines of the rocker should pose no problem in turning side grain to centers.

Mounting side grain to centers the face grain sides are going to show curl and endgrain which won't have any curl and is the least pleasing view of the wood.
Endgrain will often get a dull look and it will be on two faces of your S&P set.

Try some scrap wood. An old 4x4, corner from a bowl blank, etc.
turn one one way, one the other between centers. You don't have to drill it or anything. Just turn and sand the outside shape. Maybe dab in some finish. This will five you a good idea of how the turning is different and how the endgrain might look.

Remember when mounted side grain to centers you should use a bowl gouge to rough and do so cutting parallel to the ways of the lathe.
Have fun.

 

[Ken Kimbrell]

Thanks John and hockenbery for the excellent info.

One point that stands out is "endgrain which won't have any curl" ... that had not yet occurred to me. I think that will be the strongest reason to use the wood in the endgrain to centers orientation.

 

[hockenbery]

Thanks John and hockenbery for the excellent info.

One point that stands out is "endgrain which won't have any curl" ... that had not yet occurred to me. I think that will be the strongest reason to use the wood in the endgrain to centers orientation.

Do you turn pens? Lots of pen blanks around the pepper mill blanks, if you plan for it.
If you don't turn pens give them to someone who does.

Al

 

[Ken Kimbrell]

No pens at this point, I'm still trying to learn how to correctly sharpen my tools and so I'm sticking to small bowls, ornaments and boxes, as my sharpening skills improve maybe other forms, like pens, will happen.
It will soon be time to start turning some Christmas ornaments, so the left over curly maple might make good finials.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Figure in maple looks best on platters and very shallow bowls. It doesn't seem to be quite as showy when doing spindle turning (with normal grain orientation for spindles). Like Al said, turning them cross grain is going to result in a lot of end grain showing ... that may not be a good look. If it were me deciding between maximum utilization of wood while ignoring its inherent beauty versus best presentation of figure to make a stunningly beautiful matched set of salt and pepper shakers, I would definitely go with .......




........ Maximum utilization of wood because I am going to paint them with some leftover exterior latex house paint anyway. But, if you are the type who likes to see the beauty of wood, you might consider the second option.

Seriously, I would consider cutting the blanks on a slight slant from lengthwise ... maybe about 20 degrees. I have a hunch that doing that might help to show off the figure, but that is just my speculation. I haven't been completely satisfied with figured maple peppermills made along the grain direction. One hint that I would like to offer is to keep the design very simple when using highly figured wood. Otherwise, you will have the figure and the design fighting for attention ... The result will be just an ugly brawl.