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What’s on your lathe?

Mtn. Ash (Rowan) miniature jars/boxes (1 1/8" tall)

I sold one for $2, which was unfortunate because the time and effort to make them wasn't $2, however, it was my best friend's 7-year-old sister. The lowest price on anything was $5, and she came to my booth with $7. She picked a miniature carved dog, I told her it was $5, and then she asked what she should get with the other two. I didn't know how to tell her that the box was worth more than $5, and she didn't understand that it was larger and more complicated than a miniature dog, so I told her I would make her a special deal. This was after she came to my booth and explained that because I turned her family a Christmas tree last year, evidently I had to make something else this year. Luckily, she knew just what her mom wanted (both of her parents are teachers at my school), and how to make it. I probably could have explained to anyone else that the price was higher, but how could I say no to a 7 year old?

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Very kind Isaac and really well done boxes! The bead on the foot and the finish is excellent! I like that you incorporated two lines in the underside of the lid as well.
 
A partially turned walnut hollow form and air at about 23 degrees F. That hollow form may not be hollow until mid March or so.
Hopefully it's warm before then. Granted Michigan weather is so variable (i grew up in Clarkston, MI), I don't miss it this time of year. Although it's been that cold here lately, and i hate it.

Gregory
 
Thought I might attempt the Jan finial challenge, so sharpened my skew and turned my first spindle since I took Woodturning 101 in 2021. Whether I can get it off the lathe is another story lol.

I think this might be wenge, but I’m far from sure. Anyone have a guess?View attachment 71092
I don't think it is Wenge, though I have turned only a few pieces, but Wenge is more dark and light and it is a splintery wood, more so when Turning, flat wood can be nice and there is less of a problem with the splinters.
This is a picture of the end-grain, it shows the different grain color.
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Hopefully it's warm before then. Granted Michigan weather is so variable (i grew up in Clarkston, MI), I don't miss it this time of year. Although it's been that cold here lately, and i hate it.

Gregory
I've always said that I'll take a Michigan winter over a Florida summer. In a Michigan winter, you can put on more clothes and be comfortable. In a Florida summer, you can only take off so much before you get arrested.
 
I've always said that I'll take a Michigan winter over a Florida summer. In a Michigan winter, you can put on more clothes and be comfortable. In a Florida summer, you can only take off so much before you get arrested.
Yeah that's why I'm in North Carolina. My first year here i hated the summer, 7 years later I'm very used to them. What is really don't miss is shoveling snow, which would be very hard in my wheelchair.

Gregory
 
I don't think it is Wenge, though I have turned only a few pieces, but Wenge is more dark and light and it is a splintery wood, more so when Turning, flat wood can be nice and there is less of a problem with the splinters.
I've worked with Wenge a fair amount and the spindle shown *might* be, but it's hard to be sure without seeing the pores on the surface. Leo is right that it can be really splintery and they can be difficult to extract. The worst part is that the splinters can cause festering and infection if left in the skin too long.
 
Yeah that's why I'm in North Carolina. My first year here i hated the summer, 7 years later I'm very used to them. What is really don't miss is shoveling snow, which would be very hard in my wheelchair.

Gregory
Ooo, yeah, a wheelchair in the snow can't be a good situation. I can see why you're not in Michigan.
 
3 Piece? What are you using to fit them together?

Bob
No, these are just one piece sticks. 36 inches long Bocote. I did buy some 3/8 stainless all thread the other day to experiment with attaching shorter lengths together but not to make them removable. Just to have a different species of wood on the top of the shaft and shorter blanks are cheaper/easier to find.
 
I've worked with Wenge a fair amount and the spindle shown *might* be, but it's hard to be sure without seeing the pores on the surface. Leo is right that it can be really splintery and they can be difficult to extract. The worst part is that the splinters can cause festering and infection if left in the skin too long.

I made a few things with Wenge way back in the dark ages (circa 1980). I get slivers just looking at a picture; as Ric says, hard to extract and prone to becoming infected. Definitely on my list of "woods to avoid like the plague"!
Cheers.
Barry W. Larson
Calgary, Alberta, Canada eh!
 
My wood supplier came through with some spectacular curly maple. It’s about 18% moisture content. So I roughed out some rolling pin blanks today. In a few weeks they will be placed in a heated enclosure at 35 to 40 degrees C for about 4 weeks or until they stop losing weight. The. They will be ready for final turning, sanding and finishing. I also plan to experiment with some dyes on a few of them. It’s soft maple so it cuts and sands very easily. Planning on returning to my supplier this week to get some more.
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No, these are just one piece sticks. 36 inches long Bocote. I did buy some 3/8 stainless all thread the other day to experiment with attaching shorter lengths together but not to make them removable. Just to have a different species of wood on the top of the shaft and shorter blanks are cheaper/easier to find.

I will be curious about the method you are going to use to connect them and I would love to see the final product. I have been thinking about doing one for myself.

Thanks Bob
 
I think this might be wenge, but I’m far from sure. Anyone have a guess?
Sweet! Looks a little bit more like Macassar Ebony to me, but hard to tell.

Jaramiah, if my demo tomorrow is subpar, it’s because I’m trying to finish my piece for the POP box exhibit call. Ha! Half-joking… Here is a little Nutmeg nut sphere that will serve as a surprise underneath the lid. Nutmeg, like most other nuts is sort of hollow in the middle. I drilled a clean 1/8” hole and used CA glue to attach a dowel to the nut, as well as to the waste piece of wood. Coated the Nutmeg in several coats of thin CA to counteract its softness. The “grain” is really interesting, and the color post-CA is gold with light brown and bronze swirlies.

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I've always said that I'll take a Michigan winter over a Florida summer. In a Michigan winter, you can put on more clothes and be comfortable. In a Florida summer, you can only take off so much before you get arrested.
I'll take my Arizona broiler over your Florida steam cooker. Dry roasted brisket turn out better than steamed hamburgers. I'll even take my Arizona summer over Michigan winter; apparently in the early years my mother in law simply walked into the pool fully dressed before running errands. I don't think that would be as effective for your Michigan winter...
 
I'll take my Arizona broiler over your Florida steam cooker. Dry roasted brisket turn out better than steamed hamburgers. I'll even take my Arizona summer over Michigan winter; apparently in the early years my mother in law simply walked into the pool fully dressed before running errands. I don't think that would be as effective for your Michigan winter...
I've always said that I'll take a Michigan winter over a Florida summer. In a Michigan winter, you can put on more clothes and be comfortable. In a Florida summer, you can only take off so much before you get arrested.
After putting up with Texas summers for 50 I find the Florida one refreshing. Everybody here complains about it being hot but my wife and I enjoy the summers here (9 months long) then again we're up in Tally so we're not really in Florida. 😁
 
Sweet! Looks a little bit more like Macassar Ebony to me, but hard to tell.

Jaramiah, if my demo tomorrow is subpar, it’s because I’m trying to finish my piece for the POP box exhibit call. Ha! Half-joking… Here is a little Nutmeg nut sphere that will serve as a surprise underneath the lid. Nutmeg, like most other nuts is sort of hollow in the middle. I drilled a clean 1/8” hole and used CA glue to attach a dowel to the nut, as well as to the waste piece of wood. Coated the Nutmeg in several coats of thin CA to counteract its softness. The “grain” is really interesting, and the color post-CA is gold with light brown and bronze swirlies.

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Whoa, your really close to the deadline! I submitted mine before Christmas! That is really cool, it looks like little worms!
 
Whoa, your really close to the deadline! I submitted mine before Christmas! That is really cool, it looks like little worms!
Ha! Thats my style. Kidding, kidding… Part of the complication with having young kids. I gave myself a month to work on this piece, but got maybe 10% of what I hoped. Sicknesses, family visits, etc… Had to change plans a few times, but I think it will work out for the better. Also got distracted by another project, hahahaha. And I will be able to catch up on my sleep over the next few days….starting tomorrow 😂 Note: I have a couple of other pieces I’m submitting as well, but this is the big one that I really hope gets juried in 🤞 Looking forward to seeing yours as well. The 6” restriction is room for you, yeah? 😂
 
Turning Sasafras for the first time . Found it to be well behaved in turning. Blank had surface cracks and the grain lines much like Ash. Decided burning is the best way to finish. More cracks appear with the burn and the bowl changed shape which required reshaping the tenon on lid. Silver guilding wax was not quite there and changed the color to a gray tone. So as a final added liming wax to the schedule.
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Some more testing with LatheEngraver features. This is doing "Rose Engine-like" designs. I found a nifty website (https://eschersket.ch/) that will create symmetric rosettes with quite a bit of control.
These are heptagons with some six-fold symmetry.
Test scraps held on with blue tape and super glue, in case you were wondering. You can see some remnants of testing with a pencil tip as well.

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I inserted a segmented section into a maple bowl. I split the bowl with a parting tool first and flattened them with a sanding board and my 12” disc sander. First down was a sheet of veneer, then two segmented rings and another sheet of veneer on top of that. Then the upper part went on and set up to dry several hours. A couple of hours turning, sanding and finishing with shellac, now its waiting for work on the bottom.IMG_3969.jpeg

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Ha! Thats my style. Kidding, kidding… Part of the complication with having young kids. I gave myself a month to work on this piece, but got maybe 10% of what I hoped. Sicknesses, family visits, etc… Had to change plans a few times, but I think it will work out for the better. Also got distracted by another project, hahahaha. And I will be able to catch up on my sleep over the next few days….starting tomorrow 😂 Note: I have a couple of other pieces I’m submitting as well, but this is the big one that I really hope gets juried in 🤞 Looking forward to seeing yours as well. The 6” restriction is room for you, yeah? 😂
I am sure you found time, you always seem very productive even if it's at 1am! Oh and it's plenty of room! Only one month left to find out who's in!
 
I inserted a segmented section into a maple bowl. I split the bowl with a parting tool first and flattened them with a sanding board and my 12” disc sander. First down was a sheet of veneer, then two segmented rings and another sheet of veneer on top of that. Then the upper part went on and set up to dry several hours. A couple of hours turning, sanding and finishing with shellac, now its waiting for work on the bottom.View attachment 71200

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Gary:
Do you have a better picture of the black (I assume jig) you are using to align the cut bowl and the inserted rings and perhaps some commentary on its use? It looks like something that could be very useful.

Thank you.

Barry W. Larson
Calgary, Alberta, Canada eh!
 
Tonight was tinkering time in The Tinkery (the official name for my workshop- I do more than turning in here). I made a new knockout bar for the Oneway 1224 lathe. Why? Why not? Out with the 4oz, 5/16" (8mm), 11.5" long factory rod that was barely comfortably long enough, and in with the 10.5oz, 3/8", 14" long rod embedded 1-1/2" into a 2" x 2-1/2" yellowheart knob. Drive centers will jump out of the spindle all by themselves when they see this big dog coming in. Woof!
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And finally a live edge ash crotch bowl. 9" x 3" finished with Tried and True Original.

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Gary:
Do you have a better picture of the black (I assume jig) you are using to align the cut bowl and the inserted rings and perhaps some commentary on its use? It looks like something that could be very useful.

Thank you.

Barry W. Larson
Calgary, Alberta, Canada eh!
Its simply a longworth chuck mounted via a chuck on an adaptor to my Oneway live center. Makes alignment a breeze.
IMG_3968.jpeg
 
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