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What’s on your lathe?

Progress on the Blackwood hollow vessel. not sure about the lower spirals they look way to bulky
 

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My first unintentional funnel! I made a small hollowing tool from a hex key and tried making a mini hollow form with the left over from turning the handle. The tool worked great, I just needed to be more careful/actually plan it out. Index finger for scale.

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Ok, wheres the forum that woodturning clubs use? Mine had a demo last year where a guy made the tool out of a hex key for hollowing. Now this year some of the presidents challenges are turn a miniature less than an inch, another is show a failure. I'm getting a strong sense of deja vu.
 
Ok, wheres the forum that woodturning clubs use? Mine had a demo last year where a guy made the tool out of a hex key for hollowing. Now this year some of the presidents challenges are turn a miniature less than an inch, another is show a failure. I'm getting a strong sense of deja vu.
My club hasn't had any of those, but perhaps it seeped into my subconscious from others on the forum. Or the world is a simulation running out of ideas.
 
A friend called me and said he had three 9’ ambrosia maple logs if I wanted them and could load them for me. I was doing the final sanding on a second turned maple and of course stopped, hook the trailer up and went to get the free logs😁. Turns out one is 15” diameter and the other two are 24” diameter! Love free wood but always give him and his wife a few nice bowls.
Was able to finish sanding and put the first coat of walnut oil on the shallow maple, 15” x 3-1/4” with ogee .

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A friend called me and said he had three 9’ ambrosia maple logs if I wanted them and could load them for me. I was doing the final sanding on a second turned maple and of course stopped, hook the trailer up and went to get the free logs😁. Turns out one is 15” diameter and the other two are 24” diameter! Love free wood but always give him and his wife a few nice bowls.
Was able to finish sanding and put the first coat of walnut oil on the shallow maple, 15” x 3-1/4” with ogee .

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Funny thing David. I just got some maple also from some tree cutters clearing out 17 trees on a lot down the road. Offered to cut and load them on my trailer, had them cut them 44 inches long so they could easily fit on my trailer. Looks like the same maple?
 

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Funny thing David. I just got some maple also from some tree cutters clearing out 17 trees on a lot down the road. Offered to cut and load them on my trailer, had them cut them 44 inches long so they could easily fit on my trailer. Looks like the same maple?
Always good to get free wood. I have several trees I need to go get when I get time. Currently spending a lot of time cleaning up hurricane damage. However I will be taking a couple days a week to turn instead of turning everyday 😁
 
On the lathe last night is a Brown Mallee Burl with a natural edge burl. It was pretty difficult turning with that big void, but it can be done. Sanding tended to tear up the paper, so around the rim, there was quite a bit of hand sanding with power off.

I'm calling this a "natural edge" bowl, but I've been told in the past that it isn't. I don't know what else to call it, and if anyone has any more correct wording to describe it, I'm open to suggestions from the AAW brain trust!

It will be for sale soon, so I need a good way to describe it.

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(Sorry for the blurry photos, but my hand isn't too steady these days!)

=o=
 
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Here are walnut burl and Cottonwood burl bowls that have Watco Danish oil natural applied, and are drying. They'll be ready for the Beall 3-step buffing process tomorrow. It takes extra time for the DO to dry in winter months, because overnight it gets pretty cold around here......this morning it's -3° below zero! I have a heater in the shop that runs 24/7 but it only keeps the shop above freezing.

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=o=
 
Since you asked......turn wet to a thick roughed state, anchorseal, and check monthly weights until stabilized.

=o=
Well I have other pieces from the logs a cut yesterday , and will put the in the basement to dry,
But I’d like to use this for a gift soon, was wondering if there is another way to dry it sooner ?
I heard some have tryed soaking in alcohol. So I should rough turn it and then put it in a bag with shavings?
 
Soon to be on the lathe
Not sure if I should turn while wet and then dry
Or continue putting in micro wave to dry ?
Any input?
What Odie said - You don't want your blanks to dry that way - You'll end up with cracks and checks resulting in turning most of it into firewood. - You want to keep BLANKS as wet as you can, usually and then rough out the bowl - Roughed out bowls will dry faster, for one thing, and as they're thinner than a whole thick block, they are also able to move as the wood dries, so less chance of cracking/checking... I wouldn't try drying a whole blank like that as it sits - It'd take FOREVER. (even if it didn't crack)
 
I'd happily call that a natural edge bowl if I was sending it to the gallery where my work goes.
Thanks for replying to my question, Neil.... :)

=o=
 
Here are walnut burl and Cottonwood burl bowls that have Watco Danish oil natural applied, and are drying. They'll be ready for the Beall 3-step buffing process tomorrow. It takes extra time for the DO to dry in winter months, because overnight it gets pretty cold around here......this morning it's -3° below zero! I have a heater in the shop that runs 24/7 but it only keeps the shop above freezing.

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=o=
-3F = -19.444C.
Our temp got to a low of -40.4C that would be about equal in F.
My car was sluggish starting, as I had not plugged the block heater in :), but did it this morning.
 
-3F = -19.444C.
Our temp got to a low of -40.4C that would be about equal in F.
My car was sluggish starting, as I had not plugged the block heater in :), but did it this morning.
It warmed up today.....this morning, its 7°F!
What if you call it a "natural edge hybrid"?
That might work...... :)

=o=
 
We had -6F this morning and it's supposed to be colder tonight. Shop was down in the 40's so I took the day off! Had other errands to do too.
Will fire up the pellet stove early tomorrow morning and warm things up.
 
We had -6F this morning and it's supposed to be colder tonight. Shop was down in the 40's so I took the day off! Had other errands to do too.
Will fire up the pellet stove early tomorrow morning and warm things up.
That is like summer heat I had -29 in the morning but by the time the dog took me for a walk it had risen to -25 with about a 5 MPH wind. About 4 years ago we had a full week in January with lows of -40F/C.
In my shop I have a electric boiler for th floor heat but I only have that set for 40 degrees F then when I go out to work in the shop I fire up a small wood furnace.
 
My school's shop is underequipped for a lot of things I would want, so I find myself spending the extra time between projects by using scraps. The first picture is some spindle practice done in about 5 minutes with no sanding. The second picture is some tops I turned out of old-growth yellow cedar. With the cedar, you can usually count the growth rings by eye, up to pieces with 100-200 rings/inch. This piece was tighter than that, and I couldn't distinguish the rings by eye on the one half. I don't know how big the tree was, as the piece was only a scrap.
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That is like summer heat I had -29 in the morning but by the time the dog took me for a walk it had risen to -25 with about a 5 MPH wind. About 4 years ago we had a full week in January with lows of -40F/C.
In my shop I have a electric boiler for th floor heat but I only have that set for 40 degrees F then when I go out to work in the shop I fire up a small wood furnace.

I grew up next door in South Dakota. I remember those winters.
 
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