This Birdseye Maple bowl has some outstanding intense eyes......turns nicely.
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What’s on your lathe?
- Thread starter Rusty Nesmith
- Start date
Actually, it grows from about San Francisco up into British Columbia. Still the same tree. It is one that the higher grit you sand to, the more it glows. It does have an interlocking grain, and smells terrible if you burn it.
robo hippy
Spalted sugarberry (surprise!), about 5" x 2.5". Finished with Myland's. This piece has a lot more contrast in the wood colors than others I have turned.
A block of wood does not get any prettier than that.
Final sanding of a 15” x 12-1/4” x 7” at the tallest point Pecan. This bowl elongated over 1” while drying. First coat of DO applied.
Gorgeous. Nice ogee!
was at Rockler to buy some epoxy and of course found a few other things including a curly maple blank which I needed. Friend wants a fruit bowl so she will get this when done, 11 1/2 inch diameter. Turned it today.
I have a few blanks that size. I like the design and might copy!
My daughter gave me a California Cottonwood Burl blank last Christmas. I rough turned it last February. Roughly 8”x 6”. One coat of Waterlox Simi gloss sealer finish.
Jim McLain
Artist
Utterly amazing Odie! Do you care to share where you bought that blank?
CSUSA about 10 years ago. There was a small inventory of these very intense Birdseye Maple bowl blanks that were available at that time, but sorry to say that the good stock is long sold out. Last time I ordered some, I returned them because they were very sparce of the eyes. I haven't been able to locate any more like this since then.
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Ah yes, I ordered some of those last year and the eyes were not too intense. It still made a nice platter though.....here it is
Kevin Jesequel
TOTW Team
Fabulous form and such a tiny opening. Looking forward to seeing more.
Nice. How do you make the small grooves?The Australian brown Mallee burl was finished last night, other than it's still on the waste block waiting to have the foot done. The foot will be done in about 2 weeks time. The Danish oil has just been applied in these two photos......I came in from the shop past 1am last night.....which is pretty much normal for me!
The third photo is of my current stash being seasoned and waste blocks applied.....
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Finished a twice turned piece of spalted sweet gum.
Sweet is right!
I was working with some cherry that I was given more than a year ago and was not able to use it until now.
This piece was quite dry already and as I was starting to turn the inside to a wall thickness of about 3/16" (4.8MM) I heard a snap and a crack appeared. After completing the inside I sprayed a thin coat of shellac around the crack on both sides, then when that was dry I spread the crack open, put some Titebond in there and put 4 quick clamps to hold the crack together. After about 45 minutes the clamps came off and the bowl and clamps fell on the floor, but the bowl survived and the crack stayed closed. The photos on the left show the out side after sanding with an RO and the inside before sanding. The right hand photo is the area of the crack on the inside with a fresh application of DO.
This piece was quite dry already and as I was starting to turn the inside to a wall thickness of about 3/16" (4.8MM) I heard a snap and a crack appeared. After completing the inside I sprayed a thin coat of shellac around the crack on both sides, then when that was dry I spread the crack open, put some Titebond in there and put 4 quick clamps to hold the crack together. After about 45 minutes the clamps came off and the bowl and clamps fell on the floor, but the bowl survived and the crack stayed closed. The photos on the left show the out side after sanding with an RO and the inside before sanding. The right hand photo is the area of the crack on the inside with a fresh application of DO.
Kevin Jesequel
TOTW Team
Beech is scarce here in the PNW. A few months ago I lucked out when I went to the yard waste dump and found a round of freshly cut beech (there were several, but I only grabbed one 🤦♂️). I finally cut into it today after having it in a bag since I brought it home. It isn’t crazy spalted, but has some nice color. This was an off cut from processing today.
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More sugarberry. Tried and True Original. Twice-turned.
Beautiful wood, I need to get me some of that 😁. Going to have to walk the woods before the leaves fall!
This stuff spalts really easily. Sugarberry is a related but separate species from hackberry. The wood is virtually identical. It's fairly identifiable by it's knobby (sometimes warty) bark.
It looks like you are about 6 hours from me. Not exactly close, but not terribly far. Come and get some if you like.
Would love to but so busy right now I barely have time to eat😂
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I got some fresh cut beech once, from down by Roseburg, and every thing cracked, badly. Later heard that is typical for beech. Hope you have better luck!
robo hippy
robo hippy
Beech is a tree species that likes to keep other species out.
I remember from when I was a kid where we would pick the seeds we liked to eat, only pick the fat looking ones, the rest were empty ;-).
So you would get barely anything else growing in between the Beech trees.
I like turning Beech, but it is difficult to dry without splitting, American Beech more so than the European species, the reason Beech is steamed if used for lumber.
Here are a couple pictures of some of my Beech turnings.
Turn thin and dry slow in a Brown Paper Bag has given me good results, but no guaranteed perfect results, (Close though)
Most hollow form-y type of thing I've made. Got nicer cuts on the inside than I expected. Went through the bottom unfortunately but it was a fun experiment. I think I might get some of those john Jordan hollowing tools for these sorts of things at some point.
Wood is mulberry near the root
Wood is mulberry near the root
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Will it take shellac over the bees wax? I would like to see the results so please post them.
Thanks,
Bob
Honestly, I'm not really sure. It's a very light blend of wax with the poly, so I'm hoping when fully cured it will take the shellac. I've read that shellac can go over just about anything that is fully cured, though I don't have a lot of experience with it. But at least shellac can be removed pretty easily (I think) with alcohol. I'll post a photo when it's completed.
I'm certainly very open to advice from people with more experience with shellac than me. I don't use it much but I think this piece may benefit from it.
Steve
Technically off the lathe since I just removed it to oil it. Ash, copper powder epoxy to fill cracks and worm holes. About 5 inch diameter. 
Finished turning a couple more twice turned pieces this weekend, both are crepe myrtle. I really like the grain on the bowl, it popped after I sanded and finished the piece.
Just finished up a nice little English walnut plate. About 9” diameter, just over 1/8” thickness. Very odd, unpredictable colors in all the logs from this orchard.
Roughed out just over 500 bowls plus some spindle blanks from about 25 trunks a couple years ago. Almost dry now, just starting to get into them.
Roughed out just over 500 bowls plus some spindle blanks from about 25 trunks a couple years ago. Almost dry now, just starting to get into them.
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I just completed a White Limba bowl.
And I did another curapau bowl for my father in law. He really liked the one I made for the giveaway so I made him a nicer one with an African Black Wood rim.
They are a little dusty from being in the shop.
Bob
And I did another curapau bowl for my father in law. He really liked the one I made for the giveaway so I made him a nicer one with an African Black Wood rim.
They are a little dusty from being in the shop.
Bob