It has been a better week. I am learning more about our new site each day and everyday I am finding easier to navigate, post and monitors activity.

 

Earlier in the spring, we had to have an older Maple tree removed from our front yard. It had been dying, by inches, over the past few years and it finally reached a point where it could be dangerous. We saved some of the wood so the tree could continue to live on in other forms. On Monday, Mimi came home from the grocery store and told me she met the girl who used to live in this house. The girl's family moved in when the house was just built. Her Dad planted the Maple tree. He now lives in a nursing home but still likes to go out on Sunday trips and the destination is always the same- to the "their" old house! Mimi thought it would be nice to make a small gift, from the tree.

 

So, here is this weeks entry. It's not complete- the inside still needs sanding and it needs a finish applied-

 

 

I have been thinking about making a "natural edge" bowl for sometime but just hadn't gotten around to actually doing it. The bowl is small- about 4" in diameter and about as tall.

 

I started by prepping a piece of limb. All of the cuts were done on the bandsaw.

 

 

 

 

Next, drill holes for the head stock mounting. If you are using a drive spur, you only need to drill with the forstner bit. I was using a "wood Worm" screw so I added a pilot hole

 

 

Then threaded in the screw. This is the one that came with my chuck (shown partially threaded into the hole)

 

 

Over to the lathe and mount the work-

 

Next phase is to round the piece. Of course, if you are not paying attention-

The gouge caught the the corner transition . Without the bark, it is not going to be a very nice "natural edge". 

 

 

Starting over.... A second piece successfully turned on the outside-

 

Next, pulling the tail stock back and forming a recess for reversing the piece.

 

Bowl blank reversed ready for hollowing. The tail stock is moved up against the blank for stabilization.

 

 

Once the inside turning is started and I was reasonably certain everything was going to stay locked in place, the tail stock was pulled back.

 

 

The straight tool rest will only offer support at the start of the hollowing process. As the hollowing progresses, an S-shaped tool rest provides support deeper into the work.

 

 

Ahhh... the joys of turning green wood-

 

 

 

crud!- the heartbreak of turning green wood-

I had not quite finished turning this piece last night. This morning, I found this. I finished the shaping and thinning of the walls today and hope that is enough to prevent further cracking. I did use some CA, in the cracks, hoping that does the trick.  A larger diameter piece of limb would have permitted me to not have used the "center" rings of the wood and maybe that would have helped.  The knot/damage  probably compounded the cracking.

 

I'm going to let it set for a couple of day and watch what it does. If it doesn't worsen, I'll put a finish on it. If it looks good enough, we'll give to the "tree planter".

 

 

A couple of other things-

 

Tim Yoder has a nice video on You Tube. He turns a key/change holder. This one has some off center turning- pretty cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dL8qg8FeYc

 

Also,

Mr. David Reed Smith has made available plans and tutorials for his Shadow Sphere Jig and his Eccentric Christmas Trees.

http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Demo/DemoHandouts.htm

 

 

That's it for now. Need to figure out how I'm going to sand the inside of that bowl- if it doesn't split.

 

Safe Turning!

Lew, outstanding! Thank you so much for getting this out for the Wed post! I am glad you are liking the site more and more, it's starting to feel like home again, but we still have a long way to go.

Hey Lew, we have a serious load of demo tools coming soon, EWT's and an Easy Chuck, you ready to try em out?

You Betcha!!!

I agree guys, the site feel is coming back, actually pretty fast for me I have already figured out most of what I need to know, for now anyway. It wasn't hard to figure out once I got the actual process down

 

That would be a really cool gift Lew if you can save it. I hope you can.

Have you  considered using plastic wrap to tightly wrap the work when leaving green work overnight?  Maybe even leaving a moist towel in the hollowed out part and closing that in as well.

 

Anyway I have a question:

How does one prevent the bark from just falling away as the wood seasons?

I take it this will be put in a poly bag after being roughed out to season for some months - - yes?

Cliff,

Thanks for the ideas and the question. I read a "how-to" from a guy named Joe Landon at Trifern Studios. He turns some beautiful projects. He indicated that by turning an green project- with thin walls- the stresses are reduced enough to avoid cracks. I guess the turning (1/4" walls) I did wasn't thin enough. In the middle of the night, I awoke thinking I maybe should have done what you suggested with the wet towel- unfortunately, I didn't act on it.

 

As for keeping the bark intact, I gotta admit- I don't know. Every one of these types of finished turnings I have seen have been covered with poly. Maybe that is what makes it "stick".

 

No bag, just sanding and oil based poly. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Lew that is an awesome bowl and a wonderful story. I love the detail in the post and the wonderful instructions.