Sometimes it really pays off to having so many good friends "in the business".  I've been involved in the woodworking industry and have made many life-long friends over the past 35 years. Woodworkers for the most part are friendly and generous types in my experience.  So I've been sitting on a piece of spalted maple for a very, very long time, waiting for the right project.  We just introduced negative rake carbide cutters to our line here at EWT.  I've honestly not been a big fan of turning resins / acrylics / man-made materials, always much preferred turning wood.  When we tested these NR cutters I was very surprised what a difference they make in turning this man-made "stuff".  So I finally found a great use for this piece of maple!  I sent it off to my friend Heath Knuckles, and he transformed this piece of wood into some very cool hybrid blanks.  If you are not familiar with Heath and his work, here is a link to one of his projects:  

 

So Heath took my piece of maple... and sent these back to me....

Now I just have to wait for my lathe to come back from a trade show to spin a few of these!

 

  

Those are fantastic! That must have been a really beautiful piece of maple, too!

5 minutes ago, lew said:

Those are fantastic! That must have been a really beautiful piece of maple, too!

It looked like this....

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unbelievable!!!!   I wonder how many hours were involved in that?   Jim, please do a running blog.  

Those blanks are awesome. Please show us your creations.

5 minutes ago, Ron Dudelston said:

Unbelievable!!!!   I wonder how many hours were involved in that?   Jim, please do a running blog.  

Thanks Ron, they are beautiful, aren't they?  My lathe gets picked up from the show Aug. 27th, so it should be back here in the shop the first week of Sept......     anxiously waiting!  I'll definitely show you guys how they turn out.  Hope I don't mess it up!  

 

4 minutes ago, Jim from Easy Wood Tools said:

Thanks Ron, they are beautiful, aren't they?  My lathe gets picked up from the show Aug. 27th, so it should be back here in the shop the first week of Sept......     anxiously waiting!  I'll definitely show you guys how they turn out.  Hope I don't mess it up!  

 

Lock the doors brother lest you get interrupted.  

You know you could just sent one to each of us and we could test them for you . Then you would not have to wait so long. We would be glad to send you pictures of the result.

Those are going to be awesome Jim. One of the guys in out does a lot of resin turning. It is beautiful.

 

 

Steve

I've been considering options on what to do with them...   they are approx 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" X 6"

 

I would appreciate some ideas please.  How many bottle stoppers do I really want to make?  What about a Christmas ornament?

3 minutes ago, Jim from Easy Wood Tools said:

I would appreciate some ideas please

How about a game call or something for the kitchen- pizza cutter?

Gorgeous blanks.  Making resin blanks is an art all its own.

Edited August 7, 20188 yr by HandyDan

1 hour ago, Gerald said:

You know you could just sent one to each of us and we could test them for you . Then you would not have to wait so long. We would be glad to send you pictures of the result.

Yeah...  thanks Gerald, I'll have to think about that one    ;o)

27 minutes ago, lew said:

How about a game call or something for the kitchen- pizza cutter?

Yes...  agreed.  Could be the coolest bottle opener ever!  or pizza cutter....  I have both of those kits on my shelf...  waiting

With some judicious band sawing, you could probably get a few pens from one of them. 

Drool worthy. https://oregonburls.com