11 hours ago, Gerald said:

Saved the root ball on the two Japanese yews I dug up. Ok light goes on root ball great character. So this is the first one. Don’t care if it warps or waves as that would be good so turned to complete. 

 

 

Expected more color but did get lots of grain. 

Nice grain patterns. I, too, thought it would have been more red. Hit any stones while turning?

Pretty kwool Gerald. Kudos for turning (no pun intended) a piece from what most (me) would have burned.

5 hours ago, lew said:

Nice grain patterns. I, too, thought it would have been more red. Hit any stones while turning?

No stones in this one 

On 5/4/2024 at 12:04 PM, lew said:

Many years ago, I helped a fellow teacher startup a "cold casting" business. We used something called cold cast porcelain. A mixture of resin and porcelain. The items created through the process had to be absolutely bubble free- at leas on the surface. We had a lot of difficulty getting the bubbles removed. We tried vacuuming. We tried pressure. It wasn't until we used both, in quick succession, that we were successful. Vacuum first then into the pressure chamber. Our cast pieces were then sent back to the artists who finished them by painting. 

 

Our first customer was a turtle devotee. He created a single piece, that we duplicated and returned for finishing.

 

A piece from our collaboration

 

 

 

That is really cool.

 

Glad this was not a long post as I hit something on the phone and it all disappeared. We cut some of that Willow Oak yesterday and just had to try a piece. Started out turning like a brick. Sharpened and it was smooth sailing. Don’t usually turn oak except live oak. This blank had a small crack and a small hole. Even at that we will see if I turn any more of it. 
 

11 hours ago, Gerald said:

Glad this was not a long post as I hit something on the phone and it all disappeared. We cut some of that Willow Oak yesterday and just had to try a piece. Started out turning like a brick. Sharpened and it was smooth sailing. Don’t usually turn oak except live oak. This blank had a small crack and a small hole. Even at that we will see if I turn any more of it. 
 

Has a lot of the same characteristics of red oak

Yes it is in that family. It is fast growing and strangely I found reference that against my knowledge base the wood is good for outdoor use.

16 hours ago, Gerald said:

Yes it is in that family. It is fast growing and strangely I found reference that against my knowledge base the wood is good for outdoor use.

 

It does make a nice campfire!

I've been a bit lax on posting.

 

I cut down a smallish (14-15") swamp chestnut oak last week. I am shocked at how heavy this oak is. It feels as hard and heavy as black locust, but it can't be according to the Janka charts. 

Osage orange bowl and a box elder hollow form.

 

 

@kreisdorph Those are some beautiful bowls! Glad so much of the bark stayed n the natural edge ones! Nice shape on the hollow form, too! Never turned osage orange, although it is plentiful around here.

Great turning Kent.  Love the Osage Orange.

1 hour ago, lew said:

@kreisdorph Those are some beautiful bowls! Glad so much of the bark stayed n the natural edge ones! Nice shape on the hollow form, too! Never turned osage orange, although it is plentiful around here.

 

OO is a hard wood, but it doesn't turn that hard. That swamp chestnut oak was the opposite. Seemed to turn much harder than its Janka score would suggest. 

 

On 5/3/2024 at 12:33 PM, calabrese55 said:

 

Well taking a lot longer than it should but getting there. The picture here is all in one piece now and still with the between centers waste blocks. The finish is just a little water to raise some grain before sanding. Cherry , yellow birch and zebra wood. just want to get this off the lathe and to the gallery. If I ever finish it I will throw in a all done look.

calabrese55

57 minutes ago, calabrese55 said:

Well taking a lot longer than it should but getting there. The picture here is all in one piece now and still with the between centers waste blocks. The finish is just a little water to raise some grain before sanding. Cherry , yellow birch and zebra wood. just want to get this off the lathe and to the gallery. If I ever finish it I will throw in a all done look.

calabrese55

I love it!

 

Thanks Lew for your comment. Have you ever worked on a project that is three steps forward and three and a half steps back ? This is like pulling teeth on a shark.....the freaking teeth just keep growing back. 

1 hour ago, calabrese55 said:

Well taking a lot longer than it should but getting there. The picture here is all in one piece now and still with the between centers waste blocks. The finish is just a little water to raise some grain before sanding. Cherry , yellow birch and zebra wood. just want to get this off the lathe and to the gallery. If I ever finish it I will throw in a all done look.

calabrese55

Thanks aaronc for looking in

Looking good Mike.  Lots of work there.

My son’s father-in-law died a couple weeks ago and my daughter-in-law asked me to turn an urn. This is my first and it kinda amazed me how large they have to be. Using a piece of cherry that has been in my shop for over 6 years. Plan is to embellish the upper curved area and add a burned or carved field flowing toward the bottom.

23 minutes ago, Gerald said:

my daughter-in-law asked me to turn an urn.

That's quite an honor @Gerald. I now see why you said you bought those bronze threaded rings.