10 minutes ago, Gordon said:

I found a maple branch that was sort of a crotch piece that I thought would make a nice live edge bowl. When I cut in half, it was all rotted out in the center. No way I could mount it for a natural edge but I figured I’d try turning it anyway. The one branch was rotted through and left a hole in it, but I thought the rest of it looked pretty cool, so I finished it. It measures just over 10”. Finished it with a rattle can lacquer. 

 

@Gordon, so glad you left the natural voids unfilled to celebrate the beauty of nature!

29 minutes ago, Gordon said:

I found a maple branch that was sort of a crotch piece that I thought would make a nice live edge bowl. When I cut in half, it was all rotted out in the center. No way I could mount it for a natural edge but I figured I’d try turning it anyway. The one branch was rotted through and left a hole in it, but I thought the rest of it looked pretty cool, so I finished it. It measures just over 10”. Finished it with a rattle can lacquer. 

Gutsy move but it turned out real nice and it is a pleasure to see a result that is not a cookie cutter piece. 

mike calabrese55

On 4/10/2025 at 5:50 AM, User74 said:

This is a piece of Orange Osage that was supposed to be a bowl but I turned the bottom too small. It would have been easily tipped over so I turned a Walnut base and turned it into a goblet of sorts. I think some of my best work comes from unintentional mishaps. 

Hey Lew very nice Chuck Berry would like it too I am sure " They're drinkin' Homebrew from a wooden cup " even the wood lathe got all shook up , It  knew he was a turning man cuttin' chips like a hurricane    Nice job !!! mike calabrese55

 

Edited May 10, 20251 yr by calabrese55

@Gordon...really cool piece. You did good completing it as you did. Glad you saved it. Thanks for sharing.

When I scalped this little ash stump flush, I figured I should see what's inside.  Per usual, rot. I laid down a lot of poly into it. Should look cool until it splits apart haha

It sure made a cool looking bowl

On 7/4/2025 at 2:15 PM, BuckeyeHomestead said:

When I scalped this little ash stump flush, I figured I should see what's inside.  Per usual, rot. I laid down a lot of poly into it. Should look cool until it splits apart haha

 

awesome looking bowl!

 

Spalted sycamore, recessed wave bowl inspired by John Beaver. Approximately 6" in diameter and 3 1/2" tall. Wave colored with reddish color Minwax stain.  Gloss wipe on poly finish. Turned entirely with Easy Wood Tools products.

 

 

Really nice, Lew!

Looks great Lew.

Sweet Lew.

Great job Lew. I really like wave bowls and  Beaver really makes inspirational stuff . I look at every wave bowl I can find and in many cases the wave joints are't real clean. Looking at the inside of your work here looks like you were paying great attention to the important details. BRAVO !

mike calabrese55 

That is awesome Lew! Thanks for sharing.

Not quite off the lathe yet but a revelation when it comes to using resin in turning work. I have made several bowls and vases using polyester resin. the results were very good except the polyester resin that i use is a high quality brand was highly prone to chipping and exploading against the turning edge.  See the before and after image here, this is common for me with polyester resin . I went on a search to find a better way and while this is my first experience with EPOXY resin the opportunity to avoid the boom goes the dynamite and changing by BVDs seem to ge GREATLY reduced. The epoxy here is colored with alcohol ink to be translucent but best of all it turned like a charm . So if you are turning resin you may consider looking into different options in the resin product. As far as function and finish there is not much didderence in the two types  that i can see it is just getting to the finish line that i find polyester resin being an opportunity to ruin your day not to mention your tighty whities   

mike calabrese55

 

PS if you are interested in the brands i will share privately, there is no slam on the brand it is all about the application and the result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking good Mike.  I like that green one a lot.

26 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

Looking good Mike.  I like that green one a lot.

Thanks Dan always appreciate you looking in 

mike c

I'll say, that vase with the green top is spectacular.

2 hours ago, calabrese55 said:

brand was highly prone to chipping and exploading against the turning edge

 

I know I sound like a broken record, but have you tried using negative rake tools for the initial shaping? The Easy Wood Tools negative rake cutter were specifically designed to prevent this type of chipping.

 

2 hours ago, calabrese55 said:

if you are interested in the brands i will share privately, there is no slam on the brand it is all about the application and the result.

 

I think your experience with the various characteristics of acrylics would be a valuable source for all of our turners and those who look in occasionally. As long as a critique isn't something like  "Brand xxx ain't worth s$&t" please share your observations. 

4 hours ago, calabrese55 said:

 

 

very cool Mike. Beautiful vase.

Thanks Dave,Fred, Dan and Lew for yor kind comments.

 

Lew......On the negative rake carbides yes i have them and use them but I was not using one when it went BOOM, I had hardly introduced the cutter to the resin perpendicular to the face, it just went off. The big scare with the polyester in the picture is I find if you get even the  smallest  bite it simply explodes. You can kind of see that in the picture . The initiial bite started at about 11:00 O-Clock with just a relatively little damage but by the time it made it back to the same spot the damage just multiplied as it progressed, It only took a nano second. The epoxy resin just seems to be a darn sight more forgiving. I was able to force a bite on a test piece of epoxy just like the bite that blew up but with the polyester chemistry. The result was very minimal tiny chiped material with no  propagation . The other advantage I find so far with the epoxy resin is no pressure pot is necessary. the mix is quite thin viscosity wise and while they recommend a primer coat of resin I simply used some polyurethane varnish to seal the forms. With the addition of a culinary butane torch any initial bubbles were eliminated early on. So far I am thinking it is a better method of sticking some resin to some wood SO FAR.

mike c