I had another piece of this stuff so I thought I may try to play with it. What I don't know is whether that's possible...especially after I trimmed it down a little, maybe i screwed the pooch with my trimming. Anyway, the first 2 photos show the front/back if you will of what i started with. Thinking I needed a flat surface on one side, I slabbed some off to give me just that. Then I cut a little off one end to "square" it up a little. So that's what I have left. I was thinking about a small platter or shallow bowl showing the crotch of the branch coming off of it. The piece I have left is about 6 1/2" tall (long grain) and about 8 1/2" across at the branch stub. Without any direction at this point I might try to put a worm screw into the flat part centered across the 8 1/2" dimension and try to round it out some and put a mortise in the other side to accept chuck jaws. But maybe i should just put this on my brush pile to burn. Advice?

Crotch wood has some nice features but I can never remember which is the best way to lay it.  I'm thinking Steve and Gerald could give you some hints.

3 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

Crotch wood has some nice features but I can never remember which is the best way to lay it.  I'm thinking Steve and Gerald could give you some hints.

Cut it the way Fred started, to get the best figure

FWIW, here's what I would do- 

 

I would place the already flattened side on the drill press and use a Forstner bit slightly larger in diameter than your drive spur. Drill down into the bark till you get a flat spot. This should be located near the balance center of the piece. Mount it on the lathe and turn your tenon or mortice on the already flat side. Then reverse the mounting with your chuck. Now turn the piece from the bark side. That way you can leave some of the bark to for a natural edge turning

Lew, is this what you suggested? I cut a 1" spot on the bark side and put one of those EZ wood drive spurs (the kind the chuck holds), so now I can cut a tenon on the flat side....did I catch your meaning?

1 minute ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Lew, is this what you suggested? I cut a 1" spot on the bark side and put one of those EZ wood drive spurs (the kind the chuck holds), so now I can cut a tenon on the flat side....did I catch your meaning?

Exactly!

OK, I'll try this when I get up the nerve to put a chisel to it. Thanks.

6 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

OK, I'll try this when I get up the nerve to put a chisel to it. Thanks.

How does it spin? Off balance any? 

Yeah, it's out of balance quite a bit, I'll be going slow until things smooth out....if they ever do. I guess i could try to reposition the drive spur but I wanted be centered on the crotch side as much as possible.

Edited June 9, 20241 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

8 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Yeah, it's out of balance quite a bit, I'll be going slow until things smooth out....if they ever do. I guess i could try to reposition the drive spur but I wanted be centered on the crotch side as much as possible.

Play with the RPM's a little, sometimes increasing/decreasing the speed will will help. There is usually a sweet spot where the vibrations will be minimum. 

 

As you reduce the material, the vibrations will lessen, too.

 

 

OK, being the wussy novice I am I did recenter the drive spur a little (twice actually) looking for a little better balance and got it improved somewhat. Then I was able to put a tenon on it and it's now in the chuck. After the white knuckle exercise of cutting the tenon I think I'll have to regain my composure before I move ahead. Notice I moved the tail stock up to do the outside edge a little.

Edited June 9, 20241 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

12 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Notice I moved the tail stock up to do the outside edge a little.

No wussy technique there. Standard practice to trap the piece between the head and tail stocks for as long as possible. It is a really good idea to constantly check the tailstock to make sure it is firmly imbedded into the piece and tighten when needed. 

Sorry I am late to the party. The correct way is to cut crotch thru the center of BOTH piths . Then for best figure mount with the bark toward the tailstock. Figure shows at the center of a crotch so this will put it at the bottom of the turning. This is a possible result.

Not a turner at all, but I do have a question.  If Fred had the tailstock where he wanted it the first time - could he have alleviated some of the vibration by trimming a bit with a bandsaw.  There was a flat side to lay on the saw table lessening that operation.  Or are there reasons not to do this?

2 hours ago, Cal said:

Not a turner at all, but I do have a question.  If Fred had the tailstock where he wanted it the first time - could he have alleviated some of the vibration by trimming a bit with a bandsaw.  There was a flat side to lay on the saw table lessening that operation.  Or are there reasons not to do this?

Yes, that can be done. Often times turners will decide on the design/layout by the shape of the original blank. Cutting away wood to achieve balance might alter their planned design. 

 

Another method is to find the balance point when mounting on the lathe. 

 

I do a lot of crotch bowls.

• Small crotches. I turn these pith and all. 
• Medium-sized logs: I cut them right down the center. If the piece is on the small side, I might leave the pith in one half and use that part for the tenon. The smaller side will likely be waste in this scenario.
• Large logs: Whole other kettle of fish. 

I use a spur drive for just about everything. I'll usually remove the bark where the spur drive connects. On the tailstock side, I don't trim at all. Just keep removing wood until you get a good base for your tenon.

 

This walnut log was cut slightly off center as described above.

 

On 6/9/2024 at 10:36 AM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

OK, being the wussy novice I am I did recenter the drive spur a little (twice actually) looking for a little better balance and got it improved somewhat. Then I was able to put a tenon on it and it's now in the chuck. After the white knuckle exercise of cutting the tenon I think I'll have to regain my composure before I move ahead. Notice I moved the tail stock up to do the outside edge a little.

 

 

With a live edge bowl, you want to turn the piece it by hand to see if the sapwood lines up on all three axes. Likewise, if you have cut your blank round to start with, you can check that the piece is centered by bringing up the tool rest and using that as a guide to determine if the piece is centered. Your three points should all be roughly the same distance from the tool rest. Hard to explain, easier to visualize with a video. Kent at www.turnawoodbowl.com has videos that demonstrate this, but the technique is buried in a longer video so it won't be easy to find.

 

4 minutes ago, kreisdorph said:

 

With a live edge bowl, you want to turn the piece it by hand to see if the sapwood lines up on all three axes. Likewise, if you have cut your blank round to start with, you can check that the piece is centered by bringing up the tool rest and using that as a guide to determine if the piece is centered. Your three points should all be roughly the same distance from the tool rest. Hard to explain, easier to visualize with a video. Kent at www.turnawoodbowl.com has videos that demonstrate this, but the technique is buried in a longer video so it won't be easy to find.

 

 

Found it: 

 

 

Another thing about turning unbalanced blanks. 

1. first you can shift the blank to get it in a better balanced position

2. Start slow to remove projections and as the balance improves increase speed

3. sometime increasing speed will smooth out the vibration . Not a large increase but say 100 or 150 RPM. If it gets worse just turn the speed back down. 

4. with crotches you will turn a lot of air so be patient and advance the gouge slowly

6 hours ago, Gerald said:

4. with crotches you will turn a lot of air so be patient and advance the gouge slowly

 

 This was the first time I was "cutting" air, and I really found it uncomfortable...I suppose with some experience it will get to be just something that has to be done at times, but it was a nail biting experience so far for me.