box elder vase roughout

[Jeff Jilg]

Set of pics showing a box elder vase in progress. Initial piece was 90 pounds and 20" D x 12" H. I chainsawed it nearly round. From the pic you can see that it just barely clears the bed. It had a pretty big softspot/hollow. I left some of it on the final roughout. It's really punky in that area.

There is enough final thickness for the base to have a steeper curve. To me it looks too chunky in the base at this point. Took about 3 hours to hollow - I'm not real fast, plus it was big. Most of the time was stopping and cleaning out shavin's. At least it weighs a lot less now and is easier to carry! Current dimensions are 18" D x 9" H.

(note: the pics are out of order for some reason, but the sequence is kinda obvious)

 

[dkulze]

Not bad, Jeff. Don'tcha just love that moldy gym sock smell?

If 'twer me, I'd draw in the base a bit like you described, sand to finish, and pick out the punky section to leave a void. Can't help it, I'm just a fan of voids.

Don't know how much you work with box elder but a friend has worked out how to keep the colors bright. She seals it up good with UV resistant eurythane or varnish as soon as it comes off the lathe. This helps prevent the oxidation and fade of the red. She waited to long on one piece and now has a nice, crappy, brown color instead of red.

Nice work,
Dietrich

 

[Jeff Jilg]

Thanks Dietrich. Some of this wood is sopping wet. I'll keep it away from sunlight and will put some UV resistant finish on the surface while it dries. I would hate to see it all turn brown.

 

[mkart]

Process?

Being new to hollow turning I have been turning the outside to finish and even sanding while wet. I then hollow it out, turning the walls to about 3/16". Next I finish sand and part off the lathe. If it seems real wet still I will place it in a paper bag to dry for a few weeks before finishing. Is this the wrong way to go about it? Looks like you shape, hollow, dry but what next. Vacuuming hollow forms seems to not work as the end grain allows too much air to pass. What is your plan for finish sanding once dry? I have turned two hollow forms from box elder in the last two weeks. One is currently in a bag drying. The other I immediately applied Waterlox finish to it.
Look forward to your comments as I am still learning how to complete the process.
Thanks
Matt

 

[quartlow]

Initial piece was 90 pounds

Sheesh Jeff your pretty strong for an old guy

Thats purty stuff, I got to find some if I ever get time to turn again

 

[Jeff Jilg]

Matt - there are multiple ways to turn anything. If you turn to final thickness while still wet/damp then it will warp. Maybe not much with Box Elder, but it will warp.

I want round pieces. So I turn everything thick (1"-2") then I let dry. Then I re-turn the pieces to final thickness when dry. Once dry I'll do the turning then finish sand as normal. I won't sand inside unless I sand just inside the rim to smooth it out. On hollow forms you only have to sand as far as someone's finger can feel. Then they think you sanded the whole thing!

 

[Jeff Jilg]

Robert - it's about the only exercise I get - moving pieces around and using the leg hoist to get them up on the lathe. The biggest problem with those big'uns is getting them evenly situated between centers. Sometimes Theresa tightens the tailstock whilst I hold the piece in place.

 

[mkart]

Huh, I guess this never crossed my mind for hollow turning. I'll have to try it when I do something large.
Matt

 

[Gerry Meekins]

Quite a chunk a Boxelder!

Jeff, I hope you post this piece when completed. I keep looking for a big chunk of something to mount up on my Powermatic. Looks like you get the award for using all of the 3520’s swing. My back hurts seeing you lift that Boxelder!

Gerry


(Looks like you have already decorated for Christmas. I have shaving-sickles hanging on my garage door next to my lathe too! LOL)

 

[Richard Baker]

Box Elder Color

Jeff,
Is that great coloration typical for box elder? I have a few small trees in an area I'd like to clear. My wife's tree ID book claims the wood is light colored.
R. in M.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Richard,

Not all box elder has that great intense red coloration, but occasionally you will get lucky and find a piece like Jeff has.

Bill

 

[Jeff Jilg]

Gerry - I didn't plant those shavings, they are hanging out of a hole in the plastic sheet that surrounds the turning area. Those darned things get everywhere. I will definitely post pics of the finished pieces.

We just had a cold snap here. I had been monitoring the Box Elder roughouts every day to see if there was any checking or cracking. Sure enough the cold spell took our humidity down from 60-80% to 20-40%. That caused some checking and cracking and I coated the end grain on those pieces with anchorseal. Too bad these pieces couldn't just dry without the wax.

When my tree buddy told me they were going to take down a box elder I took a day off of work to help with the takedown. There was a chance the entire tree would have been cream colored all the way thru. But I got lucky and it had the red streaks. So I helped with a lot of the cuts. You know what they say about free wood - it's not really free. I probably spent 12-15 hours overall helping with initial cuts, then processing into turning blanks.

Some of the unprocessed blanks are starting to spalt and it will be a race against my free time in order to get the blanks roughed out so there is some air getting to the internal wood. The roughouts which are already processed look great! So far this week I spent Mon-Thur nights doing website work. And tonight the Winter AW journal info gets posted, plus I'll manually add Don Derry's contribution to the AAW relief auction gallery.