But.. my wife just took a picture of me and this bowl I just recently turned. I think this is my best turned piece yet.
Someone had posted on marketplace that they had "hardwood fire logs" for free. I asked if I could come take a couple because they looked eerily like walnut, but a little more light than walnut in the heartwood.
When I got there, my wife startd to work in tree identification and identified it as hickory. Awesome I thought. Hard wood to cut with my little 16" homelite from home depot but lets do it.
I check a piece and holy smokes, super spalted in the sapwood. It was insane. I was amazed that it wasn't all decayed -- some pieces were absolutely gone.
So I took two pieces home, spent hours cutting them up. They were very difficult with my little homelite that is not very powerful.
Then two night ago, I took the biggest and thickest of my blanks and turned it. I was saddened that, for some reason (the tannin? or hardness of the heartwood?) the spalting did not go through into the heartwood at all. I didn't think I'd have any spalting to show for the really awesome wood that it was.
Low and behold, I went, turned the piece, green mind you, and let it sit out. I was letting it dry overnight, and expecting it to warp like all green wood I do this process to (I only turn green) and after the first night, no movement. I thought, okay I'll leave it out another night and see if it warps. Wow!!!! After two days, moisture content is certainly still high I know, it still hasn't warped much at all.
So, I went ahead and finished it up.
My profile picture is of that piece, and here are a few others.
Someone had posted on marketplace that they had "hardwood fire logs" for free. I asked if I could come take a couple because they looked eerily like walnut, but a little more light than walnut in the heartwood.
When I got there, my wife startd to work in tree identification and identified it as hickory. Awesome I thought. Hard wood to cut with my little 16" homelite from home depot but lets do it.
I check a piece and holy smokes, super spalted in the sapwood. It was insane. I was amazed that it wasn't all decayed -- some pieces were absolutely gone.
So I took two pieces home, spent hours cutting them up. They were very difficult with my little homelite that is not very powerful.
Then two night ago, I took the biggest and thickest of my blanks and turned it. I was saddened that, for some reason (the tannin? or hardness of the heartwood?) the spalting did not go through into the heartwood at all. I didn't think I'd have any spalting to show for the really awesome wood that it was.
Low and behold, I went, turned the piece, green mind you, and let it sit out. I was letting it dry overnight, and expecting it to warp like all green wood I do this process to (I only turn green) and after the first night, no movement. I thought, okay I'll leave it out another night and see if it warps. Wow!!!! After two days, moisture content is certainly still high I know, it still hasn't warped much at all.
So, I went ahead and finished it up.
My profile picture is of that piece, and here are a few others.
