What’s on your lathe?

[odie]

I have been able to improve questionable surfaces shear scraping and/or sanding after letting Danish oil dry on the piece. You may already do this.

I didn't on this one, but may return it to the lathe to give it another try. There's nothing to lose, because as it is, it's not anything more than a "give away". Thanks for the advice, Jim.....

-o-

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

Worked on a maple burl with spalting on one side. Not really happy with the results.....spalting very soft and couldn't sand without taking a lot more surface off the spalted area than the surrounding wood. Surface uneven and a couple chunks of the soft spalting came loose.

-o-

View attachment 61682 View attachment 61683

Same here Odie. It the softness of the Big Leaf Maple that makes me not use it. I can never get the tear out out without low spots like you mentioned.

 

[Michael Anderson]

Finished turning the interior of the Black Walnut bowl a few posts up, and.......sort of made a funnel. Ugh! Well, the bottom of the bowl is somewhat soft sapwood. I had decided to continue the curve through the tenon and have a somewhat small foot (think Sally Burnett). However, I underestimated how far into the bowl the previous turner's spurs and center were driven. When I got to the very bottom of the interior, about an 1/8" of fibers just ripped out of the center. There it was, a tiny little hole that traveled all the way through my 3/8" deep tenon. After a little bit of sanding to clean up the view, I could even see the two spur marks. Holy cow, I guess the wood was pretty soft to begin with and the spur drive went deep. That said, ultimately the mistake is my fault, as I should have accounted for this possibility. Kind of sucks, but it is what it is. Here are a couple of pics:





I almost never try to salvage a mistake like this, BUT my plan was to heavily embellish the bowl. I'm almost certain that in the end the mistake will be invisible, so I might actually glue in a small plug. Have to stew on it though.

 

[David Wyke]

Final sanding of a natural edge maple 12” x 11” x 7”. Has some very unique streaks in it.

 

[David Wyke]

Finished the interior of the Black Walnut bowl a few posts up, and.......sort of made a funnel. Ugh! Well, the bottom of the bowl is somewhat soft sapwood. I had decided to continue the curve through the tenon and have a somewhat small foot (think Sally Burnett). However, I underestimated how far into the bowl the previous turner's spurs and center were driven. When I got to the very bottom of the interior, about an 1/8" of fibers just ripped out of the center. There it was, a tiny little hole that traveled all the way through my 3/8" deep tenon. After a little bit of sanding to clean up the view, I could even see the two spur marks. Holy cow, I guess the wood was pretty soft to begin with and the spur drive went deep. That said, ultimately the mistake is my fault, as I should have accounted for this possibility. Kind of sucks, but it is what it is. Here are a couple of pics:

View attachment 61698

View attachment 61699

I almost never try to salvage a mistake like this, BUT my plan was to heavily embellish the bowl. I'm almost certain that in the end the mistake will be invisible, so I might actually glue in a small plug. Have to stew on it though.

It happens, that’s a nice bowl and worth trying everything to save it!!!

 

[Phil Hamel]

Not sure how this will be. Totally winging it. New baby coming soon to a niece so I am trying to make a Maple rattle.

 

[Bob Hall]

Finished the interior of the Black Walnut bowl a few posts up, and.......sort of made a funnel. Ugh! Well, the bottom of the bowl is somewhat soft sapwood. I had decided to continue the curve through the tenon and have a somewhat small foot (think Sally Burnett). However, I underestimated how far into the bowl the previous turner's spurs and center were driven. When I got to the very bottom of the interior, about an 1/8" of fibers just ripped out of the center. There it was, a tiny little hole that traveled all the way through my 3/8" deep tenon. After a little bit of sanding to clean up the view, I could even see the two spur marks. Holy cow, I guess the wood was pretty soft to begin with and the spur drive went deep. That said, ultimately the mistake is my fault, as I should have accounted for this possibility. Kind of sucks, but it is what it is. Here are a couple of pics:

View attachment 61698

View attachment 61699

I almost never try to salvage a mistake like this, BUT my plan was to heavily embellish the bowl. I'm almost certain that in the end the mistake will be invisible, so I might actually glue in a small plug. Have to stew on it though.

Worth saving for sure. Last time I did it I put a decorative plug in to match the rim accent ring.

Nobody knows but me ……..and the Internet…now😂😂

 

[Robert Lindstadt]

Turned a handle for my center punch to make less pressure on my hand when I use this!

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

Finished turning the interior of the Black Walnut bowl a few posts up, and.......sort of made a funnel. Ugh! Well, the bottom of the bowl is somewhat soft sapwood. I had decided to continue the curve through the tenon and have a somewhat small foot (think Sally Burnett). However, I underestimated how far into the bowl the previous turner's spurs and center were driven. When I got to the very bottom of the interior, about an 1/8" of fibers just ripped out of the center. There it was, a tiny little hole that traveled all the way through my 3/8" deep tenon. After a little bit of sanding to clean up the view, I could even see the two spur marks. Holy cow, I guess the wood was pretty soft to begin with and the spur drive went deep. That said, ultimately the mistake is my fault, as I should have accounted for this possibility. Kind of sucks, but it is what it is. Here are a couple of pics:

View attachment 61698

View attachment 61699

I almost never try to salvage a mistake like this, BUT my plan was to heavily embellish the bowl. I'm almost certain that in the end the mistake will be invisible, so I might actually glue in a small plug. Have to stew on it though.

Well Michael....I guess that's why it wasn't claimed by others in your club!! It was doomed....

 

[Michael Anderson]

Well Michael....I guess that's why it wasn't claimed by others in your club!! It was doomed....

Bahahah, guess so. I’m just the lucky sucker 😂

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Worked on a maple burl with spalting on one side. Not really happy with the results.....spalting very soft and couldn't sand without taking a lot more surface off the spalted area than the surrounding wood. Surface uneven and a couple chunks of the soft spalting came loose.

-o-

View attachment 61682 View attachment 61683

So what’s the plan? I’m sure it will be great.

Finished turning the interior of the Black Walnut bowl a few posts up, and.......sort of made a funnel. Ugh! Well, the bottom of the bowl is somewhat soft sapwood. I had decided to continue the curve through the tenon and have a somewhat small foot (think Sally Burnett). However, I underestimated how far into the bowl the previous turner's spurs and center were driven. When I got to the very bottom of the interior, about an 1/8" of fibers just ripped out of the center. There it was, a tiny little hole that traveled all the way through my 3/8" deep tenon. After a little bit of sanding to clean up the view, I could even see the two spur marks. Holy cow, I guess the wood was pretty soft to begin with and the spur drive went deep. That said, ultimately the mistake is my fault, as I should have accounted for this possibility. Kind of sucks, but it is what it is. Here are a couple of pics:

View attachment 61698

View attachment 61699

I almost never try to salvage a mistake like this, BUT my plan was to heavily embellish the bowl. I'm almost certain that in the end the mistake will be invisible, so I might actually glue in a small plug. Have to stew on it though.

I’m the funnel master. Anyone can make a bowl! Finally got a depth finder! And I’m now practiced at repair. Ebony insert into a monkeypod bowl. Hahaha.

 

[odie]

So what’s the plan? I’m sure it will be great.

I'm working on another bowl for now. I may remount it and try to return it. Whether I'll be successful or not is questionable. Need to let the D.O. fully cure first......

Or, I'll give it away......

-o-

 

[odie]

Getting ready to sand a Brown Mallee burl bowl.....but, quit for the night.....

-o-

 

[Phil Hamel]

Or, I'll give it away......

-o-

Odie give away! I'm in! I will even pay the shipping! Lol!

 

[Michael Anderson]

So what’s the plan? I’m sure it will be great.

I’m the funnel master. Anyone can make a bowl! Finally got a depth finder! And I’m now practiced at repair. Ebony insert into a monkeypod bowl. Hahaha.

Depth finders help for sure! 😃 I usually don’t like the look of plugs, but that Ebony works so well with Monkeypod. Nice work!!

 

[Bob Hall]

This is the one I did. Etimoe, african blackwood, and a yellow heart accent ring.

Bob

 

[Michael Anderson]

@Bob Hall Secret's out! Looks great, though. Like an African sunset.

 

[odie]

I’m the funnel master. Anyone can make a bowl! Finally got a depth finder!

Howdy Alan......

If you are continually checking your depth as you remove the interior, it's not a good way to prevent from going too deep. The best way to never go too deep, is to turn out the very center of the interior to the correct depth, while using your depth gauge This is done after you remove the bulk of the interior.....walls still very thick at this point. Then turn the sides of the interior while aiming your cuts towards that pre-turned depth indicator. This way, you only need to use your depth gauge once....and done!

Note: There aren't very many exceptions, but just about every turner has turned a few funnels....and, I'm no exception. They NEVER look acceptable to me, because your mistakes can never be erased from your consciousness!

-o-

This is a funnel bowl that I made into a tribute bowl for a friend's three daughters:

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Howdy Alan......

If you are continually checking your depth as you remove the interior, it's not a good way to prevent from going too deep. The best way to never go too deep, is to turn out the very center of the interior to the correct depth, while using your depth gauge This is done after you remove the bulk of the interior.....walls still very thick at this point. Then turn the sides of the interior while aiming your cuts towards that pre-turned depth indicator.

Note: There aren't very many exceptions, but just about every turner has turned a few funnels. I've turned a few funnels in the past, too. They NEVER look acceptable to me, because your mistakes can never be erased from your consciousness!

-o-

This is a funnel bowl that I made into a tribute bowl for a friend's three daughters:
View attachment 61724

Great advice. Never considered that. Will do. Thanks.

 

[robo hippy]

Been a long time since I made a funnel. In part because of my method and video 'Finding the bottom of the bowl'. Easier on utility bowls, and learning after many errors, to go gently into the bottom of the bowl. I also tend to leave some extra depth. As for fiber pulling through the bottom, well, as near as I can tell, this has been more of a problem when coring bowls and I try to break the core out. Not much of a problem with side grain, but far more of a problem with end grain and burl.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ov5m50NXJ8


I do like big leaf maple, and last got a log that was growing straight horizontal to the ground, maybe 12 inches wide and 16 to 24 inches tall. Tight ripple through the whole thing. With the BLM, I do start sanding at 80 grit..... Some times the results are worth it.

robo hippy

 

[Michael Anderson]

Been a long time since I made a funnel. In part because of my method and video 'Finding the bottom of the bowl'.

That's a cool method, Reed. Thanks for sharing! Thanks for the coring information, too. I have some knives, but have been waiting until the summer to start messing around with them.

 

[Michael Anderson]

A bit of resolution to my bowl. I kept going back and forth, again and again, about plugging. Decided against it, and came away with a satisfying foot stomp to destroy the bowl. Ha! (sorry if that offends anyone). That said, when I was considering the fix, it made me think a lot about new designs. So, I'm walking away without a bowl, but with some good ideas for the future, and a lesson learned. Works for me. What do they say, "it's only wood". Lol.

 

[Phil Hamel]

Mid project change. Found out the original heads were to small and would be a choke hazard!
All the Maple I have is 1 1/2x1 1/2. Used that for the handles and grabbed 2 pieces of Apple I had laying around.
Turning the handle:

Glued up, no finish. Need to find something baby safe. Will touch up hand sanding after glue dries.

 

[Bob Hall]

Mid project change. Found out the original heads were to small and would be a choke hazard!
All the Maple I have is 1 1/2x1 1/2. Used that for the handles and grabbed 2 pieces of Apple I had laying around.
Turning the handle:
View attachment 61731
Glued up, no finish. Need to find something baby safe. Will touch up hand sanding after glue dries.
View attachment 61732

Very nice. What did you put inside for the rattle?

On something like that I would probably use a butcher block finish as it’s safe and easily re-applied. I will be interested to hear what others might suggest for a finish.

Bob

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

A bit of resolution to my bowl. I kept going back and forth, again and again, about plugging. Decided against it, and came away with a satisfying foot stomp to destroy the bowl. Ha! (sorry if that offends anyone). That said, when I was considering the fix, it made me think a lot about new designs. So, I'm walking away without a bowl, but with some good ideas for the future, and a lesson learned. Works for me. What do they say, "it's only wood". Lol.

Yes!!!! I do that on my worst of the worst pieces! Especially if I spent a good amount of time and money on it. Out in the back of the property is a stone wall that we dub......The Wrecking Wall! 😁

 

[Bob Hall]

Yes!!!! I do that on my worst of the worst pieces! Especially if I spent a good amount of time and money on it. Out in the back of the property is a stone wall that we dub......The Wrecking Wall! 😁

I have a box of fancy firewood that serves the same purpose

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Mid project change. Found out the original heads were to small and would be a choke hazard!
All the Maple I have is 1 1/2x1 1/2. Used that for the handles and grabbed 2 pieces of Apple I had laying around.
Turning the handle:
View attachment 61731
Glued up, no finish. Need to find something baby safe. Will touch up hand sanding after glue dries.
View attachment 61732

I made a rattle for a friends son that did have a new born son, I used Black Walnut with a Polymerized Tung Oil coating and used dried peas as the rattling pieces.

The ball is too big to chew and if it ever was to break the dried peas could be chewed and eaten with no harm to the kid.

Made as a hollow Walnut ball wit a solid handle glued in, boys name was burned in the end of the ball.

 

[Phil Hamel]

Very nice. What did you put inside for the rattle?

On something like that I would probably use a butcher block finish as it’s safe and easily re-applied. I will be interested to hear what others might suggest for a finish.

Bob

I tried everything I could find here to get the best noise. Ended up with pop corn seeds. Should be ok if accidently eaten. I'm thinking maybe a coat of shellac sanding sealer and then just straight bee's wax. Still deciding. I sanded the top one to 3000 grit and it feels like it doesn't need anything really. I know it will get wet though so needs something.

 

[Robert Lindstadt]

Turned a handle for my center punch to make less pressure on my hand when I use this!
View attachment 61705

 

[Michael Anderson]

Not trying to be THAT person, but for anyone considering making baby rattles, it's worth checking out some information in this thread:

Baby Rattle Safety

I am making a baby rattle comprised of a hollow orb (with Garbanzo Beans) and a handle. I used Mylands High Build Friction Polish on it and wanted to be sure I hadn't overlooked a safety issue. Are there any other safety concerns to be wary of? I did make sure the orb and the end of the...

www.aawforum.org

It's a bit older (2007), but has good information re. finishes and safety considerations.

 

[Gary Beasley]

Working my way through building a segmented vase. Got all the rings glued, stacked and the lower half turned inside and out. Still want to refine the upper curves a bit, I have maybe a quarter inch of thickness to play with for that.

 

[Paul Paukstelis]

This apple crotch had been sitting for quite a while because I never felt like dealing with the bark inclusion. Not the best pewa, but the exterior ones let me do the interior mostly worry-free. The interior one is there more to cover a chunk that broke out from the inclusion.

 

[Steve Nix]

Natural Edge Mesquite with Danish oil finish.

 

[odie]

Finished up the Brown Mallee burl bowl last night. Will part the waste block and do the foot in about a week or 10 days.....has undercut rim and nice sapwood/heartwood color contrast:



Also attached a waste block to a maple burl. This is more of an experimental effort at this point, as the entire spiked burl "natural edge" will remain in the final version. This was purchased in a slab form, and was cut in half. The other half is the better of the two, but I'm waiting to see how this one turns out before I start on the other one. I did turn something similar to this some years ago and that one turned out pretty good.....although it was much smaller. This piece is approximately 8" x 3 1/2", and will probably have a critical rpm to turn properly.....because of the likely balance issues. There will be no foot here, as the bottom will be flat all the way across. The sides, in order to preserve the natural spiked burl on one side, will be sanded at 90° to the bottom. The plan is to turn the top surface only. In the photo of the bottom, or waste block side, you can see a large void.....(SEE ARROW IN THE PHOTO) The interior of the bowl will have to avoid this void, so the placement of the waste block was critical. On the top, the bowl interior will not be centered, but offset to clear this void.

Any comments, insights, or advice for turning this spiked burl piece is requested...



-o-

 

[Jim McLain]

These are the blanks I was able to salvage from that walnut burl. As you can tell from the cracking they are pretty rough but I cut them so that they should be stable to turn. There will be lots of stone inlay in these pieces. In the end there was more waste than good wood.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Any comments, insights, or advice for turning this spiked burl piece is requested...

View attachment 61754 View attachment 61758

-o-

Hmmm.. You know, I would almost be tempted to save that edge entirely (facing us in photo) to keep it as the top side , paint those peaks in a variety of colors to make a sort of alien "moonscape" - like city scape photos, y'know?

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

My first hollow form. Wipe-on poly finish. What else but spalted sugarberry?

When I started turning, I bought HSS tools and a $50 set of carbide tools. I hadn't used the swan neck before so I was confused when I found it curves to the right, not the left. Not knowing how else to approach this, I turned the inside in reverse. I haven't looked yet to see if the carbide cutter can be reversed and put on the bottom of the tool. I'll figure that out later or, more likely, buy a tool like the Soresby hollower. EDIT: I just had a look and the blade was installed on the swan neck upside down. Oof.

Had a bit of a boo-boo working the inside top.


But I got humpty dumpty back together again.




I'm not a huge fan of hollowing but I'll certainly do more of these in the future.

 

[odie]

Hmmm.. You know, I would almost be tempted to save that edge entirely (facing us in photo) to keep it as the top side , paint those peaks in a variety of colors to make a sort of alien "moonscape" - like city scape photos, y'know?

Yes.....that's the plan, Brian. The entire spiked burl will be left as a "natural edge" on the finished bowl.

Thanks for commenting.

-o-

 

[robo hippy]

I have a friend who made baby rattles. The gage he used for proper size was a toilet paper tube. Small enough to go through the tube, small enough to get swallowed. Too big to go down the tube, then it is safe. Apparently this was a size that was compatible with government guide lines. As for filler, I used to make custom hacky sacks. First one I put lentils in, next one was pop corn. Both turned to powder and leaked out. I would think cherry pits could work. There was a guy in Salt Lake who used them. They could be a swallowing problem. Acrylic beads would work as well, and are hard enough to take a lot of abuse before they turn to powder.

robo hippy

 

[Robert Lindstadt]

Finishing up this chisel handle from a fellow turner that never got to it ! Added some stone too the voids