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What’s on your lathe?

Joined
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Eugene, OR
I absolutely did not know that. I’m surprised. Thanks.

From Cook Woods: Also known as Bay Laurel, California Olive, Pepper wood, or Spice tree, this versatile hardwood grows only in Oregon and Northernmost California.
Actually, it grows from about San Francisco up into British Columbia. Still the same tree. It is one that the higher grit you sand to, the more it glows. It does have an interlocking grain, and smells terrible if you burn it.

robo hippy
 

Jim McLain

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Not on the lathe but working on some turquoise inlay on some mesquite hollow forms. Will be doing an inlay demo for my club in November. Rusty this thread you started is almost to 100 pages.
 

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Odie

Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
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Utterly amazing Odie! Do you care to share where you bought that blank?
CSUSA about 10 years ago. There was a small inventory of these very intense Birdseye Maple bowl blanks that were available at that time, but sorry to say that the good stock is long sold out. Last time I ordered some, I returned them because they were very sparce of the eyes. I haven't been able to locate any more like this since then.

-o-
 
Joined
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CSUSA about 10 years ago. There was a small inventory of these very intense Birdseye Maple bowl blanks that were available at that time, but sorry to say that the good stock is long sold out. Last time I ordered some, I returned them because they were very sparce of the eyes. I haven't been able to locate any more like this since then.

-o-
Ah yes, I ordered some of those last year and the eyes were not too intense. It still made a nice platter though.....here it is


Birdseye Maple Platter .JPGBirdseye Maple Platter Back View.JPG
 
Joined
Apr 11, 2022
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San Marcos, TX
The Australian brown Mallee burl was finished last night, other than it's still on the waste block waiting to have the foot done. The foot will be done in about 2 weeks time. The Danish oil has just been applied in these two photos......I came in from the shop past 1am last night.....which is pretty much normal for me! :)

The third photo is of my current stash being seasoned and waste blocks applied.....

View attachment 50165 View attachment 50166 View attachment 50167


-----odie-----
Nice. How do you make the small grooves?
 
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Ponsford, MN
I was working with some cherry that I was given more than a year ago and was not able to use it until now.
This piece was quite dry already and as I was starting to turn the inside to a wall thickness of about 3/16" (4.8MM) I heard a snap and a crack appeared. After completing the inside I sprayed a thin coat of shellac around the crack on both sides, then when that was dry I spread the crack open, put some Titebond in there and put 4 quick clamps to hold the crack together. After about 45 minutes the clamps came off and the bowl and clamps fell on the floor, but the bowl survived and the crack stayed closed. The photos on the left show the out side after sanding with an RO and the inside before sanding. The right hand photo is the area of the crack on the inside with a fresh application of DO.
IMG_1054.jpgIMG_1056.jpgIMG_1055.jpg
 

Kevin Jesequel

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Beech is scarce here in the PNW. A few months ago I lucked out when I went to the yard waste dump and found a round of freshly cut beech (there were several, but I only grabbed one 🤦‍♂️). I finally cut into it today after having it in a bag since I brought it home. It isn’t crazy spalted, but has some nice color. This was an off cut from processing today.
 

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Odie

Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
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Beautiful wood, I need to get me some of that 😁. Going to have to walk the woods before the leaves fall!

This stuff spalts really easily. Sugarberry is a related but separate species from hackberry. The wood is virtually identical. It's fairly identifiable by it's knobby (sometimes warty) bark.

It looks like you are about 6 hours from me. Not exactly close, but not terribly far. Come and get some if you like.
 
Joined
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This stuff spalts really easily. Sugarberry is a related but separate species from hackberry. The wood is virtually identical. It's fairly identifiable by it's knobby (sometimes warty) bark.

It looks like you are about 6 hours from me. Not exactly close, but not terribly far. Come and get some if you like.
Would love to but so busy right now I barely have time to eat😂
 
Last edited:
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I got some fresh cut beech once, from down by Roseburg, and every thing cracked, badly. Later heard that is typical for beech. Hope you have better luck!

robo hippy
 
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Beech is scarce here in the PNW. A few months ago I lucked out when I went to the yard waste dump and found a round of freshly cut beech (there were several, but I only grabbed one 🤦‍♂️). I finally cut into it today after having it in a bag since I brought it home. It isn’t crazy spalted, but has some nice color. This was an off cut from processing today.
Beech is a tree species that likes to keep other species out.
I remember from when I was a kid where we would pick the seeds we liked to eat, only pick the fat looking ones, the rest were empty ;-).

So you would get barely anything else growing in between the Beech trees.
I like turning Beech, but it is difficult to dry without splitting, American Beech more so than the European species, the reason Beech is steamed if used for lumber.

Here are a couple pictures of some of my Beech turnings.
Turn thin and dry slow in a Brown Paper Bag has given me good results, but no guaranteed perfect results, (Close though)

American Beech bowl.jpg Turned Beech vase.jpgBeech bowl.jpgBeech turned thin.jpg
 
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Most hollow form-y type of thing I've made. Got nicer cuts on the inside than I expected. Went through the bottom unfortunately but it was a fun experiment. I think I might get some of those john Jordan hollowing tools for these sorts of things at some point.

Wood is mulberry near the root
 

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Will it take shellac over the bees wax? I would like to see the results so please post them.

Thanks,

Bob

Honestly, I'm not really sure. It's a very light blend of wax with the poly, so I'm hoping when fully cured it will take the shellac. I've read that shellac can go over just about anything that is fully cured, though I don't have a lot of experience with it. But at least shellac can be removed pretty easily (I think) with alcohol. I'll post a photo when it's completed.
I'm certainly very open to advice from people with more experience with shellac than me. I don't use it much but I think this piece may benefit from it.

Steve
 
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Just finished up a nice little English walnut plate. About 9” diameter, just over 1/8” thickness. Very odd, unpredictable colors in all the logs from this orchard.

Roughed out just over 500 bowls plus some spindle blanks from about 25 trunks a couple years ago. Almost dry now, just starting to get into them.
 

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