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What’s on your lathe?

David Wyke said:
Picked up a load of black walnut today a had to try an end grain hollow form. 11” x 7” current weight 1.6 pounds. Soaked the pith in thin CA and sealed the inside and outside. Fingers crossed the pith doesn’t crack. I need to make a fixture and finish the bottom

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You have the bottom down to a small diameter and of course the top is cut out so if you have reasonably uniform wall thickness there shouldn't be any problems. I have done hundreds similar to that with out ever putting anything extra on the pith and rarely have any problems. You could save yourself some grief when it is dry by using a paper bag instead of that sealer which you will need to remove more wood entirely to get rid of. The walnut lidded urn that is my avatar came from a large crotch and that has 3 piths coming through the sides. Here is the back side.
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Don Wattenhofer said:
You have the bottom down to a small diameter and of course the top is cut out so if you have reasonably uniform wall thickness there shouldn't be any problems. I have done hundreds similar to that with out ever putting anything extra on the pith and rarely have any problems. You could save yourself some grief when it is dry by using a paper bag instead of that sealer which you will need to remove more wood entirely to get rid of. The walnut lidded urn that is my avatar came from a large crotch and that has 3 piths coming through the sides. Here is the back side.
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Wall thickness is uniform thickness. This is just my seventh hollow form and didn’t want to take any chances but may try the bag next time. The walls were fairly dry after the sanding and thin enough I could see light through the sapwood area.
Also, great looking hollow form, what finish did you use?
 
David Wyke said:
Picked up a load of black walnut today a had to try an end grain hollow form. 11” x 7” current weight 1.6 pounds. Soaked the pith in thin CA and sealed the inside and outside. Fingers crossed the pith doesn’t crack. I need to make a fixture and finish the bottom

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Let us know how the ca glue worked on the pith for cracking. I just did the same thing last Thursday on black cherry and will wait and see. I thought about drilling out the pith and putting in a plug after it dries. How do others deal with this?
 
Vincent Vogel said:
Let us know how the ca glue worked on the pith for cracking. I just did the same thing last Thursday on black cherry and will wait and see. I thought about drilling out the pith and putting in a plug after it dries. How do others deal with this?
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For wood not crack around the pith, the wood has to be able to push the inside ring outward like the collapsable camp cups.
Turned thin with a curve facilitates this.

A flat thick bottom is a challenge and much more likely to crack than a thin curved bottom which will usually not crack.
 
David how long did you let your turnings dry before finishing? I generally let them sit in a bag for about 3-5 days and then sand by hand and finish. I find cracking usually occurs when I have left any areas too thick and depending on the species. I have the Trent Bosch hollowing system only thing I am finding is it would be nice to have a cutter like Lyle Jamesons adjustable hollowing tool that is bent sells for $70.00 American. I have been trying to get as small a hole as possible on the top of my hollow forms. Here is my first try, the one on the left approx. 6" square, .75 inch hole. The one to the right is 1.5 inch hole approx 11" in height. Just finished them last week.
 

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hockenbery said:
For wood not crack around the pith, the wood has to be able to push the inside ring outward like the collapsable camp cups.
Turned thin with a curve facilitates this.
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That is definitely true of cherry so it is difficult but possible to do a form like DW has done. Walnut and ash is very forgiving as long as the flat area is relatively small. Below is an example of a bulging pith in the base of the goblet note the base is undercut to less then 1/16".
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Here is another basket illusion platter I am starting. It is 120 lines. I recently purchased the EZ Weave Basket Illusion Kit from Chefware Kits. I made a platform and cradle to hold the woodburner and it saves a lot of time over marking the lines with a pencil. Before I bought this jig, I used my index wheel and only had the option of 48 or 96 lines.
 
Vincent Vogel said:
Let us know how the ca glue worked on the pith for cracking. I just did the same thing last Thursday on black cherry and will wait and see. I thought about drilling out the pith and putting in a plug after it dries. How do others deal with this?
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I just checked both vases and no hint of a crack. This is the 3rd day for the tall one and second day on the other.
I’ll be sure and let you know. I’ll check everyday to see if any cracking happens and try to fix it at that time. Both these are thin and the bottom is just thick enough to allow me to put back on the lathe and finish the bottom.
 
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Norm Marentette said:
David how long did you let your turnings dry before finishing? I generally let them sit in a bag for about 3-5 days and then sand by hand and finish. I find cracking usually occurs when I have left any areas too thick and depending on the species. I have the Trent Bosch hollowing system only thing I am finding is it would be nice to have a cutter like Lyle Jamesons adjustable hollowing tool that is bent sells for $70.00 American. I have been trying to get as small a hole as possible on the top of my hollow forms. Here is my first try, the one on the left approx. 6" square, .75 inch hole. The one to the right is 1.5 inch hole approx 11" in height. Just finished them last week.
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I’m new to hollow forms and end grain turning. On my natural edge bowls I usually let them dry for a couple months. The hollow forms are much thinner and are fairly dry once I finish sanding. I am experimenting with hole size, like the small hole on some but I like to size the hole to what I think looks good for each piece. These two are 11-1/2” and 10” tall and I sized the hole to what I think looks good for this style and will try at least one with a small hole and compare.
I will let the hollow forms dry for at least a week or two unless I can tell by a weight or feel that it is dry enough to finish. I sanded these to 320 and put a coat of sealer on them instead of Danish oil both inside and out. Now it’s a waiting game😁.
I really like the Jamieson system and getting better with using it.
 
robo hippy said:
I got a tree from a 'barn yard' once. That was enough..... Found a 1/4 inch spike in it, along with other stuff....

robo hippy
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I don’t usually do yard trees very often. I think this person bought a new hammer and was trying it out😂, they were all in one spot!
My metal detector can find metal in a tree easy, I just forgot to check this one!!
 
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