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What’s on your lathe?

The good and bad of Saturday turnings.
The good: After the hurricane some one brought me a piece of maple and chestnut and ask if I could turn four bowls to auction off and give the money to artist that lost everything in western NC. I agreed and did the second turning Saturday morning on two of them. I hated turning the green chestnut on the first turn, the sticky sap stuck to everything including me! The dry chestnut turned great. I left the hole in the maple to represent the hole left in communities from the hurricane. I’ll turn the other two later.
Also, had some small maple pieces and turned a couple of natural edge to try second turning them in a few months, usually just once turn natural edge bowls.
The bad:
My wife reminded me we were going to Piegon Forge TN for a few days. If anyone is in Piegan Forge next week I’ll be the guy sitting on the bench outside the stores looking dazed and confused. She did agree to let me go hiking one morning😁.
Put a fresh piece of a new maple log on the see what this log would look like and to see just how thin I could turn it. Practicing for a cowboy hat in the near future. Had a light behind it, was paper thin, loosened the chuck, didn’t get it open enough before I tried to take the piece out, edge of the tenon caught on the chuck and two fingers went through the side of the bowl, then it was hammer time😄. Can’t remember the last time I went through the side or bottom of a bowl but at least it wasn’t with the gouge!
Immediately grabbed a smaller dry walnut bowl to second turn a closed rim bowl. Was looking good and making the final transition near the bottom. I usually turn my air compressor off when concentrating on certain turnings but forgot. Right as I touched the gouge to the transition area the air compressor kicked on, I jerked and messed up the transition, could fix it to my satisfaction, so finished the bowl and will give away and not sign😁. Wife couldn’t see it but I could feel it and will not sell something that doesn’t pass my inspection.
So, maybe a few days away will do me some good😁!

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David Wyke said:
usually turn my air compressor off when concentrating on certain turnings but forgot. Right as I touched the gouge to the transition area the air compressor kicked on,
Click to expand...

The noise from my big compressor and cyclone DC is the reason I built a sound-insulated closet in the shop.
Hey, any day at the lathe is a good day - think of the valuable skill-building, tool control practice, opportunities for flexibility in design mods! :)

David Wyke said:
Practicing for a cowboy hat in the near future.
Click to expand...

Be sure to show come cowboy hat photos when you get to that point. We enjoyed having Chris Ramsey here for a demo about 10 years ago - amazing!
(He brought his own Oneway lathe in a trailer for the demo)

Ramsey_IMG_4368.jpg Ramsey_IMG_4400.jpg

BTW, I found this interesting: he grinds his gouge by hand with a well-rounded clearance bevel, then grinds a very narrow cutting edge.
I took this photo of his grind and highlighted the narrow cutting bevel in red:

Ramsey_gouge_comp.jpg

A friend here turns hats. I had no idea until I visited - he had a bunch of them! I call him when I get big wood!

JKJ
 
John K Jordan said:
The noise from my big compressor and cyclone DC is the reason I built a sound-insulated closet in the shop.
Hey, any day at the lathe is a good day - think of the valuable skill-building, tool control practice, opportunities for flexibility in design mods! :)



Be sure to show come cowboy hat photos when you get to that point. We enjoyed having Chris Ramsey here for a demo about 10 years ago - amazing!
(He brought his own Oneway lathe in a trailer for the demo)

View attachment 74736 View attachment 74737

BTW, I found this interesting: he grinds his gouge by hand with a well-rounded clearance bevel, then grinds a very narrow cutting edge.
I took this photo of his grind and highlighted the narrow cutting bevel in red:

View attachment 74738

A friend here turns hats. I had no idea until I visited - he had a bunch of them! I call him when I get big wood!

JKJ
Click to expand...
I tried a small hat a couple years ago just to get the process down. Never had the right wood to try a large one but thinking about the ambrosia maple log I haven’t cut into yet.

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David Wyke said:
I tried a small hat a couple years ago just to get the process down.
Click to expand...

Is that oak? (the rays are so long)
My friend got some big red oak blanks from one tree that came down (we cut them to size then I can set them gently in his truck with the excavator and no physical effort!), and more recently some big maple. He said bending not only the brim but to fit comfortably on the head, is sometimes difficult. When he makes a hat for someone specific he uses a flexible drawing curve on their head then traces the shape on a piece of cardboard.

Where you live I'm sure you have access to an abundance of good hardwoods, like we do here!

JKJ
 
John K Jordan said:
Is that oak? (the rays are so long)
My friend got some big red oak blanks from one tree that came down (we cut them to size then I can set them gently in his truck with the excavator and no physical effort!), and more recently some big maple. He said bending not only the brim but to fit comfortably on the head, is sometimes difficult. When he makes a hat for someone specific he uses a flexible drawing curve on their head then traces the shape on a piece of cardboard.

Where you live I'm sure you have access to an abundance of good hardwoods, like we do here!

JKJ
Click to expand...
Yes, this is red oak. I have several red oak trees down from the hurricane but I just don’t like turning red oak. Since I have six red oaks down right near the house and shop I may have to start turning it again.
I have plenty of hardwood in this area.
 
Bob Vaughan said:
Judging from the length of the mudullary rays, that well may be from a tree in the white oak family. Red oaks have points on the leaves. White oaks don't.
Click to expand...
I do remember having some chestnut oak a couple years ago.
I’ve turned a lot of white oak but I don’t think this is white oak, but I could be wrong.
 
David Wyke said:
I do remember having some chestnut oak a couple years ago.
I’ve turned a lot of white oak but I don’t think this is white oak, but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Red oaks have medullary rays about an inch long.
Whatever it is, the tree grew very slowly when I look at how tight those annular rings are.
Beautiful work.
 
Finally decided to turn a red oak log that came down during a storm about a year ago. Not sure I'm going to be able to hollow it to the bottom, the deepest I've gone is about 22" and this is going to be about 30" when I'm done. The log is starting out at 14" x 34" and about 165 lbs. I had to make a long extension for my Forstner bit so that I could drill out the center. Wish me luck! 4/22 - Updated picture of final form.

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David Wyke said:
Yes, this is red oak. I have several red oak trees down from the hurricane but I just don’t like turning red oak. Since I have six red oaks down right near the house and shop I may have to start turning it again.
Click to expand...
The hat you posted has the color of red oak and all of the red oak I have seen the medullary rays start at the pith and extend all the way to the bark.
I believe not to long ago you were posting natural edge bowls and red oak could be an excellent species for NE bowls. The photo below illustrates the length of the rays from the 2 piths in this crotch bowl as well as the great look of the wood.21072Bowl3.JPG
 
John K Jordan said:
The noise from my big compressor and cyclone DC is the reason I built a sound-insulated closet in the shop.
Hey, any day at the lathe is a good day - think of the valuable skill-building, tool control practice, opportunities for flexibility in design mods! :)



Be sure to show come cowboy hat photos when you get to that point. We enjoyed having Chris Ramsey here for a demo about 10 years ago - amazing!
(He brought his own Oneway lathe in a trailer for the demo)

View attachment 74736 View attachment 74737

BTW, I found this interesting: he grinds his gouge by hand with a well-rounded clearance bevel, then grinds a very narrow cutting edge.
I took this photo of his grind and highlighted the narrow cutting bevel in red:

View attachment 74738

A friend here turns hats. I had no idea until I visited - he had a bunch of them! I call him when I get big wood!

JKJ
Click to expand...
We have a member in our club who does hats. Has demoed twice for us. He had class with Michelsen and he uses a hand turned grind and Steve showed me how he does it. Really amazing grind.
 
Don Wattenhofer said:
The hat you posted has the color of red oak and all of the red oak I have seen the medullary rays start at the pith and extend all the way to the bark.
I believe not to long ago you were posting natural edge bowls and red oak could be an excellent species for NE bowls. The photo below illustrates the length of the rays from the 2 piths in this crotch bowl as well as the great look of the wood.View attachment 74759
Click to expand...
Nice bowl! I may try turning some natural edge out of the red oak.
 
New woods going on the lathe soon...

Left to Right...
  • Yew Burl
  • Cocobolo Burl
  • Macassar Ebony
  • Spalted Beech
  • Honduras Rosewood Burl
  • Brazilian Kingwood
  • Figured Olivewood
  • Black and White Ebony
Some of these woods are unheard of, so I can't wait to make some boxes!
  • 1000002328.jpg
 
I haven't made any for a long time, but a couple of days ago my Lovely Bride asked if I could make some bottle stoppers that she could give to some friends. Ok, had to remember how. I made some she could pick from. Various woods, some with stippling, a couple from Spectraply, some with oil finish, some lacquer, the african blacwood just buffed. Niles hardware.


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JKJ
 
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Well, it is “on” the lathe!! It’ll be tomorrow when I get started on this…

And, Wow!!!

This is definitely Cocobolo - when I removed my respirator after cutting what I could on the tablesaw before heading over to resaw on the bandsaw the smell of ‘spice’ is heavy in the shop!!! Going to make two platters out of this.

I acquired several large pieces of mystery (to me) wood when I purchased Harvey’s shop. I am pretty sure these other two pieces are also cocobolo.
 
Cocobolo is wonderful to turn, but as mentioned earlier is known as a “sensitizer”, with exposure some people can get progressively more sensitive to not only Cocobolo, but to all woods. I know a guy who had to give up all woodturning after many years when he became so sensitive to wood dust he couldn’t even walk into his shop - even after it was emptied completely and professionally cleaned several times. He ended up selling his house and detached shop and had a new house built. Started metal turning instead.

Some people start with rashes and end up with severe respiratory problems.

A friend told me about another guy who was so sensitive to Cocobolo he refused to work on a lathe had been used to turn cocobolo.

JKJ
 
Kent Reisdorph said:
Not sure if I'll be able to pull this one off. Dogwood. I'll be getting rid of that shoulder on the chuck side.

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Click to expand...
You may already be planning this- I suggest bridging the void with a full or partial ring (or two) adhered with hot melt glue to stabilize the piece while hollowing. Should be interesting when finished.
 
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