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What’s on your lathe?

John K Jordan said:
Do you sell these, give away/donate to charities, or eat a lot of soup and cereal?

JKJ
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I do sell them on a small scale (enough to pay for my hobby) but I’m also a teacher nearing retirement so I’m stockpiling bowls and other turned items for future sales when I have more time for marketing/festivals… right now I just really enjoy the making and the refining of my work (though I do feel a little awkward at the sheer number of finished bowls I have on hand🤷‍♂️)
 
The good and the bad today 😁.
The good: sold a large 18” maple bowl at the gallery this week so I turned a 17-5/8” to replace it with today. Will raise the grain, final sand, and oil tomorrow.
The bad: finished sand and turn the foot off one of the bowls from the growth impersonating a burl. The maple turn black in places for some reason. Once oiled I saw a tool mark so will need to sand it out once oil is cured.
The good: I think I have the final dry brushing done on the hollow form.
The bad: Have to do some home improvement, grading, and waiting for the concrete guy to show up, so no lathe work for a few days.
Couple more bad things from today but you don’t want to hear about the freezer and dishwasher, what a day😂.

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I have a pointfree cone in the hole and have just enough pressure to friction hold the bottomto the chuck. I have a piece of tape on the bottom to keep it from scratching. It will spin or move with to much pressure. I'm trying Wood 716 finish and have the lathe as slow as it will go for the uv light to set it off.
The locust is a burl with holes in it so it is being a bit finicky. Doesn't seem that hard to cut though.
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Someone ask if I would make them a lidded box. I told them I made some in the past but it had been a couple years and I would when I had time. So I grabbed a small bowl and a piece of scrap walnut for the top and turned one today. Now I need to decide on the wood for the finial. Not my best work but it has been a couple years😁

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David Wyke said:
Someone ask if I would make them a lidded box. I told them I made some in the past but it had been a couple years but I would when I had time. So I grabbed a small bowl and a piece of scrap walnut for the top and turned one today. Now I need to decide on the wood for the finial. Not my best work but it has been a couple years😁

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I think it’s great! Grain match is awesome. But what I like the most is you made a HF looking box!
 
David Wyke said:
I noticed that😁. Two totally separated pieces of wood so lucky they matched up.
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David Wyke said:
Now I need to decide on the wood for the finial.
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Gonna look great, David. For the finial/knob I would recommend a light colored contrasting wood, i.e., holly, maple, etc. I think a little (emphasis on little) bit of texture on the raised area of the lid will add a lot to the look of the piece. Also, a slight (small) bevel on both the top & bottom parts will emphasize that it is a "box" and will further disguise any grain misalignment.
 
Tom Gall said:
Gonna look great, David. For the finial/knob I would recommend a light colored contrasting wood, i.e., holly, maple, etc. I think a little (emphasis on little) bit of texture on the raised area of the lid will add a lot to the look of the piece. Also, a slight (small) bevel on both the top & bottom parts will emphasize that it is a "box" and will further disguise any grain misalignment.
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I like the bevel idea but have already started finishing the piece. I wish you had replied sooner 😁
 
David Wyke said:
I like the bevel idea but have already started finishing the piece. I wish you had replied sooner 😁
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I've "softened" the edges of many things after the fact using very fine sandpaper (800 or finer) backed up by a soft white eraser. (More of a gentle rounding than a bevel.) Then rub in a bit of finish with a cloth, just on the edge. Gives a nice tiny highlight on the edge. But I mostly use oil finishes.

JKJ
 
David Wyke said:
The good and the bad today 😁.
The good: sold a large 18” maple bowl at the gallery this week so I turned a 17-5/8” to replace it with today. Will raise the grain, final sand, and oil tomorrow.
The bad: finished sand and turn the foot off one of the bowls from the growth impersonating a burl. The maple turn black in places for some reason. Once oiled I saw a tool mark so will need to sand it out once oil is cured.
The good: I think I have the final dry brushing done on the hollow form.
The bad: Have to do some home improvement, grading, and waiting for the concrete guy to show up, so no lathe work for a few days.
Couple more bad things from today but you don’t want to hear about the freezer and dishwasher, what a day😂.

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That maple is wild!

My A/C died a week ago so I know the feeling. A/C units are stupid expensive ($10k for a 4 ton).
 
This is the start of a white oak pumpkin. Carving done with saburrtooth burrs and hand gouges. Hollowing done with Trent Bosch tools. Currently the wood is pretty wet so hoping to get it finished by the end of October. White Oak is prone to cracking so as you can see I've sprayed with Shellac in spots before filling the cracks with CA glue to keep the glue from soaking into the wood.
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Red Mallee burl with natural burl figuring. This was extremely difficult for me to get the "perfect cut" when nearly half the circumference was a void. I got it now, and only a little hand sanding starting at 240gt ought to finish the exterior. Fingers crossed! :)

=o=
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Odie said:
Red Mallee burl with natural burl figuring. This was extremely difficult for me to get the "perfect cut" when nearly half the circumference was a void. I got it now, and only a little hand sanding starting at 240gt ought to finish the exterior. Fingers crossed! :)

=o=
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Super cool piece and can't wait to see if finished. I'm curious, what's the wall thickness on something like that?
 
John Kananis said:
Super cool piece and can't wait to see if finished. I'm curious, what's the wall thickness on something like that?
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Hopefully about 1/4" or so, but avoiding breaking through to the other side will be the object here. I've done a few like this, and sometimes it can be pretty thick in places. I plan to undercut the rim as much as possible, so that can get a little tricky!

This piece has frustrated me a couple of times and it returned to the shelf to contemplate it.....so, hopefully I can get this one done soon without any further complications.

=o=
 
Technically still on the lathe. Don’t know if anyone else does this but I have a tendency to let bowls pile up on my finish rack before applying the last coat and removing the tenon. A couple of these were sold last week even though they were not completed and several need to go to the gallery, so I decided to put the last coat of oils on them and finish them this week. I still have 25 on the rack waiting for me to put the last coat on.
Row on the lathe has had 2-3 coats of T&T Danish oil and this is the last coat which is T&T Original with the beeswax. I’ll wipe it down in a hour, let it set for a day or two, burnish, remove tenon, and dry buff.
Others are maple with 2-3 coats of Mahoney’s Walnut oil and final coat of Mahoney’s oil wax. I’ve found that if I leave this on for a day or two, wipe it off with a soft cloth, and dry buff I get a better sheen on the bowl.


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David Wyke said:
Technically still on the lathe. Don’t know if anyone else does this but I have a tendency to let bowls pile up on my finish rack before applying the last coat and removing the tenon. A couple of these were sold last week even though they were not completed and several need to go to the gallery, so I decided to put the last coat of oils on them and finish them this week. I still have 25 on the rack waiting for me to put the last coat on.
Row on the lathe has had 2-3 coats of T&T Danish oil and this is the last coat which is T&T Original with the beeswax. I’ll wipe it down in a hour, let it set for a day or two, burnish, remove tenon, and dry buff.
Others are maple with 2-3 coats of Mahoney’s Walnut oil and final coat of Mahoney’s oil wax. I’ve found that if I leave this on for a day or two, wipe it off with a soft cloth, and dry buff I get a better sheen on the bowl.


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Beautiful work, David! I do something like this because I like to burnish or friction polish in some oil finishes at speed on the lathe.
 
Aaron Harris said:
Beautiful work, David! I do something like this because I like to burnish or friction polish in some oil finishes at speed on the lathe.
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I buff the large bowls on the lathe but if they’re a size that I can buff with the Beall system I use it. With the Beall I just use the wax wheel but don’t apply any wax just let it heat up the oil and wax mixture.
 
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