Quaking aspen burl, was pretty punky on one side so I had to try all kinds of things to turn it without a lot of tearout. Used thin ca in some spots, shellac until I ran out (can was almost empty), then used the wood hardener. I saturated it with danish oil for the last cut, then wet sanded with danish oil. Probably will put another coat or two of danish oil on it. It was almost too far gone to turn.
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What’s on your lathe?
- Thread starter Rusty Nesmith
- Start date
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
Removed some tenons off of some cherry bowls and roughed out a small platter/plate blank this morning. The platter blank looks like it will have some nice grain. I had forgotten about it and hadn’t sealed it so it was air drying for a month or more but fortunately hadn’t cracked.
Mark Hepburn
Artist & Chef
Really looking good, David.
How thick do you rough out your platter David? What size is the one you posted? I have 2 walnut crotch pieces sitting in the garage sealed and freshly cut around 3 inches thick that I just cut the pith out of. Haven't cut is circular or anything yet, not sure what to do with them but the grain is awesome.
This quarter sawn platter measures around 12-1/4” and should finish around 12” I try to leave 3/4 to 1” on the lip and 1 to 1-1/4” in thickness, depending on the size and spices of wood. This maple was a little dryer since the blanket had been air drying a month or two.
I’m roughing this one out like Mike Mahoney does, I’ll put it back on once dry using the worm screw again and put the mortise on and finish turn the back before flipping around.
Working on an aromatic cedar bowl, this is with sanding sealer, oil and lacquer. Need the finish polished and the inside done.
Thanks for the info David. So if my platter is 18 inch round should make it about 1.75 -2 inches thick with a lip of 1.5 wide?
It depends on your experience with the movement of walnut in your area. I don’t experience a lot of movement with walnut, in most cases. I have had a few bowls, maybe 10% move quite a lot. I think you would be safe with that.
Congratulations! Superb!
Nice bowl to start with! Welcome to the vortex! 
I haven’t turned a leather inlayed bowl in a long time. 12”x4” Maple. The leather medallion has been fitted bottom center. Base is dyed black as the tooled leather band around the rim will have a black background. Now the real work begins!
Kevin Jesequel
TOTW Team
I’ve never used it either. Curious to see how it looks finished up. Form looks great!
I just learned about it at last Woodturner meeting. It’s an epoxy putty. Mix equal portions in your fingers for 5 minutes and it’s like wood putty, fills cracks well. Will see if it sands as well as they say. Amazon had a 6 pack of the various colors. We will see!
First day on lathe in 3 weeks and haven’t made a bowl forever so I did this one. Not sure of the wood—canary? 8 1/2 inch diameter. 
Popple lampshade (sconces actually, thus the small base).
I’ve seen it, never tried it. Interested in seeing how it turns out!
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14" beech platter with a just little bit of spalting. Came from a huge tree that came down at a local school, so it will be donated to their yearly auction.
A beauty. Let’s see it finished—and a side view.
Tom Gall
TOTW Team
I think you will like it. Received a "swap piece" with a black & white Milliput band 8 years ago. Still very smooth edges and no movement where it meets the wood. If you just filled cracks you may have a different result because of the depth of the material - don't know. I bought some after that but never used it.
Aromatic cedar dish, next step finish the bottom. Surprising thing about this batch of wood was very little shrinkage. It must have done it all after the tree died and before it fell. It was a monster tree, upper half broke off and landed in the drive at the nature sanctuary nearby. That part was darn near two feet thick.
That’s a beautiful piece of wood!!
I’ve turned a lot of eastern red cedar and all I’ve turned has moved very little.
Had to apply a second batch as some didn’t stay in place after I sanded. Happens sometimes with regular epoxy so I’m not too concerned. Color is easy to match since it’s equal parts of both compounds. Sanded easily. Judgment reserved.
lucky you to get a big supply of that gorgeous wood. Looks like you did it justice! Wow!
I did some inlay on a cane and the other day I noticed it had popped out. Lesson learned, undercut it as much as you can.
Sam did you happen to get any photos of that qtr saw sycamore platter you showed here awhile back finished. I'd love to see it if you did.
I've had a heck of a time getting my WM mill running like it should but after lots of work, lots of frustration and having defective parts replaced I've finally got it running like it should. I hope to get some sycamore soon to qtr saw.
Here's the first walnut slabs I milled on it and the very first log, spalted maple.
Here's the first walnut slabs I milled on it and the very first log, spalted maple.
Love it, thank you!
Some cherry slabs I milled.
And some walnut slabs. Forgive me, I know this isn't stuff "on the lathe" but it's purdy 
wood and it's what will be going on the lathe.
I'm excited to have a mill for processing my logs for turning after years of dreaming of owning one.
If any of you are close I'm happy to share. I've got skid after skid of slabs and hope to get more of a variety of species this winter. Right now I just have Pear, Cherry, Walnut and spalted Maple.
wood and it's what will be going on the lathe.I'm excited to have a mill for processing my logs for turning after years of dreaming of owning one.
If any of you are close I'm happy to share. I've got skid after skid of slabs and hope to get more of a variety of species this winter. Right now I just have Pear, Cherry, Walnut and spalted Maple.
You make me want to fire up my Woodmizer (LT-15). I already have a pile of logs but at some construction nearby I saw a huge cherry on the ground (a burl on one side) destined for the burn pile, and a couple of big walnut trees they'll prob knock down. I usually saw for barn and shed siding but when I get good big wood I like to cut 3" and 4" slabs, air dry and cut into turning blanks.
I have an excavator and skid steer with a grapple now which makes it SO much easier to handle logs and slabs.
Hey, did you ever saw "rainbow poplar"? Someone brought me a log which had a deep "groove" down one side - they said it was walnut. Cutting into it I realized it was lightning-struck yellow poplar which can leave a variety of colors including deep purple.
JKJ
Nice, my brother has an LT15. Lot's of difference in the US made WM mills and the Poland made ones... quality control issues at least. My brother has had "0" issues with his but all I've had is trouble with mine. If I had it to do over again I'd save until I had enough for a US made one for sure. All that said it sure beats the heck out of milling your blanks with a chainsaw! LOL All I'll be sawing is slabs for turning blanks, I don't have any desire to saw lumber for the public especially with a manual mill.
All I have for moving the logs is my small tractor, without a front end loader. It struggles with bigger logs but I manage.
I have milled some poplar with my chainsaws but not with the new mill yet. Yes sir, it makes some beautiful wood. My brother actually told me he had several poplar trees that needed to come down if I wanted them. Apparently him feeding his cows around them killed them. I don't have any property of my own to harvest logs from but seems someone just about always has a tree down that they offer me and I hate to see any good wood go to waste.
Thanks for the feedback John, It's good to know someone else that uses a mill for their turning blanks.
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just burning a few lines/ beads. This 4" lidded bowl will have 3000 beads in it, that is if it makes it ( i have re cut the outside now 3 times and the inside twice already) . This one is cotton wood and the beads are 1/16", between the top and bottom there are 30 rows of beads and 100 segments. There is a surprise inside that was turned on a homemade rose engine lathe ( the box is pictured on the rose engine lathe here), its easier for me to do the burning on it than on my regular lathe. By the way this piece has now jumped back and forth from lathe to rose engine of over a dozen times and i am not done yet. The plan is to add an African black wood finial,still to be turned and i i still have to turn the inside of the lid.
Attachments
I don't know where mine was made - I bought it new not long after we bought this property in 2003. Bought one extra section so it will handle a 16' log. The thing came by FedEx! (We have 27 acres and lots of trees, and I've been taking down some by the house and driveway.) The first equipment I got was a Kubota tractor and used it for a log time with skidding tongs to pull logs (welded chain hooks on the bucket and drove backwards to maneuver through the woods.)
I had forks and could sent a log gently on the sawmill then offload the boards and slabs back onto the forks. Also used an old John Deere wheeled skid steer for a long time, then saved up 10 years to buy the trackhoe. Later added the tracked loader/skid steer. Life is good!
When friends who turned green bowls wanted short log sections cut into blanks, I devised a way to hold them to cut out the pith and make flats - make an L-shaped support from two 2x boards and some big lag screws. Lets me support and clamp short pieces for sawing. The end of "L" support is sacrificed but one is long enough to cut up a bunch of chunks.
I love to turn cedar so when I'd get a nice ERC log I'd sometimes cut and sticker slabs, good for shallow bowls, platters, an zillions of spindles!
I'll saw thicker for wood to make hollow forms, vases, etc. I prefer to turn smaller things and almost always from dry wood. ERC us SO easy to dry and incredibly stable.
When cutting logs for making turning blanks to dry, I usually use the shop bandsaw. (Made a video on the process.)
But the real fun is when I get wood that turners from the club can use. A neighbor down the hill had a big maple taken down and even the branches were big enough to use - lots of nice crotches too. It's great to have the machine to hold a log for easy sawing, then be able to gently set the chunks into their truck or trailer. I'm holding the log below at the far end so this friend could easily cut pieces all the way down the log.
I use the dump trailer in the background to bring the logs to the farm, stack them in my front field for easy access from the county road, the club sends out an email, and people start showing up. Makes anchorsealing the ends easier too. I don't always use the sawmill for this but it still puts wood to good use that would otherwise probably rot or be burned.
And occasionally someone who has never operated such a machine like this can get a lesson. (I find the most enthusiastic people are teen girls - for some reason they NEVER get the offers to learn to operate a skid steer or excavator! What a shame...)
JKJ
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