What’s on your lathe?

[David Anliker]

something different. a Styrofoam cannon, five feet by 14" at the bottom.
museum has received 19 cannons from a river dredge project and wants to display them. at 1200 lbs. each they don't move easy.
so, make a light sample for a display rack till they decide how. Will be covered and painted.
started as 20 x 20 block five feet long on a 3x3 wood spindle. used a chain saw to reduce it then a skew to shape it and sandpaper to finish.
a blower took care of clean up.

 

[Dan Wiggin]

something different. a Styrofoam cannon, five feet by 14" at the bottom.
museum has received 19 cannons from a river dredge project and wants to display them. at 1200 lbs. each they don't move easy.
so, make a light sample for a display rack till they decide how. Will be covered and painted.
started as 20 x 20 block five feet long on a 3x3 wood spindle. used a chain saw to reduce it then a skew to shape it and sandpaper to finish.
a blower took care of clean up.

Very cool!

 

[Dan Wiggin]

Cored my Mahogany blanks from yesterday. Ready for the anchor seal!

 

[John K Jordan]

No template on cardboard.

If you want to duplicate a shape a template is ok. I made one before turning a bunch of eggs. We have chickens (and peacocks, and guineas, etc.) and I've seen a lot of turned eggs that didn't look egg quite right. So I picked what looked to me like a "typical" egg from the chicken house. (Note that eggs naturally have some variation.)

After considering some methods to make a template I mounted a tiny, bright LED light high on the ceiling, put the egg on a piece of paper, then traced the shadow outline with a pencil. Cut that out and first made a template.



Here's a wooden chicken egg and a wooden peafowl egg:



HOWEVER, for me profile templates can be a pain to use compared to a story stick: Measure the distance of the key features of a model from one end and make marks on a thin, flat piece of wood.

Can keep one prototype at hand and set the caliper to the key diameters after marking the positions on the rounded blank. Or shape one edge of the flat story stick to set the calipers directly at each key. If making only one or two duplicates it's quicker to just write down the diameters and set the sizing caliper from a scale or something. That's what I did for a one-of-a-kind custom handle for a friend who tunes my piano.



This is the type of cheap caliper I use for sizing any spindle since the jaws are thin and fit easily into a parting tool groove. (The lower one does not yet have the corners on the jaws rounded over.)



JKJ

 

[David Wyke]

Turned the first two pieces of Persimmon this morning should finish out at 13-3/4” x 10-3/4” x 7”. Found the black pith when I split the wood.
Someone said turn it thin because it is prone to crack so this one is 1/8” in thickness. I turned the second bowl (not pictured) 1/4” to compare.
I put a light under the bowl to show the thickness and will sand a little this afternoon or tomorrow morning, still very wet and flexible. I may CA the bark tomorrow also as the cambium layer seems fairly firm.

 

[Dan Wiggin]

Turned the first two pieces of Persimmon this morning should finish out at 13-3/4” x 10-3/4” x 7”. Found the black pith when I split the wood.
Someone said turn it thin because it is prone to crack so this one is 1/8” in thickness. I turned the second bowl (not pictured) 1/4” to compare.
I put a light under the bowl to show the thickness and will sand a little this afternoon or tomorrow morning, still very wet and flexible. I may CA the bark tomorrow also as the cambium layer seems fairly firm.

View attachment 86339

View attachment 86338


View attachment 86337

David, I hope you post a pic when this is finished! It’s beautiful!

 

[Jay Peterson]

Honey Locust. 2 1/2 inches deep by 5 3/4 wide. Not sanded yet.

 

[David Wyke]

David, I hope you post a pic when this is finished! It’s beautiful!

I’ll be sure and post a picture but it may be a while as I’m a little slack finishing bowls. I have about 12 bowls and 3-4 hollow forms in various stages of finish. I go to the shop to complete the finish and end up turning instead of completing the finial finish

 

[Joel Daniels]

A Richard Raffan inspired box. Birch. 1 7/8” x 7 3/4” tall.

 

[Michael Anderson]

Tiny little Sycamore egg I just made for a whimsical project.

 

[Curt Vogt]

Tiny little Sycamore egg I just made for a whimsical project.

And being in Tennessee, do you have a snow shovel to help scoop out all those piles of wood chips?

 

[Michael Anderson]

Another little birdie dropped off this Canarywood egg for a different project. Must be migration season.

 

[John K Jordan]

Another little birdie dropped off this Canarywood egg for a different project. Must be migration season.

View attachment 86362

Ooo, ooo, now make one from Kingwood - one of my favorite species! And olive. And lignum vitae. And, goncolo alves. And purple spectra ply... (help me I can't stop)

Those are small! Will you now start making hummingbird eggs?

 

[Ted Pelfrey]

Another little birdie dropped off this Canarywood egg for a different project. Must be migration season.

View attachment 86362

Loving these tiny little eggs! Keep us posted the the project they are meant for.

 

[Tom Gall]

Tiny little Sycamore egg I just made for a whimsical project.

View attachment 86353

Didn't know Sycamores laid eggs !?!
Also didn't know that a Canary can lay a wooden egg. Sorry!
Are these for another "egg-ceptional" project?

 

[Michael Anderson]

Ooo, ooo, now make one from Kingwood - one of my favorite species! And olive. And lignum vitae. And, goncolo alves. And purple spectra ply... (help me I can't stop)

Those are small! Will you now start making hummingbird eggs?

Funny you mention the purple spectraply, I almost made one out of green and blue, but didn’t fit the plan. For the future though!

Would be cool to make a few little hummingbird eggs. Vegetable ivory could be a good material for that. On the to-do list!

I have that little piece of Kingwood you gave me a while back. Still reserved for the future project. On a related note, last month I was in NC for a demo and visited a wood dealer Catawba). They had old Kingwood cants that were probably 8” square and 4 feet long. A pallet full. Couldn’t believe it when they told me the species. Don’t dare ask the price of one—would have been WAY out of my range.

Loving these tiny little eggs! Keep us posted the the project they are meant for.

Thanks Ted—will do!!

 

[Michael Anderson]

Didn't know Sycamores laid eggs !?!
Also didn't know that a Canary can lay a wooden egg. Sorry!
Are these for another "egg-ceptional" project?

Hahaha, we’re on the same page there. Chose the canary wood for the “canary” Sycamore is just a cool wood that may or may not be the one I use (might turn a small Holly egg instead). We’ll see. Hollys lay eggs right?

 

[Mark Fairchild]

13x6 Maple. Will finish with T&T Danish. Largest of a set of 4 cored bowls. Picked these up from Cutabovebowl co. Great folks to deal with.

 

[John K Jordan]

Funny you mention the purple spectraply, I almost made one out of green and blue, but didn’t fit the plan. For the future though!

I think I have 17 color combinations of spectra ply if you want a certain color. And acrylic, if you spot an acrylic bird but it laid the egg too high in the tree to steal. I took advantage of the supply of spectra ply Pete Kekel brought to a symposium Sometimes I cut out an angled piece before turning. I've considered gluing two 2x2s together to make an extra wide piece to cut at a more of an angle.



Do you remember Dymondwood? I loved that stuff and used it often. When I checked into getting more I heard the factory had burned down. It was kind of like spectraply but almost looked like a glued stack of veneer was veneer-sliced again on an angle then reglued. Very unique patterns. I don't have even a gram of that stuff left.

The two wands in the center are DymondWood; the shaft of one on the second pic.


These are all from LONG time ago when I started experimenting with wands. Just went crazy and tried everything I could imagine. It's still fun to look at some of the early designs when I feel I'm in a rut and need a shot of inspiration.

They had old Kingwood cants that were probably 8” square and 4 feet long. A pallet full. Couldn’t believe it when they told me the species. Don’t dare ask the price of one—would have been WAY out of my range.

Hey, maybe we could go in on one together. I'm scheduled for a demo near Charlotte, looks like Catawba Timber is not far out of the way if I get off 40 at Morganton. Prices of these things have gone sky high. I stopped a local dealer a couple of years ago and they wanted $600 for a small cocobolo log, maybe 6" dia, round with the pith and sapwood, maybe 4' long, wasn't even a decent cant. If that's the going price for rosewoods I'd better invest in a bigger safe and lock up the rest of mine. And list it in my will in case I kick off suddenly!

Did I mention I LOVE Kingwood? I like the purple/brown color, the texture, the feel, the way it turns and sands - one of my favorite rosewoods. And I can't believe I gave you even a small piece - I'm REAL stingy with it.

The handle of the short conductors baton here, a "finger baton," is Kingwood.
(custom batons are VERY popular with all kinds of conductors - I'm glad I don't like making things to sell or I'd stay too busy to stop and eat.)
From the top: dogwood, olive, kingwood, ebony/ebony, cocobolo.


JKJ

 

[Robert Lindstadt]

Another wig stand in progress on the head part got a coat of poly on it so can do a little filling on some low spots I can seem to turn out or sand out.