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What’s on your lathe?

Over this past month I have been working through some of the old unmade pen kits I have had laying around. Photo is from tonight with a second USAF theme pen just completed on the lathe. I will match it up with a Sierra style kit to match the other US Armed Forces themed pens. The Curly Maple pen is a modified slimline without the center band.
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A little while back @John K Jordan gave me a really nice chunk of super dry Black Cherry. Found a calabash bowl inside. Will be about 7.5” diam and 4.5” tall. I have been mostly turning small things lately, so even though this isn’t too big, hollowing the bottom of the bowl was challenging. Knocking off the rust haha. Beautiful piece of Cherry. Thanks John!

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I’m planning on making some cutting boards and charcuterie boards this summer and working on a cutting board design I can make on the lathe.
This is my first attempt and figuring out the best process.
This one is made from KD hickory, measures 1-1/2” thick, 15-1/2 total diameter, and 12-3/8” cutting surface with juice groove. The outside rim is 1/16” lower than the cutting surface to prevent the knife from hitting the edge. I put a little curve on the edge to help with picking it up and a foot on the bottom.
I wet the surface to raise the grain and will finish sand and oil tomorrow.

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A little while back @John K Jordan gave me a really nice chunk of super dry Black Cherry. Found a calabash bowl inside. Will be about 7.5” diam and 4.5” tall. I have been mostly turning small things lately, so even though this isn’t too big, hollowing the bottom of the bowl was challenging. Knocking off the rust haha. Beautiful piece of Cherry. Thanks John!

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That’s a nice looking bowl. I’ve never turned a calabash for some reason but now I want to try one, and it’s your fault😁
 
A little while back @John K Jordan gave me a really nice chunk of super dry Black Cherry. Found a calabash bowl inside. Will be about 7.5” diam and 4.5” tall. I have been mostly turning small things lately, so even though this isn’t too big, hollowing the bottom of the bowl was challenging. Knocking off the rust haha. Beautiful piece of Cherry. Thanks John!

View attachment 86503
Very pretty, and nice chunk of wood. Is it a “calabash” to KD standards? I don’t detect the traditional inflection point of the inward curve as it nears the rim. Please don’t read *any* negativity into my question :)
 
4x7 Manzanita burl. A very hard, dry and dusty monster. Outer shape distorted as I hollowed it out to just under 5/32".
Nice! I haven’t turned Manzanita before, but I like it every time I see it.

@David Wyke oh no, my condolences. Don’t catch the calabash bug! Haha, kidding, go for it. Would love to see one.

@Ron Solfest thank you! Made me chuckle a tad bit. This would be what Kelly calls a Pat Kramer style calabash. I’m planning to some embellishment on the outside, and for that I prefer the closed style (at least for my plan).
 
Ok. Nothing spectacular, and not on the lathe, but fresh off. I got a few small sections of a small, fallen Sassafras and decided to see if cross sections would make interesting mushroom caps. I made the mistake of watching Mike Peace turn some mushrooms and thought here's a project I could be able to have some fun with. As mentioned the caps are Sassafras and the stems are Paper Birch which I've had since dirt was new. I might make a few more - they are addictive (but I presume not harmful).

Cheers.

Barry W. Larson
Calgary, Alberta, Canada eh!
 

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