Hiatus

I'll be otherwise occupied for the next week, and will not be able to do any turning or blogging. I've got some blanks drying after a DNA soak though, so expect some finished pieces soon.

Beech dish

After fighting with a beech blank earlier this week, I wasn't thrilled about trying more. This time it went much more smoothly, though. I've gotten the general procedure down for bowl turning and my cutting technique is improving, so that makes a big difference.

This is a small (4" dia.) dish, with a pedestal base and "birdbath" top. I turned this wet and tried the microwave drying method. I nuked it for 2 minutes, then 4 more, then 3 more. It was seriously warped after that, and although I'm sure it wasn't completely dry inside, I hoped that most of the warping was done.

I chucked it and did the final turning, sanding, and finishing (Liberon). I'm getting better at reverse-chucking on a jamb to do the foot, but I think I might buy a vacuum chuck to get the tailstock out of the way and be able to do a really nice job on the bottom.

I haven't seen any movement in this yet (overnight) so cross your fingers.

Shallow maple dish

Monday night I fought with that beech blank some more, until I broke one bowl I was turning wet (got too thin) and I made one rough-turned bowl to soak in the denatured alcohol for drying. It was a struggle, because the wood is just so hard.

Tuesday, I turned a shallow maple dish (5.5" dia.) and made a bowl blank for DNA soaking and finishing later. The wet maple turned very nicely, and this was a crotch location, giving nice grain patterns. The bowl blank really shows the crotch pattern well. In a day or so, the dish warped like hell (didn't expect that much warping, but oh well) and these photos were taken after warping.

Bags o' blanks

After hauling all that wood home on Saturday, then next logical step is to cut it up, right? I took the chainsaw back out on Sunday and started cutting blanks. With a bit of practice, and some trial and error on getting the block to sit still, cutting octagonal blanks with a chainsaw is not too hard. I've been debating buying a bandsaw to cut round blanks, but I'd need something that could do depths on the order of 10 inches. The cost of a bandsaw with that capacity is prohibitive, and not really worthwhile if it's only for rounding out the blanks. With a roughing gouge, I can carefully true the octagonal blanks before I begin shaping.

I cut the following blanks yesterday, all approx. 9" diameter x 10" height:

• 2 locust
• 4 maple
• 3 beech

so I'll have plenty of rough turning to do this week. I cut them tall because the logs allowed, and I'd like to do some deeper vessels. I can always cut one in half to make 2 shorter bowls if I want. All the blanks went in paper bags to stay moist until I can rough-turn them.

I started roughing a beech blank that looks (so far) to be nicely figured. I purposely cut the blank from beneath a location where a 6" branch had been trimmed so I could take advantage of the grain pattern underneath. All I can saw so far is that the beech is really hard, so I should get used to doing a lot of sharpening. I shaped the outside last night, and I'll rough-out the inside tonight or tomorrow. When it's done with the rough turning, I'll post pictures so you can see what the grain looks like inside and out.

Ring holder

I turned a ring holder for the wife tonight. Very simple, made of oak. You may be thinking "why the hell would he use oak for something that small?" It's called "rescued firewood."

New haul of green wood

Today I cut and hauled 3 carloads of wood from a neighbors house. They took down a beech and a locust this week and left some for me. Well, they left a 10 foot trunk section of each, and they were each 20"+ in diameter. I took my chainsaw, and spent most of the afternoon cutting, loading, hauling, unloading, and cutting some more. I also figured it wouldn't be very nice to leave a 4 inch bed of shavings on their lawn, so I cleaned that up with a rake, leaf bags and shop-vac. I took the shavings home to line a path to the woodpile, and it wound up being 2 leaf bags full plus 4 times of filling the 16 gallon shop-vac.

I put the wood together with the massive pile of maple that I got last week and put a tarp over it (actually it took 2 tarps) to slow the drying. I'm not patient enough to put sealer on all of it, so I'll deal with the checking and rough-turn as much as I can as soon as I can. So far I've not had any trouble taking checked logs that have sat for a while and just cutting off the ends. I'll cross my fingers for continued luck.

Rest day?

No turning tonight. Besides being bitterly cold outside (and almost that cold in the garage), I've being running on very little sleep this week. I'm resting up for tomorrow, because in addition to the usual family stuff I'm going to section and haul the beech and locust logs that my neighbors saved for me. That beech is really heavy. Ugh.

Busted knuckles and a broken bowl

Tonight I turned the cherry bowl shown here. I used a screw faceplate from the top, turned the outside, shaped the foot, and then sanded and finished the foot and outside. So far so good.

I took it off the faceplate and put a 4-jaw chuck on the foot. I used a bit of old thin t-shirt to cushion the finished foot. I started turning the inside, got one catch, and the chuck let go. So I removed the cloth and cranked the chuck as tight as possible deciding that I would have to refinish the foot. Well, the chuck let go two more times on subsequent catches (not major catches, I might add) and then the third time the bowl cracked when it landed.

4 hours and 3 busted knuckles later, I've got a cracked, partially finished bowl that should have and could have been really nice. Again, I can learn from the mistakes, and I got to try a few new things too. I just wish I'd gone three for three. I've got to get better at chucking and at not catching when I'm turning the inside of the bowl.

Update: This morning, after hearing this, my 5 year-old daughter said: "Daddy, next time don't do the cracking part, OK? Don't do the part where the bowl flies away!" I love how kids can boil things down to amazingly simple terms.

Second finished bowl

I made another small bowl, start to finish, tonight in about 2 hours. I used oak, which I think I hate. It has a very open wide grain, which doesn't lend itself to small bowls with thin walls. I does have a nice natural stain though (you can see the black streaks in the photo). I finished this the same way that I did the cherry, but the cherry really takes the finish better.

Speaking of thin, I measured the wall thickness at about 1/16", which is not too shabby. In this photo you can see the translucence.

This bowl has a few unsightly tool marks, but if you just turn it the right way on the shelf, they're not so obvious! I enjoyed the shaping, and I like the concept. The wife says it looks more balanced than the cherry one, which I agree with. I made a point to try a shallow footless bowl with thin walls, and considering that every time I try an oak piece I break it, I think this was at least successful as a learning experience. And besides, you can enjoy the shape from across the room as long as you're not close enough to see the tool marks.

First finished bowl

I completed my first successful bowl. It was the natural edge cherry bowl, but I broke the top off so it became a slightly shorter non-natural edge cherry bowl. I turned the bowl mostly wet (I could hear it creaking after it was thin), sanded up to 12000 grit, applied polish, applied wax, and then parted off and finished the bottom.

I must say, I'm rather impressed and feeling confident after screwing up so many. (I broke 3 half turned bowls tonight.) This first finished piece is a gift for my wife that convinced me to try turning in the first place. Thanks!

And now I'm going to bed.

More progress

I tried to do the final turning on the unfinished oak bowl. Well, it turns out I didn't leave enough wall thickness, and the whole thing ripped out with one bad catch. Note to self: leave thicker edges in rough-turned bowls!



I finished rough-turning the inside of the cherry bowl, and I'm happy so far. The bark is holding on well for the natural edge, so cross your fingers. It's been soaked in alcohol, and is now drying before final turning.



I had abandoned a small cedar blank because of a huge knot, but I decided to give it another go. I rough-turned the inside, and the grain is gorgeous. Hopefully I can superglue the knot for final turning, and it will turn out ok. The wall isn't too thick, so I'm a bit concerned about the final dry turning, but we'll see. It's been soaked, and is now drying.

Setting up shop

I made some progress setting up my shop (i.e. part of the garage) this weekend. I hung plastic sheeting to section off the dusty zone, cleaned up the rest of the garage, and added some shelf space for tools and unfinished pieces. This picture shows the tool rack I made by putting a set of holes in some old Ikea shelves that we weren't using anymore. It works well, because I can see the tips to identify the tools, unlike when they're in the tool roll.

The vacuum has been working great for cleaning up, but I'm still working on a method to mount the hose as a duct collector.

Score!

Saturday, I was driving home and saw a tree being removed from a front yard which the homeowner said was maple. Apparently the sewer folks hit a root and it was dying. The tree crew was just leaving, and the whole thing was sectioned at the curb. I took a variety of sizes, and filled the car of course.

As if that wasn't enough wood for one weekend, I heard a chipper down the street this morning. I ran down to salvage some pieces, and found the tree crew taking out a tall Beech tree. The crew leader said he'd leave a few trunk pieces for me. It's like I hit the lottery, and the weirdest part is that I'm not the only lucky one lately: my knitting crazed wife had two huge boxes of unordered yarn arrive at our door last week. At least I get to keep my winnings.

Where art thou?

Sorry folks, the day job's been a bit crazy this week.

I picked up a 16 gallon shop vac this weekend, and I'll be doing some shop cleanup ASAP. I also plan on making a wide entry duct for the hose to use it as a dust/chip collector during turning and sanding. To help, I got a very cool power switch adapter that senses current to the lathe (or other tool) and turns on the vac (or other accessory) only when the lathe is on. Slick!

Wow... lots of updates

A lot has happened since my last post. I'll try to summarize in chronological order...

1. I got the switch from Jet and installed it with no problem. Back in business....
2. I went to a meeting of a local woodturning club that's just starting, and I met some folks that have been at it for a long time. The shop where the meeting was held had a 10% off sale on meeting days, so I left with calipers, a finishing kit, and a sanding kit with grits from 60 to 12000 (yes, that's twelve thousand). While there, a guy gave me two huge logs of cherry that he had in his truck. Sweet!
3. I turned the outside of the cedar blank that I was trying before the switch broke. I looked good, but I left it uncovered indoors overnight and it was cracked in half by morning. Crap!
4. I set up and learned how to use my Tormek Supergrind. It's a wet slow grinder for sharpening anything, and the jigs make it very repeatable. I was very happy with the results.
   
5. I rough-turned a bowl from the oak that we collected. I finally got a good rough product after it flew off the lathe twice (thus demonstrating the hard way not to chuck freshly wet oak in a 4-jaw chuck). After 3 different chucking attempts, I finally sacrificed a bit of material and used a screw chuck. Unlike the cedar, this bowl soaked in alcohol and is now drying in a controlled fashion. It should be ready for final turning next week. (I think the black streaks may be spalting, but I'm not sure.)
   
6. I attempted to make my daughter a spinning top from oak, but was almost done when I learned that wet oak is not very strong when it's thin and you get a catch. Oh well...
7. I tried to rough-out the other cedar bowl blank but found a HUGE knot that was unavoidable. Oh well....
8. I shaped two beautiful bowl blanks from the cherry log; both are about 9 inches across and 8 inched tall. LOTS of material to work with. I did all the shaping with a chainsaw this time to get the maximum diameter that my lathe can hold, rather than turning a square that diagonally fits the lathe and winding up with a smaller rounded blank. I rough-turned the outside of one blank, and will turn the inside tomorrow. It will be a natural edge, and the symmetry and grain pattern are beautiful. Now I just have to manage not to screw it up.
9. I heard at the meeting about some black cherry available nearby, so I may go get some tomorrow.

Phew! I'll try not to wait so long between posts next time. I'll post pictures of the roughed-out cherry bowl when I finish the inside.

Generations

My son (9) and I went log hunting on Tuesday afternoon. He was really enthusiastic, and wanted to help me get "just the right piece." Let's back up...

A few days earlier, he had seen my first turning attempt and declared that he wanted to try it too. I told him that he could try turning with my help, and he was really excited. (I'm not sure yet how exactly I'm going to safely encourage his interest, but I don't want to discourage him from trying his hand at woodworking either.)

... so we're at the giant power company log pile (most of which is rotten, heavily cracked, pine, cedar, or some combination of the above) and he's running & climbing all over the place looking for the "right size" piece for him to turn. I shifted his focus a bit by explaining about cutting smaller blanks from larger logs, and about wood types and problematic symptoms to avoid.

We wound up taking a nice size log that I believe is oak, and brought it home for some trimming. Then he got to watch me hack it to pieces with the chainsaw! (arguably his favorite but most feared part) I explained each cut, how we're trimming the ends to get past the smaller cracks, and how we're avoiding the hollowed pith. We talked about grain direction, and spindle blanks vs. bowl blanks. Not only did he fully understand the concepts, he was actually interested.

We wound up with 2 good bowl blanks and one spindle blank that he wants to turn into a trophy with a Mario Brothers (Nintendo) mushroom character on top. He's such a creative kid that it's great to see him have an opportunity to explore a new medium. I'm glad that he got to witness the transformation of a log in a pile into a set of turnable blanks for a planned project. More importantly, I enjoyed sharing that process with him and knowing that he learned something new as a result.

New domain!

I've officially moved to www.beadsandcoves.com. Please update bookmarks and rss feeds.

5 days!

I ordered the replacement switch from Jet today. They'll send it without any issue, but they said it can take up to 5 days! Ugh. More patience.....

Community

I have to give props to the folks on the message boards at the Woodturner's Resource. I've found it to be a great place to ask all sorts of questions. I'll announce that I'm a complete beginner, and not get one condescending remark. Everyone is friendly and helpful. I look forward to asking all of my stupid questions, and I know I'll get many great responses. Already, I learned a ton about the best ways to dry bowl blanks. (The general consensus is that Dave Smith's alcohol soaking method is the way to go. I won't get into the details, but you can find them here.)

I set up my compressor today, and I didn't realize how helpful it's going to be with blowing the sawdust out of my shop. It made my cleanup go very quickly. I also ripped (lengthwise) the other log I got from the power company (did I mention that I love my new chainsaw?), and I'm looking for help identifying the species. It has some ineresting darker streaks running through it, and the general grain pattern looks nice to. Hopefully it will turn well and produce a nice bowl.

Meanwhile, I'm cleaning the garage/shop while I wait for Jet to open tomorrow so I can order the replacement switch for my lathe. It's hard being patient.

Update: Damn, looks like the species above is eastern white pine, which is soft and prone to cracking due to wide rings from fast growth.