I had to keep looking at the failed bowl everyday and being tenacious like I am, I had to do something about it. I re-chucked that thing and started turning and very successfully — I was feeling vindicated right up until I tried to clean up the glue line. At that point another ear broke off and I decided to lose the natural edge. Everything else worked after that. Another time for that natural edge look that I am so fond of.More Views and comments
As I say all the time, I’ll turn anything and when a friend brought me a piece of persimmon tree I thought, why not. Well, it’s not for everyone is it? I found a lot of knots and voids — some going all the way though. I had turned this several weeks ago an left it sitting on my bench to be thrown away. I rechucked it this weekend to practice turning a thin bowl since my last one turned out just fine. No problems with the thinness — just a problem with the look. But if everyone judged on looks I would probably still be single.
No, not an LP but rather an old piece of oak I found out in the back of the shop. I normally don’t like oak but I needed to get rid of it and it was turn it or turn it into trash. This would make a nice little platter to put some finger foods on at a party or something like that. About 10″ in diameter and the first platter I have turned. I did use a bit of Minwax Cabernet stain on it although I usually don’t like stains. (I do play with dyes a bit though) Finished with lacquer and wax.
I kept looking at the bowl I broke and really wanted to finish it to see how that apple going to look (in the future when it’s actually dry.) It occurred to me that I could cut out the damaged section and insert a nice new piece of wood in there.More Views and comments
I had not tried one of the “spiny” urchin shells and happened to find a nice store with tons of shells down in Chincoteague this week. With the irregular surface on this it was hard to get a “gap-free” fit but the overall look is pretty good. I wish I had picked up a couple more while down there (but there’s always the on-line stores!)
I have made a ton of these urchin sea shell ornaments. The key to making these spectacular is a delicate finial. I had seen some done that were balky looking so I kept turning ’til I was satisfied This particular is made from teak since we generate a lot of scrap teak down at the yard but have have turned them out of a lot of scrap wood I find in the shop left over from other projects. Approx 4″ tall.
I found a lot of ways of doing these but my personal favorite is Brian Havens’ method — it made the most sense.
This little bird house ornament is turned out of a piece of my neighbors silver maple that was cut down last fall. I just grabbed a couple of branches to have some to play with and this little project was perfect. I left just a hint of the bark on to give it a rustic look. Now if I could only find some wee little birds to live in it. Approximately 3″ tall.
I needed to seal up the ends on the chunk of cherry fruit wood I had sitting out in the shop. Some people use Anchor Seal to do this but I elected to try a method I found on, I believe, Allen Tyler’s site. I always keep Elmer’s School Glue around because it is cheap, water based and dries totally clear. I mixed it about 70/30 with water and brushed it on the ends. This should keep the log from shrinking more in the longitudinal direction (the capillary route) and avoid the inevitable cracking that occurs when wood is drying.
I have made a lot of these little lidded boxes as giveaways to friends and everyone loves them. Some called them trinket boxes and some called them ring boxes but everyone called them beautiful! This one is made from English Cedar, Ash, Walnut. This was actually my least favorite of all of them (which is why I didn’t give it away!)
I saw someone turning wooden flowers and thought I’d give them a try. Two are cedar and the colored one is poplar. It is possible to get them real thin but almost impossible to sand them properly. But I don’t suppose real flowers have mirror finish either. They are definitely a test of patience. The vase was turned from the heart of a rotten log out in the garden. The wood was “just wood” — I have no idea what it started it’s life as!