Day 5: Finish and refinish.

Both the Aspen and spalted maple hollow forms got some additional finishing done today.















The Aspen has a
nice patch of some very nice curl on one side an just a hint on the other side.














The spalted maple was turned again to reduce the wall thickness and the overall weight before being sanded top to bottom. It's significantly lighter now than it was last night. It also received 2 coats of oil today and had the larger bug holes cleaned of the frass (the politically correct term for bug poop).













This side has a fair amount of curl in addition to the spalting and the bug holes.
















Each will receive a couple additional coats of oil before being buffed to a low sheen in a couple of weeks.

Day Three: Highs and Lows

Friday night - my work week is done, Judy's at quilting until Midnight, and the kids are in bed. A little more hollowing and the Aspen hollow form from the last couple of days is ready to reverse and finish. Unless - disaster strikes. Yes, that's a crack, no it can't be repaired. It's almost never a good thing when the inside ends up bigger than the outside.







Not one to give up easily I mounted the other half of the same log and got started. This one also has a pink/purple streak plus a fair amount of very fine curl, and a pair of piths that should look fantastic on both sides of the opening.










Initial shaping is complete and hollowing has started (you can see the cutting tip on the right hand side of the photo, just to the right of the tool rest. There was a large crack in the piece, it is being filled with a crushed turquoise/epoxy mixture.









Hollowing complete, reverse chucked and finishing the final shape and cleaning up the base. I kept this a bit thicker than the first one and checked the thickness often.










Turned and ready for finish.

5 1/4" diameter, 9 1/2" tall.














Top View

Day 2:

More work on the Quaking Aspen Hollow form, I had VERY limited time tonight (20-30 minutes) so most of it was spent doing a bit more hollowing and a little more outside shaping. I still have about 3" to hollow in the bottom but the upper 6" is pretty close to final thickness. It's hard to see in these photos but there's a couple pink streaks in the wood (all natural, no dyes).

Day 1: Hollow form

Started roughing out a Quaking Aspen hollow form, approx 5" diameter and 9" tall. The wood was harvested in Idaho just over a year ago and was trimmed and turned to a cylinder in February. It's about 50% hollowed at this point.