Sunnyslope

It's October, that means it's time for the Sunnyslope Art Walk. A 4 hour show held each on a Saturday evening each April and October. I've done this show 8 or 9 times now and have started to develop a few repeat customers. Turnout was good but sales were a bit slow. Still well worth it.









Maple burl hollow form. All of theses forms have been hollowed through the bottom and the plugged. The hole in the top is a illusion. Large enough to have the appearance that the hollowing was done from the top, but also small enough for people to be impressed. This one is basically flat across the top, not something I usually do.








Bottom view.













Figured Myrtle. This one has a top that curves slightly inward, requiring a slightly different approach when hollowing.











Bottom view.














Last one, red striped Box Elder. This has a more typical shape, curving up slightly at the top around the opening.












Alternate view.
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Toroid

I've had this idea in my head for quite a while. In fact I did a small prototype a couple years ago. Today was the day to do it for real. The basic idea was to do a donut shape but have it hollow as well. The sketch above was drawn on a napkin at lunch to explain to my wife what I was thinking and how I thought I could get to done.













I ended up changing the plan and the method a bit to accommodate a larger blank but the results are pretty much what I had in mind.












The wood is red streaked Box Elder. The blank started out at 9.5" x 4" and ended up around 9" x 3".













Alternate view.

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Start to finish

Palo Verde burl I picked up about 6 weeks ago. I pulled this out of a local firewood pile. I don't normally use Palo Verde but I can't pass up a burl.












I roughed it out Sunday morning. It's still about 3/4" thick and quite heavy, both because of the thickness and the water content.











There's some significant spalting and a few bug holes. I came across several live grubs while turning. They were likely Palo Verde beetle larvae and those that didn't get decapitated during the turning process probably died when I ran it through the microwave.









This piece is actually fairly large, roughly 10" diameter and 8" tall. Now it will sit on a shelf for 6 months or more. I'll check on it in a couple of weeks. If its drying fast I may try to get it done in time for my next show, almost exactly a month away.









Tonight I put another chunk of California Pepper on the lathe. I had already rounded it to a cylinder a couple weeks ago.











It only took five minutes to get the outside shaped and the tenon formed. After putting it in a chick I drilled a pilot hole to the finished depth and started hollowing.











After hollowing I reversed it and jam chucked it to finish the bottom. Total Tim elapsed was just a hair over 45 minutes. I'm pretty sure with a bit more practice and if I pushed myself I could get it down to 30 minutes.

It's now gone through a couple of microwave cycles and will dry overnight. I expect significant warping.

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Warped and twisted

 The first 3 pieces from my California Pepper haul.  This piece is a calabash style bowl turned end grain less than 1/8" thick and allowed to warp.  Roughly 6" X 7"

 Another end grain piece.  Also roughly 1/8" thick and allowed to warp.  Roughly 6" X 5"

This one was turned side grain, it was left a little thicker, but still under 1/4".  Roughly 6" X 6".

Curly maple tool handle.













Turned on three axes with a 120 degree twist.















Olive hollow form











Approx 5.5" x 5"













Seized air compressor piston.

















Carob roughout.













Approx 7" x 3.5"













Figured maple winged bowl.













Slightly downsloping wings.













Bottom view with a bark edge on the one side.

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Progression

European Olive (olea europaea) blank, roughly 11" X 6". Half dry and half green. This piece was cut back in December and was left outside unprotected.











Outside shaped and the hollowing started. It was slow going as the blank was extremely out of balance because of the voids and the variation in water content.















Hollowing mostly done. I was having a hard time getting into the outside corner so I gave up for the evening.
















Hollowing complete and the initial sanding done. I've set it aside for the time being to dry out a bit before I resume the sanding and finishing process. I may still take one last cut (famous last words) on the bottom half as It's still a bit thicker and heavier than I'd like.

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Next project

I think I found my next project. This is the useable portion of an Olive stump I got a couple weeks ago. I cut off the cracked portions and all of the various protrusions that Olive trees tend to get around the base. I plan to do a fairly large hollow form and expect 1 or 2 significant voids to remain.









This is an extreme example, but this type of growth is typical for Olive trees. It's uncommon to find one with a round or even oblong trunk; unlike most other trees.












Rough cut this piece is 11" diameter and 6" thick. If everything goes well I expect it to finish up about 10" x 5". Its about half dry, the stump was cut about 6 months ago and had been setting outside since. There would have been more useable wood but there was a deep chainsaw cut in the other half of the stump. With the other half being cut it only yielded a blank roughly 6" diameter and 4" thick.

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$#%*!

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Oops

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Challenge accepted.

Tonight I finished the Eucalyptus hollow form.  I put it back between centers and took another cut from the mid point up to the rim.  This helped reduce the weight but it's still not where I'd like it to be.  Unfortunately this wood is very dense so a ultra lightweight form isn't in the cards.

This is one of my favorite parts of the whole process.  The piece has been sanded and I've started to apply the first coat of oil.  Now is the first time I get to see what the final piece will actually look like.

Top view showing the fake opening.

Bottom view.  The hollowing was done through the bottom and was then plugged with another piece of the same blank.  The grooves on the bottom help disguise the joint.

Profile view.  The sapwood on this side is lighter colored, with much less red.  It also has some small voids and a fair amount of crystallized resin.  The voids are helpful to judge the wall thickness.

Finished piece in my photo booth.  The color here is pretty accurate, and it's all natural.  The oil finish is nothing more than Watco Danish Oil.  They make several varieties, including Walnut, Cherry, and Mahogany but I always opt for the "Natural" variety.

Bottoming out

The President's Challenge for June is "Hollow Forms". Like most of the other challenges I've done I take the challenge part literally. I've done a bunch of hollow forms over the years but I've never done one that is hollowed from the bottom. Tonight I chucked up a chunk of figured Eucalyptus and went to work.








This is my progress so far. It doesn't look like I got much done but I'm actually mostly done. I may take one more pass on the outside to reduce the weight, other than that all I have left is the sanding, removing the nub from the bottom, and finishing.














I wanted the hole in the top to be impossibly small, it's about 3/8" on a form almost 5 1/2" across. I only know of 1 person that could possibly pull off hollowing this form through that opening, David Ellsworth. I might be able to do it through a hole about 5/8" but that's significantly larger than this hole (0.11 square inches vs 0.30 square inches).












Bottom view. I still have to remove the nub. Hollowing was done through a hole slightly over 1" diameter. Before I started I parted off the bottom of the form to maintain the best grain match possible. The joint will be hidden in a series of small grooves on the base.

The color should end up like the first photo once sanded and the oil finish has been applied.

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