Day 264: Natural (unlike my wife's hair color)

I fugred I out to at least practice a natural edge bowl tonight if I'm going to demo it on Saturday.  7" Jacaranda natural edge with bark.  Top view.

Side view.  The bowl appears oval but it's an optical illusion due to the uneven edge on the top.  If the sides extended up to the same level it would be round.











I also took the opportunity to do a bit of experimenting.  I carved the base into 3 feet using a small sanding drum in a dremel tool.  This was my first attempt at doing this and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Side view of the bottom with the 3 feet.  I didn't do a perfect job laying out the feet, I can tell they're not exactly 120 degrees apart but it's just a practice piece.

Day 263: Getting a handle on things

Pictured are 2 of the 4 new burning pens I built over the course of the day.  They are clamped together so they remain upright while the 2 part epoxy sets.  The handles are Desert Ironwood and the rest of the components are from various sources, including Radio Shack, Home Depot, and my wife's medicine cabinet (Q-tips, not seen).

I got tired of changing tips on my current pens so I made some more.  Now I can change pens rather than tips.  I also use 6' cords for each pen rather than the 6' cord I cut in half for my first 2. 

Day 262: Getting hosed

I spent the evening hooking up hoses to the dust collection ports on my bandsaw.

I also installed blast gates between the dust collector and the bandsaw and between the dust collector and the hose I use to vacuum shavings off the floor.

I also finished replacing the air hose on my hose reel.  Harbor Freight had a new 1/2" dimeter hose 25' long for under $10. 

I still have to arrange some of the cords and do some sweeping up but I'm happy with my progress tonight.

Day 261: Frustration

No photos tonight as I didn't do much turning.  Instead I attempted to replace the air hose in my retractable hose reel.  As it turns out you can't put 50 feet of hose onto a 25 foot reel, even if it's a smaller diameter hose.  Of course I didn't figure this out until after my second trip to home depot of the night for different sized air fittings.  I'm not sure what happened to the original hose but it now has a 1" slit almost exactly in the center.

I'm also working on a handout for the May meeting.  Our scheduled demonstrator has a family event that conflicts with the meeting and has had to cancel.  I'm having trouble getting someone else on such short notice so I'm stepping in.  I'm going to do a pair of simple bowls using only 2 tools, a 1/2" bowl gouge and a 3/8" spindle gouge.  One will be a standard bowl in standard orientation, the other will be natural edge.  I cut both bowl blanks tonight out of the last of the Jacaranda I have.  I wanted something easy to cut and fairly green.  I think this fits the bill.

Day 260: Playing around

I didn't feel like making a huge mess or spending a ton of time in the shop tonight so I just did one small hollow form in Eucalyptus Burl. 

Top view.  It's approximately 2" X 3". 

Day 259: For Chris

A trio of Weedpots from Acacia Visco tonight.  The wood is still pretty green but I think it will hold up well.  These are intended to go back to Boyce Thompson in a month or so, just long enough to make sure they won't split.

They aren't hollowed, just a 1/2" hole down the center.  They're inteded for dried flowers or similar materials.

For Chris.  The basic process I use.

Small half log of Jacaranda.  Approx 7X7.  The log is split in half through the center.  The face you see is the split face and will be the top of the bowl.  There are a number of ways to start the turning, such as between centers or on a faceplate.  On this piece I chose to use a screw chuck or woodworm screw.  The center of the piece was found and a 3/8" diameter hole was drilled approx. 3/4" deep.

The screw center is held in the jaws of my chuck.  The holding strength is not from the threads themselves but from the contact of the wood against the flat face of the jaws.

Blank mounted for turning.  The tailstock is in place for safety.  The bottom of the bowl will be on the tailstock side, the top of the bowl is facing the chuck.

Turning started.  The outside of the bowl is being shaped.  Cuts are made from the bottom of the bowl up to the rim.  Cutting from the rim down will leave torn grain.

Outside shape finished.  A tenon has been formed on the bottom.  This tenon will be gripped in the chuck so I have access to the inside of the bowl.  Tenon size and shape are pretty critical.  The tenon is less than 1/4" deep and about 2" diameter.















The bowl has been reversed and the tenon gripped in the chuck.  Nothing is holding it on except for the tenon and the surface contact between the bottom of the bowl and the top of the jaws.

Turning the inside of the bowl.  This is done in stages, always working from the rim down to the bottom of the bowl.

Inside finish turned.  I would normally sand and finish the inside and the rim at this point.

Bowl reversed and mounted on my vacuum chuck.  A vacuum pump pulls a vacuum through the headstock and into the PVC "drum" between the lathe and the bowl.  The tailstock is in place to help center the bowl on the drum and for safety.

The vacuum supplies more than enough negative pressure to hold the piece in place for light finishing cuts and sanding provided the wood being used doesn't have open pores or voids.

Bottom of the bowl turned.  At this point I would normally sand and finish the bottom of the bowl.

















Finished piece.  Elapsed time was approx. 15-20 minutes.  Sanding and finishing would easily double that time, as would a larger bowl.

Day 258: Misc.

Moving day, partially dried bowls being moved from the shelves inside the house to the shelves in the garage.  25 bowls total, including Pecan, Shoestring Acacia, Olive, and Mesquite.

I also spent an hour or so cutting and sealing the Acacia (Acacia Visco) I got yesterday.

  Both halves were cut to length and the offcuts cut into smaller chunks for some spindle work including weed pots and lidded boxes.

Lastly I started to true up an Olive hollow form I roughed out a while back.  I love the grain of olive and it finishes so nicely.