Base 10

A little more work on the new base tonight. I spent about 30 more minutes picking away more bark and cambium. Then I used a paint brush to apply a coat of oil into all the nooks and crannies.












After the oil has been applied. The color is significantly darker now but that also means that some of the reds and they grays stand out more too.














I think that the dark bottom of the hollow form works well with the dark base. They aren't from the same tree but the almost look like they could be. This is supposed to be for the April President's challenge but I don't know if it will make it. I will not be at the April meeting as I have a show that day. I also have a show the week before that. If it doesn't sell at either of those shows I'll display it at the May meeting.

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Hiatus

Today was my first real shop time in the last 2+ weeks. I got about 1/2 hour earlier this week but used it for cleaning and some organization. I had 2 projects in mind for the day and I think both were successful.












First is a bowl turned of some Ornamental Yew. I roughed out the bowl about a year ago and it seems to be the right size and shape for what I plan to do next. I plan to wrap the outside with leather. I purchased the leather earlier this year and never quite got around to do the leather work.












Next up was yet another base for my natural edge Box Elder Burl hollow form. It took me a while to find the exact right piece of wood. It's a small natural edge burl cap, also Box Elder Burl. This time I finally think I nailed it.













The top is slightly dished so the hollow form sits nicely but is also secure and stable. The natural edge was completely covered in bark so I spent as much time removing the bark as I did turning.












I didn't want to leave the bottom completely flat and plain so I ended up turning a small half bead and a shallow recess where the tenon was. No finish is applied yet. I still have some small bark pockets to take care of.

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Put a ring on it?

I had the day off today, the first weekday I've had off this year not due to illness (my own or my kid's). I spent most of it on the shop making 4 out of the 5 pieces seen here. These are the options for the support base for the 2 recent hollow forms.

Which do you prefer?







Option 1 - Box Elder Burl cup base. This is the piece in the upper left in the group photo.

















Option 2 - square Box Elder Burl with natural edge. This is the top middle piece in the group photo.


















Options 3 & 4 - Box Elder Burl solid wood rings. The 2 pieces on the right in the group photo.


















Option 5 - Desert Ironwood solid wood ring. Bottom left in the group photo.


















I also worked on this piece of Eucalyptus Burl. This piece was actually cored off the bottom of of a larger burl about a year ago. http://agoodturndaily.blogspot.com/2011/04/big-burls.html?m=0 I've had it kicking around the shop since then.












I wanted to do something different with the base, what I came up with is a small integrated ring. I had some issues vacuum chucking it with all of the voids so the bottom isn't quite as nice as I'd like but I'm still pretty happy with it. Now I have to figure out how to best get oil into all of those voids.

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A thousand words

I'll let the wood speak for itself tonight.















Silver Maple Burl courtesy of Mile Mahoney.


















This one also has a round bottom. I set it into a ring temporarily for the photo.


















The blank used for this piece is the darker piece on the top left of this pile.


















While I was at it I also took a better photo of the Box Elder Burl hollow form I just finished. I'm still not happy with the base. I have Monday off so I plan to try a couple other options.

















Side by side.

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