Catch up

Acacia with spiral branding.













My new license plate.














A storm downed tree that I passed on. The tree was about 14" diameter but was cut into lengths about 8" long.











Mesquite, Palo Verde, & Ask headed to my club's 50/50 raffle.












Palo Verde burl rescued from a firewood pile.














Olive stump/burl rescued from the same pile.














The remains of the Chinese Elm from my front yard. It died suddenly and had to be removed. We'll replace it eventually.

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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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Photo log

 Tempe Center for the Arts has put out a call for entries to celebrate their 5th anniversary.  Traditionally the 5th anniversary is the wood anniversary so they will be having an exhibit entitled "2012 TCA Biennial: Wood".  Artists are encouraged to submit up to 5 pieces for consideration.

This is my first entry.  I decided to call it 'Round the World as the black line spalting on the top reminds me of a map.  It's spalted figured Maple (half way between curly and quilted) with lots of bug holes and a giant void (not visable in this photos).  The collar is out of Ebony or African Blackwood, I can't remember which.

 My second entry, Acer Falls.  Box Elder burl natural edge hollow form with natural edge burl base.  The bottom on this piece is completely round so a base was necessary.

 Side view.  This wood was part of a trade I made last summer with a guy up in Idaho, I did a demo for the Woodcraft Guild of Idaho Falls while I was in the area on vacation.  I traded some Mesquite, Ironwood, Olive, and African Sumac for Box Elder Burl, Russian Olive, and Osage Orange.  This piece was turned out of the Box Elder burl I received.

 #3 is a 4 piece nested set of Arizona White Oak Burl.  I harvested this burl off of a tree out in the woods and let it sit in my garage for several years.

 I'm calling this set Blanco Arizonica.  Sizes range from 13.75" X 4" down to 4.5" X .75"

4th entry.  60 West.  Spalted and bug eaten Palo Verde.  Roughly 9" diameter and 9" tall.

 This one has a semi pointed bottom so it needs the round donut in order to remain upright.

 This was to be my 5th entry but upon my last reading of the submission guidelines I realized that the pieces had to be made in the last 2 years.  This piece is at least 3 years old so I had to withdraw it.  Because I was so far along in the application process I elected not to replace it on my submission form.

 "Off Broadway" Eucalyptus Burl 9" X 4.75" to 5" X 2".  This blank was salvaged off a tree in the Phoenix metro area.  The cracks are filled with coffee grounds and epoxy.  This piece was included in the 2009 Chandler Center for the Arts "Beneath the Bark" exhibit.

 A few more photos of some recent pieces.  This is from the same tree as above.  I'm still working on the finish.  Approx 15" diameter.

 Sissoo with Macassar Ebony pedestal and finial.  This wood was sourced from Boyce Thompson Arboretum.

 Another piece of Sissoo.  Also sourced from BTA.

Last is a piece of Silver Maple burl sourced from Mike Mahoney.  It also has a round bottom so I turned a small ring out of Desert Ironwood for it to sit in.

Palo Verde II

I've had this post in my queue for a while, 3 days in fact.  I finished hollowing this small piece of Palo Verde on Thursday night.

I still have some sanding to do and there is still a small nub on the bottom I need to get rid of.  I'm also undecided on a finish.  Do I use my normal Danish oil finish or do I leave it completely natural?

The nub on the bottom with some of the darker spalting.  I was hoping there would be more bug holes but it just wasn't to be.

Profile shot.  I'm really happy with the shape, it could have curved up a bit more at the opening but it would have made hollowing more difficult.  It's approximately 1/8" thick.

Palo Verde

 I intended this to be one of my entries into the Arizona Woodturners Association's selction contest.  Now that the other piece (still to be posted) is nearly finished I know that this one isn't even close the same quality.

That's not to say that this piece won't be nice, I'm sure it will be fine but not quite what I was hoping for and not nearly as nice as the other piece (or pieces) I've been working on.  This will be about 6 1/2" X 3" when complete.  I still have to do most of the hollowing as well as all of the sanding and finishing.