Three quarters

3 out of 4 are now complete. This is a chunk of Sissoo from Boyce Thompson Arboretum that I roughed out about 6 months ago (http://agoodturndaily.blogspot.com/2011/09/labors-of-day.html?m=0).













This piece has some nice curl in some of the sap wood and surrounding a couple of the knots. Like all Sissoo it has great contrast between the heart wood and the sap wood. There was probably more sap wood on this blank to start with but I didn't want a solid band of sapwood around the middle of the blank.












The opening on this piece is slightly larger than I'd like, I had to true up the warping that occurred during drying. As a result the opening is about 1.2". I was shooting for 1" but that didn't happen. One upside: the larger opening did make hollowing easier.









Overall dimensions are 6.5" diameter and just a hair under 8" tall.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Variety show

I have back to back shows coming up in April so I'm trying to get a few more pieces done. I'm also working on a piece for the next President's challenge. Today I started work on 1 hollow form and continued work on 3 others.













This one is some highly figured Maple I got from Mike Mahoney this past summer. I rough turned the outside of this piece a few months back and I'm finally getting back to it.










Next up is a piece of Spalted Beech. I got 2 pieces of this wood 4 or 5 years ago, the other piece was made into a box and given back to the guy I got the wood from. It's a little bit punky on the end grain so I've applied a coat of oil to stiffen the fibers.













Next up is a chunk of Sissoo from Boyce Thompson Arboretum. I rough turned this one a couple months ago, today I trued up the outside and got it ready to finish hollowing.














Last is a piece of Box Elder Burl I received in a trade this past summer. It's my intention to use this piece as my 'Natural Edge' piece for the President's Challenge.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Woodworking Expo wrapup

Yesterday was the 3rd annual Woodworking Expo in the parking lot of the local Woodcraft.  Our club had a booth that we used to demonstrate woodturning, promote the club, recruit new members, and socialize.

Over the course of the day I turned 5 bowls: 2 Sissoo, 2 walnut (both square), 1 Birdseye maple, a small lidded box out of Olive, a 3 sided spindle with a  120 degree twist, and a set of 3 mini hollow forms in Maple burl.  A very productive day.

Desert Ironwood Hollow form

There were probably about 20 booths total, including the Arizona Fine Woodworkers, ArizonaWoodcarvers, Festool, Sawstop, Freud, Easy Wood Tools, and a wood vendor.  They also had a woodworking contest with entries divided into 4 categories: woodturning, wood carving, furniture, and other.  I opted to enter 4 pieces into the woodturning category.  3 prizes were awarded in each category.  The pictures on this page are of my 4 entries.

Oak burl nested set

After seeing all of the entries I thought I had a really good chance to place, if not take first place.  There was some nice work, including several very nice segmented pieces.  I took 3rd place in the woodturning category 2 years ago and took 2nd place last year.  This year I had my heart and sites set on 1st.

Sissoo (Indian Rosewood) hollow form with Macassar Ebony pedestal and finial.

This year the judges were noted turner and featured demonstrator Ernie Conover and Easy Wood Tools owner Craig Jackson.  Last year the judges were David Marks and Marc Spagnuolo of The Wood Whisperer.

The prizes in the Woodturning category were announced first and my name was the first one they called.  The judges has selected this Spalted/Quilted Maple hollow form with Ebony collar (this photo shows a Desert Ironwood collar, I replace it with Ebony after this photo was taken) as the best piece in the category.  My prize was a variable speed Rikon mini lathe, worth about $350.  Last year I won a Supernova2 chuck with insert (~$175) and the year before a close quarters angle drill (~$60).  I still have and still use both of my previous prizes.  Is it too early to start thinking about next year?

Bad words

Tonight I decided to chuck up and hollow a good sized chunk of green Sissoo (Indian Rosewood - Dalbergia Sissoo).















I don't normally hollow green to finished thickness but decided to in this case. This piece is 9" tall and about 8" diameter. It could have been a larger diameter but I wanted less sapwood.














Unfortunately getting it down to final thickness on the bottom the green endgrain tore out, leaving a hole in the bottom about 1/2" diameter.















Normally I'd trash the piece at this point (as I did last night on a much smaller piece with a different problem) but I have too much invested in this piece. So now I have to figure out how to salvage it, but without making it look like a save. I have a few ideas already but I'm also open to suggestions.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Weekend warrior

A batch of Sissoo bowls from this weekend. All 8 of these were turned green to finish and then microwaved to speed the drying process. They all need a good sanding and a quick finish now that they're mostly dry.









I don't normally turn green to finish but I wanted these to go back to the Arboretum As soon as possible. I think they'll be pleased.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Boyce Beauty

A pile of Sissoo (Dalbergia Sissoo, AKA Indian Rosewood) sourced from Boyce Thompson Arboretum yesterday. The big piece on the top is actually a big crotch piece.









The butt end of the crotch piece. I assisted taking this tree down, sectioning it up, and cleaning up the mess yesterday. It had some frost damage (yes, it does sometimes get below freezing in AZ) and the Arboretum decided it needed to be removed.








Tonight I ripped the crotch in half to prepare it for turning. I was not disappointed with what I found. I'm now thinking about ripping a platter blank off of the face of this blank to best preserve this amazing grain. The bowl made from the remaining wood would be shallower and slightly smaller diameter but the spectacular platter would be worth it.

There's 1 more piece at the arboretum with my name on it. Their chainsaw broke down before the last cut could be made. There's also 5 or 6 pieces about 8" diameter and 4' long but I'm not as interested in them. Lastly there's another very similar tree that they plan to take out soon. I'm already on the short list to help them take that one out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone