Before and After

As I stated yesterday I intend to make a serious dent in my woodpile this year so I can get better organized. Today I tackled most of the rest of the Mountain Mahogany I have. These 5 pieces were all cut roughly round on the bandsaw this morning, then the turning began.











I considered not coring the bowls but decided I couldn't stand the thought of this gorgeous wood going to waste. It took longer to turn than normal because the wood is now mostly dry and nearly rock hard. This lead to some other issues as well.











One of the problems with very card and dense wood is the possibility of broken screws. On the 2 largest pieces I used a 3" steel faceplate and 6 #12 1-1/2" screws. Even with pilot holes drilled I broke the heads off of multiple screws. To extract them I cut straight in with a parting tool on both sides of the screw(s).










I then use a large flat head screwdriver to break away the thin ribbon of wood around the screw. If I'm in a hurry I will sometimes use the parting tool itself.













The screw can then be grabbed with a pair of pliers or vice grips and worked free. If it doesn't come out easily the grooves can be cut deeper and the process repeated until the screw is extracted.

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Olive weekend

This is the last of my fresh olive. I don't make new year's resolutions but I am going to try to tackle a good portion of my woodpile this winter so I can get better organized.













These 3 were turned Friday evening. The 2 pieces on the left are the 2 halves of a small crotch. The piece on the far left was turned natural edge, the piece on the center was turned in the normal orientation. The piece on the right is calabash shaped and also normal side grain orientation.










2 more bowls Saturday night and a bowl and 3 spindle blanks Sunday night. I'm not certain what the spindles will end of as, possibly lidded boxes or hollow forms.













I think next I'll start to tackle the rest of the Mountain Mahogany I got this summer, I also still have some Sissoo that may still be somewhat green.

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Dynamic duo

Olive is one of my favorite woods to use, probably in the top 3. On nights like tonight it's easy to see why. It turns well, smells great, and looks fantastic.












Tonight i turned a pair of olive nested roughouts. I haven't cored any bowls lately and it took a while to shake the cobwebs. I had considered demonstrating coring for my January demo but tonight confirmed my decision to do lidded boxes instead.

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