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texx
7th January 2011, 10:46 PM
this stuff would be one of the best looking bits of wood i have ever made roundish.
but it was the worst stuff to work with ever .
its a lump of old dry cypress pine root ball and a pig to work , off the chisel it is sticky to touch and almost impossible to sand .
the moment the sand paper touches the wood its clogged .
i gave up twice then came back a few hours later not wanting to be beaten .
an old guy i know wants a bowl made from this stuff that came off his place but unless he is going to buy me a pallet of sand paper this is going to have to do as it is now .just gave it a coat of glow.
i am thing i might try rough turn another then give it the old soak in metho for a few days trick see if that leaches some of the sap ( resin )out of it .
oh yeah and while i am here has anyone got a good method of drying a decent bowl size piece of hairy oak without it cracking every which way , i can get small boards dry but not having much luck drying bowl size bits without the cracks turning up.

Evan Pavlidis
8th January 2011, 05:42 AM
G'day Texx,

acetone works very well, but you'll need a fair amount and lots of scrubbing with a nylon brush.

Cheers, Evan :)

rsser
8th January 2011, 06:14 AM
Nice bit of timber texx; can see why you stuck with it.

With sticky Deodar I got good results scrubbing out with meths and then finishing with ubeaut hard Shellac.

Re drying, some folk have had good results soaking in metho or in a solution of dishwashing liquid and water.

artme
8th January 2011, 07:41 AM
Spectacular piece of timber Texx and a good looking bowl!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Sapling
8th January 2011, 08:36 AM
Great result for the hard work, looks fantastic.

dai sensei
8th January 2011, 10:01 AM
Wow, what an amazing bit of timber :cool: Was it completely dry?

As for Hairy Oak, I found it pretty stable whilst drying, except when it is introduced to moist air. Could be just the amount of rain we are having here. Mould generally isn't a problem for HO, so you could try wrapping it in newspaper, but check it regularly and add some thin CA to any cracks that appear.

Ed Reiss
8th January 2011, 01:00 PM
Shame the stuff is a PITA to work with...nice color and everything.

Ya' did well Texx :2tsup:

tea lady
8th January 2011, 01:13 PM
:think: You could try "wet sanding" as per Ubeaut's polishing handbook. You basically sand with wet and dry (or any water proof sandpaper) with a tray or bucket of water under the bowl (or any other object) Wet down the object and wet the sand paper. Sand away. When sand paper clogs wash in water and sawdust washes out. Wet things down again. Keep going, decending in grit size as you go. . :2tsup::cool: Ya get a bit wet if you stand in the line of fire. And watch what else is in the line of fire. Move anything theat shouldn't get wet, or covered in little spots of sawdust. Kinda fun really. And it gives a lovely silky finish. As you get to the last grit you intend to use use less water, and the heat of sanding dries things out a bit. Ubeaut reckons you can put shellawax on the finished piece even if you think it might be still "wet". But I've had things go a bit "milky" when I did that, so maybe wait a while till its dry again before applying the finish. :shrug:

texx
8th January 2011, 03:14 PM
was thinking of trying wet sanding with kero but changed my mind.
when i was in the floor sanding game if we had a problem floor adhesive ,paint or black japan or other ugly stuff to sand off we would mop the floor with a good coat of kero as we were sanding worked like a charm , just the fumes dam near kill you , when the sand paper hits the kero it turns to steam makes the eyes water a bit ( no a lot ) .
always funny when some one was watching us with the floor soaked in kero and the sander hitting the odd nail sending sparks across the floor , but i did hundreds of floors like that and never blew a house up .

Gil Jones
8th January 2011, 05:15 PM
Hey Texx,
That may be a highly resinous wood, and a pain to sand, but you did a nice job turning it, and the result is grand.
Gil

TTIT
8th January 2011, 11:14 PM
Tackled a similar piece once from an ornamental cypress rootball and had the same problem with sanding it - wet sanding as TL suggested did the trick and I managed to get a wax finish on to it but within days that sticky resin was oozing out of it all over the place again. The owner said she didn't care 'cos it was a memento of a favorite tree and when I visited about 2 years later it was still oozing - she had since learned to sit it on a coaster so it can't damage any more furniture :B
Good luck with it :;

NCPaladin
9th January 2011, 05:14 AM
Great looking bowl, it gives me inspiration to try turning some. I guess it is what we in my neck of the woods call "fat lighter". Usually split out pencil lead thickness and used for starting fires.
I still have two short log sections from a barn my G.Grandad built about 1894. I made a flat work item with the rest but I swore never again.
I like the idea of wet sanding….maybe with mineral spirits or turpentine. I have some mesh sanding rolls made for the automotive industry that should work (similar to drywall sanding sheets). I think I will keep the items small or shallow and try a cabinet scraper before (or in lieu of) sanding.

Sawdust Maker
9th January 2011, 10:45 AM
Very nice looking bowl

thanks for the wet sanding ideas everybody

Re drying I've read somewhere that you can rough turn some timbers and then boil them for and hour or so and this can prevent cracking in some timbers - don't know if would work on aussie stuff though

gtwilkins
9th January 2011, 10:56 AM
G'day Texx,

I know that you can set the resin in pines using heat, just recently I saw an article about treating sappy pine where the fellow built a box out of insulation and heated the planks up to 160F and the resin was set.

Perhaps if you heated up the bowl very slowly it would set the resin.

Trevor

texx
9th January 2011, 11:03 AM
G'day Texx,

I know that you can set the resin in pines using heat, just recently I saw an article about treating sappy pine where the fellow built a box out of insulation and heated the planks up to 160F and the resin was set.

Perhaps if you heated up the bowl very slowly it would set the resin.

Trevor
thanks , thats very interesting , i was going to rough turn a bowl and then give it a bath in metho , i wonder if i could rough turn and then whack it in the microwave and cook it to set the resin or even in the gas oven set at 160 .
all worth trying .
but right now i have to go climb into a tractor and shift a few hundred ton of hay .
johno

tea lady
9th January 2011, 11:21 AM
but right now i have to go climb into a tractor and shift a few hundred ton of hay .
johno:oo: :hmm: Just dream about the wood as you go! :cool::D