It was only 36 degrees C today so....

[Bruce White]

Cooled down a bit today (we have been in the early to mid 40's for a couple of weeks) so I got to do a bit. The platter is from some scruffy ant eaten burl slices of unknown origin I was given recently. Maybe York Gum?

The mortar and pestal is Black Morrel - grows in limited areas here in the central wheatbelt. Picked it up a while ago when foraging for firewood. Sensational to turn but hard, hard, hard. Really tough on the chainsaw blade and the turning tools need very regular touch-ups. I was a bit eager in that I turned it ( a couple of weeks ago) to finished even though it was still a bit wet. It is distinctly out of round now. I have the rest of the tree in water to stop it checking - it is too good to lose or to burn. Trying to find a decent saw to cut it into blanks - damn hard with the chainsaw, cutting across the grain is not too bad but it is murder with the grain.

[dai sensei]

Nice looking stuff with beautiful grain :2tsup:


..damn hard with the chainsaw, cutting across the grain is not too bad but it is murder with the grain.

Try a skip chain. Like a normal saw, when cutting with the grain you should use less teeth.

[artme]

That is a beautiful piece of timber! Your work shows off the grain very well.:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[dr4g0nfly]

Does a mortar need to be round? - just need to get at all the content, It looks good to me.

That platter though, fantastic, the ants did you a favour.

[Bruce White]

Thanks for the comments Folks. I have a few more pieces of the York? gum, a couple big enough to make platters about 50 cm diameter. Will get into them when I get an outboard rest for the lathe. Looking forward to it.

[Paul39]

I have the rest of the tree in water to stop it checking - it is too good to lose or to burn. Trying to find a decent saw to cut it into blanks - damn hard with the chainsaw, cutting across the grain is not too bad but it is murder with the grain.

I have found when splitting a trunk that if I lay the timber down and cut with the saw held at 45 degrees or less to the long axis of the timber it makes long curlies rather than dust, and cuts faster.

Like this guy is doing: http://riversidebowls.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/03-Cutting-the-blanks-500x375.jpg

I start like that, then lay the log down and cut from the butt end so that the blade is almost parallel to the log.

Some folks sharpen a chain straight across for ripping and have a normal one for cross cutting. I have not tried it but below are instructions:

How to Make a Ripping Chain for a Chainsaw | eHow.com (http://www.ehow.com/how_7666244_make-ripping-chain-chainsaw.html)

The M & P are nice, I really like the platter.

[Bruce White]

Thanks Paul. My local mechanic/chainsaw man made me a ripping chain yesterday - I will give it a go in the next couple of days. On another note, I am staggered at how much water the Black Morrel pieces have taken up. It is very heavy semi-dry ( feels about twice the weight of a similar piece of Jarrah) but like lead after soaking. It is going to be a little cooler on Thursday so I will be going out to pick up another Black Morrel that came down in a blow we had a while ago. Noticed it a few days ago - retirement, so much to do and so little time. Don't know how I had time to work for a living!

[Paul39]

Bruce,

You might try quickly roughing out a bowl from fresh cut Black Morrel and boiling it. One hour or more at a medium boil per inch of thickness. Google: boiling bowl blanks.

I have tried it using a covered casserole in a microwave, giving it 15 minutes every once in a while. I thought a crock pot might do the trick, so today found an ugly big one at Goodwill for $7.00. On high it draws 250 watts, as it is insulated I think overnight will do the trick. I was too cheap to do it on a stove and too lazy to build and keep a wood fire under a big pot outside.

One proponent claims his bowls are dry & ready to turn in 4 days. We will see.

I have bunches of red oak that likes to crack. Cherry does also. I have made a bowl from white cedar with multiple stems, bark inclusions, and pith. I just turned it and let it sit around for several months, then finished it. It has just one small crack where one of the pith bulls eyes is near the rim.