joe greiner
6th March 2007, 09:09 AM
In early January, I rescued my neighbour's large Christmas tree from
roadside oblivion. He thought it was Douglas Fir. Later investigation
suggested it's actually Noble Fir. FWIW, the distinction is in the
needle pattern. In the Douglas Fir, the needles radiate around the
branch; in the Noble Fir, they're splayed on two sides. Turning a
Christmas tree is messy. Sap flies everywhere. The uniform of the day
is coveralls, latex disposable gloves, and face shield with an old
T-shirt made into a Yasser Arafat babushka.
This wood is quite soft. Lots of tearout. Gives new meaning to the
expression "roughing gouge." I did the final outside turning with a
detail gouge and a small skew chisel, both held almost perpendicular to
the lathe axis. Also used a regular wood chisel on the neck of vase #2,
to exploit its sharper bevel.
Pic 1 is a practice piece to assess the turning behavior, and to test
my newly-made hollowing tool (1/8" square HSS cutter in a round shank).
Minimum thickness is barely 1mm - almost made a funnel. This one taught
me that knot regions like to warp locally, or dimple, if the wall is
too thin. I didn't bother finishing the bottom; chuck impressions still
showing. 50mm dia x 90mm high.
Pic 2 is a small box or lidded bowl (take your pick). The knob/finial
design is derived from the onion domes seen on Russian Orthodox
churches, most famous of which is likely St. Basil's Cathedral in
Moscow. The single large crack is filled with a mortar of epoxy and
fresh coffee grounds. 95mm dia x 105mm high.
Pic 3 is just a vase. I located the top and bottom to capture most of
the knots in the wider portion. 104mm dia x 125mm high; about 5mm wall.
Pic 4 is a Romanesque vase, but without gargoyles, grape clusters, or
dancing maidens. I sort of stuffed it on the knot placement. I
originally intended it to be a deeper vase, but I chickened out on the
hollowing. It probably would have been wiser to defer the natural rim
turning until I had better established the knot locations and/or
thought a bit more about the hollowing. 110mm dia x 135mm high; 5mm
wall.
Pic 5 is a goblet. Natural edge at both the rim and the foot. I had to
re-mount it three times to get the foot centered, as its location was
about 50mm from the spur centre. The foot diameter is somewhat out of
proportion. The decision to make it that way was mine; the size itself
was established by God; please direct your complaints to Him. I
attempted to reduce the disparity by tapering the stem from 17mm to
14mm. 90mm dia x 210mm high; 6mm wall.
For all of these, I sanded at 100, 150, 220, and 400 grits; burnished
with shavings; paste wax, buffed on the lathe. [CA on the bark.]
I still have about 550 mm of trunk left. Probably two to four more
pieces in there someplace, depending on the knot patterns. And of
course, one of these or them will go to the neighbour.
Joe
roadside oblivion. He thought it was Douglas Fir. Later investigation
suggested it's actually Noble Fir. FWIW, the distinction is in the
needle pattern. In the Douglas Fir, the needles radiate around the
branch; in the Noble Fir, they're splayed on two sides. Turning a
Christmas tree is messy. Sap flies everywhere. The uniform of the day
is coveralls, latex disposable gloves, and face shield with an old
T-shirt made into a Yasser Arafat babushka.
This wood is quite soft. Lots of tearout. Gives new meaning to the
expression "roughing gouge." I did the final outside turning with a
detail gouge and a small skew chisel, both held almost perpendicular to
the lathe axis. Also used a regular wood chisel on the neck of vase #2,
to exploit its sharper bevel.
Pic 1 is a practice piece to assess the turning behavior, and to test
my newly-made hollowing tool (1/8" square HSS cutter in a round shank).
Minimum thickness is barely 1mm - almost made a funnel. This one taught
me that knot regions like to warp locally, or dimple, if the wall is
too thin. I didn't bother finishing the bottom; chuck impressions still
showing. 50mm dia x 90mm high.
Pic 2 is a small box or lidded bowl (take your pick). The knob/finial
design is derived from the onion domes seen on Russian Orthodox
churches, most famous of which is likely St. Basil's Cathedral in
Moscow. The single large crack is filled with a mortar of epoxy and
fresh coffee grounds. 95mm dia x 105mm high.
Pic 3 is just a vase. I located the top and bottom to capture most of
the knots in the wider portion. 104mm dia x 125mm high; about 5mm wall.
Pic 4 is a Romanesque vase, but without gargoyles, grape clusters, or
dancing maidens. I sort of stuffed it on the knot placement. I
originally intended it to be a deeper vase, but I chickened out on the
hollowing. It probably would have been wiser to defer the natural rim
turning until I had better established the knot locations and/or
thought a bit more about the hollowing. 110mm dia x 135mm high; 5mm
wall.
Pic 5 is a goblet. Natural edge at both the rim and the foot. I had to
re-mount it three times to get the foot centered, as its location was
about 50mm from the spur centre. The foot diameter is somewhat out of
proportion. The decision to make it that way was mine; the size itself
was established by God; please direct your complaints to Him. I
attempted to reduce the disparity by tapering the stem from 17mm to
14mm. 90mm dia x 210mm high; 6mm wall.
For all of these, I sanded at 100, 150, 220, and 400 grits; burnished
with shavings; paste wax, buffed on the lathe. [CA on the bark.]
I still have about 550 mm of trunk left. Probably two to four more
pieces in there someplace, depending on the knot patterns. And of
course, one of these or them will go to the neighbour.
Joe