Chinaberry Footed Bowl

[Gil Jones]

Hello all!! This is my first "footed bowl" It is 51mm hi x 127mm wide.
The wood is slightly spalted Chinaberry (which seems to turn very well), finished with lacquer, and buffed lightly. The feet (or toes, as small as they are) were made by leaving a ring of wood about 10mm hi near the base, removing the wood in three areas of the ring, and shaping the remainder of it.

[OGYT]

Gil, that's beautiful... small, too! Amazing grain! How do you do such work on something so small? Some of my catches bigger than that bowl! Well Done!:2tsup:
Questions for you: Did you see this tree while it was still standing? Did the berries grow in clusters of two or three, or singly? :? :?
The reason for the questions: Here in NW Texas, Chinaberry wood is very blonde... almost never a brown color anywhere in it, and the berries grow in clusters. It's very hard, but cuts like butter, due to it's built-in lubricant.
Hackberry, on the other hand, looks exactly like your footed bowl, and the berries look just like china berries, only they grow singly, not in clusters. And the wood is a combination of hard and soft grain... usually the darker grain is the hardest, lighter grain the softest.
Just curious.... :shrug:

[rsser]

Great piece Gil.

Doing individual feet's nerve wracking ain't it. How'd you remove the waste?

[Wayne Blanch]

Most Impressive:2tsup:

[Hardenfast]

Most impressive, Gil. As RSSER has asked, how did you shape the feet and remove the waste? All by hand chisel, or do you use a dremel or arbortech - or similar? No problems sanding in the hand work to match the turned surfaces? Do you put it back on the lathe to apply your finish and buff on completion?

Chinaberry, Hackberry..... you US guys have some very interesting timbers over there. I've even heard mention of a Dingleberry..... not sure what that looks like.....

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

All been said. Very nice! :thyel:

[TTIT]

Great looking little piece Gil - like it a lot!:2tsup:

Chinaberry, Hackberry..... you US guys have some very interesting timbers over there. I've even heard mention of a Dingleberry..... not sure what that looks like.....Maaaate! Chinaberry is native to Oz (and Asia) - good old White Cedar! Declared pest in the US I believe :U

[OGYT]

Hardenfast, Dingleberry is almost black, very fibrous, and may be found in little round chunks, hanging from the South end of a Northbound goat... an' it ain't timber. :D
Vern, White Cedar, huh? Is your white cedar soft like red/aromatic Cedar (Juniper) or is it like I described?
Chinaberry is a pest tree in most places here in the upover, but here in my country it's been planted in "shelter belts". (Back during the dust bowl days, Pres Roosevelt started a campaign to plant trees in long narrow groups to ward off the wind, in Oklahoma and Texas. Many of them are still around. In fact a man who owns a farm East of here, gave me the whole shelter belt, because it's in an area of his best soil. He let's me cut anytime I need it. Most of it's going for firewood.)

[TTIT]

melia azedarach is the scientific name for what I'm looking at Al. Check it out here (http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&ibra=all&card=E54) and let us know if it's the same thing!

[rsser]

"Hardenfast, Dingleberry is almost black, very fibrous, and may be found in little round chunks, hanging from the South end of a Northbound goat... an' it ain't timber. :D "

We call 'em dags down here Al. Can be an endearment among close friends :rolleyes:

[hughie]

Gil as per usual, you turn out some damn fine pieces.:2tsup: Pest or not its good looking timber

[dai sensei]

Never heard of the timber, but certainly beautiful. Love what you have done with it.

[Cliff Rogers]

....We call 'em dags down here Al. ....
:D

Had a German lady ask me in a very hushed voice "Vot iss diss don-ga dat you mentioned?" :? :? :?

Arrrhhhh, says I, that is what we called a transportable building. :D

[ss_11000]

nice work Gil:clap:

[OGYT]

Right on, Vern. That's the same tree I'm talkin' about. Indian Bead Tree. But it is different wood from a Hackberry. I can't find it in my tree id pages.

[Gil Jones]

Thanks to you all for your kind comments and generous counsel (excluding Dingleberries :rolleyes: ).

This Chinaberry is a mess, but the colors are close to mine (which comes from nearby Tallahassee Florida). I did not see the tree or leaves; the wood chunk was from a friend. The berries are poisonous. http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/chinaberry.htm

I have a small Hackberry log, but the wood is a creamy white color, and not at all like the Chinaberry log. From this group of pics http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/hackberry.htm , Hackberry wood can be clear (like mine) to pretty much like my Chinaberry colors, but I think that the grain is different.

As for the feet, I left a 9mm wide by 10mm hi ring of wood near the base, and used a die grinder and a Dremel tool to remove three sections of the ring, and to shape the three remaining sections as feet. Sanding was by hand (easy) on and around the feet, but the rest of the piece was fully sanded and finished when I parted it off (except the outside base bottom, witch I did on my donut chuck). Buffing was done last, and off the lathe. Making the feet is not overly difficult, but I am not sure they are worth the trouble.

[robynmau]

Impressive wood and the shape is nice too:D

[ptc]

Very nice.
but remind me of implants

[Gil Jones]

Thanks, Roby and ptc.
PTC, I reckon you may not have seen an implant in a good while :D
The only implant it could possibly be is a hemorrhoid pillow implant :wink:
Every time I see "ptc", I think of "pitch trim compensator", which was used as a manual Mach trim, before the autopilot started doing it for us.

[joe greiner]

Here are some pics of Chinaberry in the raw. Same friend & same tree as Gil's most likely. Notice no cracks, even though not sealed; nice to turn.

Nice work as usual, Gil. Gives "attention to detail" a real definition.


Every time I see "ptc", I think of "pitch trim compensator", which was used as a manual Mach trim, before the autopilot started doing it for us.

Gil, that might make more sense if you told 'em you're a retired airplane mechanic.:wink:

Joe

[rsser]

Thanks, Roby and ptc.
PTC, I reckon you may not have seen an implant in a good while :D

All depends on the shape of your hands ;-}
.

[ptc]

Thanks Ern.!

[rsser]

Any time Peter ... ;-}
.

[Alastair]

When I started turning back is South Africa, this was what I started with, under the guise of "Cape Lilac".

Back there it was in the same category as Camphor here. I had about 8 trees in my yard, and were a constant pain. Killed the lawn, grew like weeds, suckered like hell when you cut them, and fell over, or dropped branches when termites got into them. Not as poisonous as people made out. I had 2 dogs and 2 kids there, and despite vigilance, all got them in their mouth from time to time. Survived however.

Turned quite a few pieces, but never got to like it. Now spoiled by timbers here.