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rsser
13th January 2009, 04:57 PM
With a bootload of timber from Quercus, and the day promising to be hot, I got out early with the chainsaw and did most of the crude work.

Then spent a few hours at the bandsaw and chip fryer dimensioning and sealing some blanks.

The English Ash had been cut into short lengths, with deep checking as a result. Got some useful box/pencil jar blanks out of it and one or two possible bowl blanks. Shouldn't be a prob with a distressing treatment that this stuff responds well too: turn, scorch, wire brush, stain etc etc.

The Brush Box had some fiddleback in the sapwood, which was surprisingly deep. About 50% of diameter. A multi-crotch piece looked promising to begin with but there too the checks ran deep.

I've turned 10" bowls of this stuff recycled from Victoria Pier; all heartwood, so clearly it grows to big sizes. Also a bit on the tedious side to turn since it's full of silica and you spend half your time refreshing tool edges.

I also ripped an Ash spindle blank that's been drying since '02. Not big but it sure gave the bandy a rough time. Not surprising I guess. This stuff makes tough handles as the Sorby folk might attest.

All this was done with a 1/2" bimetal 3 TPI skiptooth blade on the WoodCrarp. It's now working OK since I gave up trying to get the wheels coplanar and pushed the bottom wheel back to the mount.

I use a set of 6 Masonite discs of increasing sizes to guide the bandy cut for bowl blanks. Just use the appropriate disc, tack it to the top of the half-log and use as a guide. Made a circle-cut guide some time ago but gave up on it as too fiddly for my style of butchery.

So there's now a bunch of blanks, a wheelbarrow load of firewood, and about half a recycle wheelie bin of small stuff. And a couple of lengths of Sydney Blue Gum saved for tomorrow.

And how many 'warms' did the old timers say there was in producing firewood?

wheelinround
13th January 2009, 05:16 PM
Your teasing rsser al those poor pen turners who could use the off cuts going to firewood

Nice stash hope it all turns as you wish:2tsup:

rsser
13th January 2009, 05:31 PM
Thanks for the heads-up on pen blanks Wheelin. Hadn't occured to me.

Happy to cut some blanks for those who want 'em.

But they're green and don't have a lot of figure at the micro scale that would make for good pens, for what little I know.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
13th January 2009, 06:34 PM
With little figure, it's a good idea to try a few cross-cut & 45° cross-cut blanks.

It's amazing how much that can enhance figure that's not readily apparent. (I'll admit that more than one failed bowl has ended up in my pen-blank bucket after seeing how the end-grain came up...)

rsser
13th January 2009, 07:04 PM
Hmm, food for thought.

So help me out here Skew. The fiddleback figure in the Brush Box sapwood is, er, about an inch or more between 'fiddles'. So there's these half logs with cored centres ...

How would I cut these rings to maximise the figure?

Skew ChiDAMN!!
13th January 2009, 07:55 PM
Dunno. It's like any other blank, Ern...

For high-end pieces you cut the wood to maximise the figure, regardless of wastage. The other end of the spectrum is making your cuts for maximum yield, while ignoring the figure.

It's entirely up to you where you want to sit on the scale. :D

dai sensei
13th January 2009, 08:11 PM
Nice pick of blanks Ern. Are you going to rough turn the bowl blanks?

rsser
13th January 2009, 08:46 PM
Good question Neil. Will let 'em sit and see how they move for a bit. Except maybe for one crotch bit which would be worth some effort.

K, Skew, your 'skew' angle got me thinking. A cut at 90 degrees to the lines of fiddles would increase the fiddle per inch factor with these BB offcuts. Which would still not do wonders for a pen blank, but it's a useful, er, angle.

artme
13th January 2009, 08:59 PM
Delicious stuphph Ern!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

lubbing5cherubs
13th January 2009, 11:01 PM
Ern you are lucky I do not live near you. I might have to take some of those blanks home with me. Just Nice. If you get bored with too many the same. just send it my way I will use it. I got plenty of penblank I can swap for some true timber..LOL

NICE SCORE
Toni

rsser
14th January 2009, 06:53 AM
Toni, I'd send you some if the postage weren't prohibitive. The trouble with scoring a boot or trailer load is that you end up with too much.

TTIT
14th January 2009, 10:53 AM
Toni, I'd send you some if the postage weren't prohibitive. The trouble with scoring a boot or trailer load is that you end up with too much.Bah! Piffle! No such thing :;:U

Stevenp
14th January 2009, 11:07 AM
Bah! Piffle! No such thing :;:U

:iagree: We should all have this sort of problem !:(

rsser
14th January 2009, 11:26 AM
Time to put a bomb under the turner you reckon?

Actually the prob is storage. The good stuff goes into the shed but space is getting tight and apart from that, it gets so d*mn hot in there it's like kiln drying. My hunch is that makes the fibres more brittle over time.

Sawdust Maker
16th January 2009, 09:40 PM
looks like a great haul - hope after drying you get something usable!
does the english ash muck around like the english oak?

rsser
17th January 2009, 05:30 AM
Can't compare 'em Nick... never turned English Oak. But I have done some green turning of English Ash and found it pretty stable.

Sawdust Maker
17th January 2009, 08:45 AM
The oak I acquired turned well but split like buggery when drying, even after painting the ends etc
I'm starting to use the kids cubby house for storage

rsser
17th January 2009, 08:49 AM
LOL.

Yeah, before it gets too hot I'll start moving some green sealed blanks under the house. That'll be a crawling on the belly job.