Seventh Wood
3rd July 2009, 12:08 AM
Hi All,
I have finally reached the stage of finish turning some of the stuff I rough turned up to a year ago (SWMBO is getting alarmed at the number of rough bowls, etc building up in the shed so I had to do something!)
I have been rough turning as per the Raffan Bowl Turning book, though I normally seal the bowls promptly after rough turning with end grain sealer, while Raffan says he does not bother. Of the rough bowls that I have not sealed, a large number (over 50%) have developed cracks that may make the bowls useless, while I have not had a problem with sealed bowls - I expect I'll just have to wait longer before finishing them.
The first is a 170 mm Grevillia Robusta bowl from a timber haul from our street in Adelaide. I have had a lot of cracking in the blanks, even though I have cut it down to relatively small blanks and sealed the end grain. I rough turned the blank about a year ago and did not seal it. The resulting bowl turned nicely and appeared to be fully seasoned, with only small surface cracks. I managed to incorporate a branch into the rim, as in the side view of the bowl, and it shows a good ray pattern and appears to be sound. The colour is very pale pink, quite unlike the dark brown of Northern Silky Oak that I turned recently.
The other is a 200 mm Pepper Tree bowl from a partly spalted tree (I did a post on it at the time). I have a shot of the freshly turned rough bowl and the finished bowl. The bowl distorted spectacularly whiel seasoning but I managed to retrieve a nice bowl. I took all the usual precautions - dust extractor, respirator, etc when turning it and it was difficult to get a good finish on the partly spalted wood. There are some minor cracks and the burl-like inclusions penetrate right trhough the wood. The colour of the spalted wood has preserved well though.
I have since done about 50 or so rough bowls up to 400 mm diameter. It can be addictive with long, wet, continuous shavings coming off and shooting all over the shed (and rusting my tools if I am not quick in cleaning up). Recent stuff turned includes Green Mallee, Plane Tree, Willow Myrtle (lovely deep red timber), various Melaleuca and Ash from the dying trees in the Adelaide parklands.
Cheers,
Seventh Wood from 7Hill
I have finally reached the stage of finish turning some of the stuff I rough turned up to a year ago (SWMBO is getting alarmed at the number of rough bowls, etc building up in the shed so I had to do something!)
I have been rough turning as per the Raffan Bowl Turning book, though I normally seal the bowls promptly after rough turning with end grain sealer, while Raffan says he does not bother. Of the rough bowls that I have not sealed, a large number (over 50%) have developed cracks that may make the bowls useless, while I have not had a problem with sealed bowls - I expect I'll just have to wait longer before finishing them.
The first is a 170 mm Grevillia Robusta bowl from a timber haul from our street in Adelaide. I have had a lot of cracking in the blanks, even though I have cut it down to relatively small blanks and sealed the end grain. I rough turned the blank about a year ago and did not seal it. The resulting bowl turned nicely and appeared to be fully seasoned, with only small surface cracks. I managed to incorporate a branch into the rim, as in the side view of the bowl, and it shows a good ray pattern and appears to be sound. The colour is very pale pink, quite unlike the dark brown of Northern Silky Oak that I turned recently.
The other is a 200 mm Pepper Tree bowl from a partly spalted tree (I did a post on it at the time). I have a shot of the freshly turned rough bowl and the finished bowl. The bowl distorted spectacularly whiel seasoning but I managed to retrieve a nice bowl. I took all the usual precautions - dust extractor, respirator, etc when turning it and it was difficult to get a good finish on the partly spalted wood. There are some minor cracks and the burl-like inclusions penetrate right trhough the wood. The colour of the spalted wood has preserved well though.
I have since done about 50 or so rough bowls up to 400 mm diameter. It can be addictive with long, wet, continuous shavings coming off and shooting all over the shed (and rusting my tools if I am not quick in cleaning up). Recent stuff turned includes Green Mallee, Plane Tree, Willow Myrtle (lovely deep red timber), various Melaleuca and Ash from the dying trees in the Adelaide parklands.
Cheers,
Seventh Wood from 7Hill