Some special Bonewood

[dai sensei]

Went to the club tonight to pick up some things I left there after 's demo on the weekend :-. Couldn't stay long so thought I might rough out the bonewood log I was saving for an egg light. Bonewood is normally very white, provided it is cut and treated for blue and bugs as soon as it is cut. This 300mm dia log had been left whole and had small signs of blue at the ends, but I was hopeful it would still be white in the middle, afterall it has been less than 6 months since it was dropped.

Unfortunately it wasn't white, but on the other hand, I wasn't dissappointed :rolleyes:

Long way before finished, this is just roughed out quickly, then given a quick sand with 150 grit :cool:

Might take a fair bit of thin CA to get it down to my desired 1mm wall thickness, because of the course grain and spalting, it tears like a bitch :(.

Cheers

[gawdelpus]

Better you than me :) 1 mm wall thickness on 300 mm dia is just too horrible to contemplate :) now one centimeter might be more my style lol. I knew there was a good reason to have a baby lathe ,nothing bigger than pens hehe , But you are right that spalting is a real bonus , Cheers ~ John

[dr4g0nfly]

Amazing Spalting in that wood, Please post the final form, to looks likely to be truly stunning.

[Ironwood]

Great looking piece, love that spalting.

Will be a few rear end clenching moments getting it down to 1mm wall thickness, good luck.

[artme]

Yum,yum,yum!!!:):):)

[Ozkaban]

Looks awesome! I love the way wood can do this to you...

1mm wall thickness with that grain? A fair bit of CA? More like a bit of spalted bonewood will be left to give the CA some colour:doh: I'm very interested to see the final result. Should be amazing. :2tsup:

Cheers,
Dave

[thompy]

white or not white mate it sure is a lovely begining, i'm sure you'll do it justice, i'm with the others, want to see it when its done, this may seem an odd question but i'll go on an ask anyways, wouldn't that have made some nice pens with that much figuring?

Neal.

[Randir]

wouldn't that have made some nice pens with that much figuring?
The would be taking the easy way out!

I'm really keen to see this finished. What are the dimensions now, roughly? Or perhaps, what are you aiming for, aside from nonexistent walls?

Brendan

[Ad de Crom]

Wow, that wood is really very beautiful.
Can't wait to see it finished.
Ad

[brendan stemp]

Nice work Neil, but why so thin with the wall?

[wood hacker]

Geez Neil, if I had of known that was inside those logs I would have shoved one under my jumper and made off with it when I visited.

Going 1mm thick..... better you than me I think:no:

[dai sensei]

It may have been a 300mm log, thick bark and not round actually means a piece a lot less, now around 140mm dia. Yes 1mm is very ambitious :-, especially with a spalted and stabilized timber like this :C, it will probably end up a lot more :rolleyes:.

At Turnfest11 one of the demonstators reduced some NIP ~400-500dia x ~300 deep down to less than 1mm for a lamp shade :cool:. I was very impressed and wanted to give it a go.

This is not NIP nor sopping wet, but worth a try. I'll start at the bottom (top of blank) and see how thin I can get it. If it tears, the bottom dia of the hole will increase :;, and so will the wall thickness I aim for :U:U

Yet another project on the go in the shed :doh:

[Swino]

Very nice Neil.

You didn't repossess your chair when you were at the club?? :C

[dai sensei]

You didn't repossess your chair when you were at the club?? :C

Yeh, that's why I was there. Can't just keave it there to have others nick it :U

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Ackershully, 1mm is easy.

The hard part is not going past it once you're there! :;

That'll be a truly stunning piece if you can pull it off; even if you don't go as thin as you'd like. G'luck!

[dai sensei]

Managed to spend a couple of hours on it today. Finished the outside and soaked it in thin CA, then sanded it down to 1200 before giving it another coat of thin CA. 0000 steel wool then EEE and Shellowax Cream.

Took the first bite out of the middle with the 1.5" Colt Forstner, like drilling butter :2tsup:. Then started hollowing with the 10mm TC cutter Vermec and got the walls down to ~1". I left a 8mm ring beam at the opening to both stregthen it and later use as a tennon to join on the stand. I then swapped to the 8mm TC cutter on the gooseneck to trim the sides down on the first 20mm of the egg.

I got the first 20mm down to 10mm thick before getting down to 2-3mm for the first 10mm. I noticed some very bright spots so stopped. It was splitting in a few places, so I poured thin CA into the thin part a rotated the egg to soak it all the way around. Decided not to go below 2mm, and I'm thinning it down in 10mm strips, then resoaking with thin CA.

I've only done 30mm from the opening now, thinning the walls down to 2mm in 10mm strips and soaking in thin CA. Looking good, but I do worry about the longitudinal cracks, hopefully the CA will fill and hold it together. Could be a bit dangerous when I get the the biggest dia of the egg, the centrifugal forces will test the cracks :-. I also worry about the gooseneck, can't wait until I'm 2" in, then I should be able to swap back to the straight borer.

Cheers

[gawdelpus]

From not even a novice :) seeing as how you want to use the light shining through to gauge depth of wall , as well as the already coated thin CA ,could you not wrap the outside of the egg in cellulose sticky tape to support and perhaps neutralise the centrifigal effect , Just a thought :). cheers ~ John

[dai sensei]

Good idea, it will effect the light, but may be worth a try

[RETIRED]

From not even a novice :) seeing as how you want to use the light shining through to gauge depth of wall , as well as the already coated thin CA ,could you not wrap the outside of the egg in cellulose sticky tape to support and perhaps neutralise the centrifigal effect , Just a thought :). cheers ~ JohnWhat he said.:wink:

[Paul39]

A third on the wrap of tape.

[dai sensei]

Yep used the tape and it work Ok.


Learnings so far:

CA seeps through the side and forms riges on the outside under the tape :((
Always keep checking the blank is running true, otherwise you get 3mm on one side and 0.3mm on the other :o
No matter how much tape and CA you use, the chisel can come through the side:doh:
Small holes in spalted forms can be filled with sawdust and coffee :wink:
You can hand resand the outside, provided you are careful :p
I'm about 1" from the spiget on the inside, now comes the hard part, inside and out through the end grain :-

L

[dai sensei]

Ok still a lot of sanding to go, especially the top, but you get the idea. I did get it down to mainly 1-2mm thick, but some really thin parts down to 0.3mm :oo:. Some of these really thin parts have pulled in, as I applied the thin CA on the inside, forming small flat spots on the outside :(. The solid timber is also less transparent than the spalted parts.

Just sat in on my small flex light for the lathe twisted upside down for the photos, I wanted to check out what the overall effect would be when I make the stand and install the light. I'm pretty happy still as it is my first egg hollow form, much harder than straight walled, and I didn't really pick an easy timber :-.

Cheers

[Ad de Crom]

Neil, was a tough job turning it so thin, wasn't tricky and time consuming!!
The effect of the light shining through is amazing, looks great.
What are you going to do with this hollow form, in my opinion it would be great for a lamp shade.
Ad :2tsup:

[gawdelpus]

Amazing stuff :) I was lucky enough to see this in progress today at Neil's just too nice for woords and far to delicate for a ham fist like me :). By the time this is completed with the hand sanding and finishing it will be a real work of art and craft , my only concern would be choice of globes as you would not want a hot light inside this thing ,it would probably float away :; cheers ~ John :2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[dai sensei]

..What are you going to do with this hollow form, in my opinion it would be great for a lamp shade.

Exactly what is planned


..my only concern would be choice of globes as you would not want a hot light inside this thing..

Too true. Got one of the below LED globes on the way from HK - 108 LEDs. It's the brightest I could get that fits and suits the shape, $6 delivered :2tsup: For an extra $2 I got the socket as well, just need to add a cord

[Ad de Crom]

Hey Neil, think this led light works well as a light source.
Please don't forget to post a picture when everything is ready, I like to see it.
A wonderful project!!
Ad

[cookie48]

With the light inside to me it appears to be on fire. great work

[Ozkaban]

Coming along great there Neil :2tsup:

[Paul39]

Too true. Got one of the below LED globes on the way from HK - 108 LEDs. It's the brightest I could get that fits and suits the shape, $6 delivered :2tsup: For an extra $2 I got the socket as well, just need to add a cord

What is the brand name of the LED globe? How many lumens? All the LED globes I have seen in stores locally (Asheville, NC, USA) are over $20 each and have many fewer LEDs.

Today I did see a case of dozen 60 watt equivalent compact florescent lamps for less than $4 for the case.

At the moment the CFLs are subsidized by the power companies.

Thanks

[Sawdust Maker]

Absolutely stunning :thumbsup:

[dai sensei]

What is the brand name of the LED globe? How many lumens? All the LED globes I have seen in stores locally (Asheville, NC, USA) are over $20 each and have many fewer LEDs.

Today I did see a case of dozen 60 watt equivalent compact florescent lamps for less than $4 for the case.

At the moment the CFLs are subsidized by the power companies.

Thanks

See here (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320550802151&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT) for details on mine

[dai sensei]

Been thinking about the stand, 3 legged thingy, and possibly a finial. Rough photoshopping :p

What do you think?

Cheers

[cookie48]

Rekon you have hit the nail on the head with that design. Will look very nice indeed.

[Sawdust Maker]

Interesting stand and finial
reminds me of a Faberge Egg :2tsup:

[dr4g0nfly]

That would get my vote but maybe a slightly thinner and taller finial.