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Caveman
29th August 2006, 01:40 AM
G'day all,
Finally managed to get in some decent turning time recently - thought I'd share a few pics, as most of you are real generous with pics your work - herewith my humble efforts:
A different acacia than most of you would have seen. This wood comes from an acacia with very yellow bark - commonly know as the Fever Tree - found in low lying areas with a high water table or swampy conditions - thought by the early settlers to give one fever (malaria) - hense the name Fever Tree - took them some time to figure out it was the mosquito (as we know also a lover of swampy areas) that 'delivered' the fever.

The smaller bowl (about 8" dia) I was experimenting with a rounded rim - I quite like the result might try it on a bigger bowl.

The two bigger bowls (about 12"dia) were also an experiment of sorts - one (0127) has the heartwood at the top of the bowl on the rim with the other (0131) having the heartwood in the bottom of the bowl. Not sure which I prefer.
What's weird is that both pieces were from the same tree but have turned out different in colour (the sapwood). Both were rough turned some few months back at roughly the same time - one I coated with beeswax, the other I painted with black bitumastic paint to stop cracking. All the other bowls I have turned out of the same acacia have been a pale yellowish colour.

All bowls rough turned - coated, then left for about 3 months to dry before returning. Finished to 600grit then linseed oiled and beeswaxed.

Comments, crits welcome:

TTIT
29th August 2006, 09:21 AM
Interesting bit of wood Andy and well formed bowls.:):) Good to see someone else trying timbers that are not 'off the rack'. I've got some Camphor Laurel here with coloring just like that but the name and background aren't nearly as interesting eh!:o:D

hughie
29th August 2006, 10:02 AM
Andy,
it does have a striking resemblance to our Camphor Laurel. Nice effort, good see something from the dark continent :)

ss_11000
29th August 2006, 09:36 PM
awesome bowls mate.

Terry B
29th August 2006, 10:11 PM
Lovely bowls.
How big are the trees?

Caveman
29th August 2006, 11:44 PM
Hi all - thanks for the comments.
TTIT - no such thing as 'off the rack' over here - its all DIY if you want to do anything, but I kinda like it like that.
Terry - the trees get to about a maximum of about 25m high. The tree the bowls came from was probably about 15m.
I have a stack of rough turned bowls awaiting my gouge. I find roughing out takes a very short time, but re-turning takes a bit longer. I still struggle to get a real good finish off the tools and have to spend quite some time sanding. I guess that comes with time and plenty practise.

rsser
30th August 2006, 09:27 AM
Nice rim treatment on no. 3 Caveman.

OGYT
30th August 2006, 02:48 PM
Andy, really nice bowls. Like Ern, I really like the rim on the little bowl. I've done a few sort of like that, only with a burned ring separating the rim from the bowl.
I have the same problem with finishing. I attribute my sorry tool finish cuts to my shaky hands.
Thanks for showing these. It really is some nice wood.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
30th August 2006, 05:12 PM
I rather like the rim on #4. Makes me wanna pick it up and see how thick the bottom is.

Any turning that says "pick me up" is a success in my books. ;)