Cherry Stump Bowl

[joe greiner]

I excavated a cherry stump a few years ago. Absent heavy equipment, the best way to excavate a stump is to have a teenage son or grandson. I have none of these, so I got a pretty good workout. I reckon the whole stump weighed about 200lbs (90kg). This lump contained two roots crossing at about 90 degrees. I cut out the bark and dirt inclusion on the outside with a Dremel and a small router bit, filled the cut with a mortar of epoxy and fresh coffee grounds, and turned the outside. For the inside, I cut out regions of the bark/dirt as I progressed with the turning. As soon as the cutting reached the epoxy/coffee (indicated mostly by smell), I filled the rest of the cut with more of the mortar, and did the final inside turning.

The ring of mortar at the rim was an accidental feature. My original intent was to include more of the lump as a lid. I cut a thin kerf to separate the two pieces, to keep as much of the grain continuity as possible. The rim groove was intended to hold a ring of splines for alignment of the lid. After turning the basic shapes of both pieces, I concentrated on the bowl. A day or two later, I returned to the lid. By then, of course, it had warped to an elliptical shape. Forging ahead anyway, I was able to mount a knob/finial and turn that part of the lid. The edge, however, was quite well fouled up by my attempts to fit it to the bowl. I've consigned the lid to my wall of shame. In hindsight, I suppose I could have soaked it to recover a more circular shape for final turning; unfortunately, I didn't realize this until a few days ago.

165mm (6.5") diameter; 60mm (2.5") high; wall about 5mm (0.25"); paste wax, buffed on the lathe, except for the rim filled later.

Joe

[Tornatus]

Stunning effect from the coffee grounds "mortar", Joe! Now I can see a good reason for taking home one of those bags of grounds that Starbucks keep trying to pass off onto customers under the guise of recycling as mulch.

I assume from your account that the epoxy/grounds "mortar" is pretty solid and stable as a turning medium, as well as holding it all together. I recently used what we call "builder's bog" (a type of 2-part plastic wood) as a filler, which worked quite well , but dried a horrible colour similar to an infamous shade once used on our home-grown version of General Motors, the Holden - their catalog proudly offered cars in "Nipple Pink"! :C

[Mobil Man]

I like it . Sounds like you went thru a lotta work, but worth it. Had the same problem yesterday with a hollow form of Ambrosia Mapel. It turned like a piece of dry wood, and after final sanding, I rapped it & bagged it & took a break. Finished the inside & outside & was pleased with how nice it turned out. Then was gonna make a lid with Black Walnut & Ebony finial on top. Was making a jam chuck from pine to use to size the tenon for the lid. Too loose, howd that happen? Turned another shoulder behind the first maybe 2/32 larger...too tight. Then I noticed the bugger was a little outta round [oval] in the opening. Could make a templete & use the router to make the lid tenon a little oval but more trouble than it's worth. So...cut the tenon off & finished the bottom & found a place on the shelf fer it.
Joe. You'd be a good man to ask this. I've turned a couple of bowls & 1 platter out of a square piece of Pine [square platter?] Wonder, could a person take a thick piece of wood 2x1/2--3ins. & make both at the same time? Have ya ever heard of it being done? Tool rest position would be a problem.

[Gil Jones]

Well done bowl, Joe!! Nice finish, and the 'mortar' looks good.
I too use 'unused' coffee ground to an espresso powder, it looks like dark bark.

[rodent]

Joe have you tried using brass fileings in the mix ? It should look interesting .:):2tsup:

[OGYT]

Still a nice little bowl, Joe. I like the ring around the rim, with the coffee mix. Different and eye catching.
I guess you've got some more of the cherry left... You might turn a cylinder the proper size for another one, and let it season a while in the 'round'. Then try turning it again, to round out the warp, and then do your bowl with lid. Might work... letting it season a while after initially turning it to round.

[orraloon]

Joe
you are a man that likes a challenge. Pity about the lid but still a good looking bowl.

Regards
John

[Zedster]

Joe, nice effort from a piece of wood that many would have discarded as being to far gone, well done, it's criticism time now, but it's honest, I say what I see.............
you need to take more time and care with your final cuts, try to avoid leaving tool marks in the wood, if you get any that cannot be helped or avoided, try taking them out at the sanding stage, start at say 80 grit and work your way up to 800, then seal and apply finish.
You have a fine piece there, it tells a story, it is however marred by the fact that you can see the tool marks on the inside.

[hughie]

Joe,
I have always thought stumps should yeild some very interesting wood for turners. Just never been in the right place at the right time to pick some up.
Hmm the sanding or tool marks not doing it any favours. But they are readily removed at a later date.

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/rotary1.htm

One of these little suckers would fix it in no time. Having said that, I like it allot especially the edge treatment. Well done!

[ciscokid]

Very nice looking. The photography is superb.

[paul collins]

very nice joe.i never heard of coffee being used that way.hmm think tea bags is asking a bit too much.:D :D

[joe greiner]

Thanks all for your kind assessments and constructive criticisms. Yeah, I'm still a bit impatient about drying, as well as better finishing to remove tool marks; and sanding in the same direction takes more work actually - must look into one of those rotary tools.

The reason I like the fresh coffee vs. used is that the epoxy more readily picks up some of the colour. A little like making coffee with epoxy instead of water. I have some brass filings, but nowhere near enough for these gaps. Re-grinding the coffee like Gil suggests could produce a more uniform colour if desired; with this one I went with sort of an exposed aggregate appearance.

Stumps: Boyoboy. Some of the wildest looking wood around; and every tree has one. In addition to what's left of this lump's parent, I have four or five more. Easiest way to extract them (again, absent heavy equipment or teenage son or grandson) is to leave about 1.5m of trunk above ground when felling the tree. This gives something to grab with a come-along. Then hydro- and hand-excavate to expose roots, cutting as you go. (Unless you like sharpening the chain saw every ten minutes) When enough of them are cut, pull it over and cut the last.

It probably was a mistake to cut the lump as I did, with an awkward bevel joint and the need for splines. Likely better to introduce a contrasting ring to fill in the gap, with the grain continuity inferred by spanning across the ring. Need to think about this a bit more.

Mobil Man, if I understand your question correctly, you would have a timber say 3" x L x W (L = W) to be made into two platters or very shallow bowls; or one of each. I think the simplest approach would be to cut it into two thinner pieces at the outset. Could be difficult if L & W are large, though. For turning both together, I'd consider the future bottoms adjacent. A parting tool wouldn't have enough leverage to separate them. So use a deep hollowing tool with an HSS cutter sticking straight out the end to excavate just enough to leave something easier to saw. You could do both faces beforehand by reverse mounting the entire blank, with small stubs left in the centres to engage a spur centre and live centre. After separation, mount each blank face "down" in Cole jaws, Longworth chuck, or faceplate/plywood/ducttape setup and turn the entire bottoms. There's a thread or two here and elsewhere about making your own deep boring bars.

Joe

[Mobil Man]

That's almost the idea. A square 6x6 about 3 to 3x1/2 deep, leaving the square platter & bowl all as one piece, not cutting them apart. I wonder if anyone has ever tried it? I've never seen anything on such anywhere. Just wondering.

[joe greiner]

That sounds like a cool idea, Mobil Man. As you said, tool rest could be a slight problem. Likely best to do the bowl first, and make the bottom somewhat wider than usual, i.e. don't reach too far with the tool. For the platter, you could then place the tool rest perpendicular to the axis, making sure you don't hit the bowl with it. Not long ago, Gil made a hollow form with a square equatorial, uh, thing - like Saturn's rings. Ah, here 'tis: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=40719

Mind the spinning corners. Not much fun if they hit you or grab the tool.

Joe