dai sensei
25th September 2007, 10:16 PM
When I visited my aunt in northern NSW not so long ago I also went to help collect firewood with my uncle and a cousin from my aunt’s farm. Although my aunt did not grow up on this farm, but married the man that ran it, the farm was the original family farm cleared and built by my great grandfather many years ago (when cedar was plentiful :-).
The firewood we were collecting was from a Flooded Gum that had dropped some large branches in a recent storm. Most of it had a beautiful colour, typical of an old growth Flooded Gum, but straight grained and boring for turning. There was a large crotch that looked interesting, so I ran the chainsaw down its length, exposing grain heaven. I quickly threw it in the back of my car to take home. I would be back in a flash if a whole tree fell over, there are a few, all have main trunks that are twisted and around 8ft dia :2tsup:.
Soon as I got back I cut out a dia 400mm by 100mm blank and rough turned it the same day to 20mm thick to dry. I also cut another 2 smaller bowl blanks and left them to dry. I couldn’t wait for the smaller blanks to dry, so finished turned them a month later using 7 coats of Danish oil on the large one and 5 on the small one to try and control the cracking. They warped a fair bit, especially the thinner one, so I finished them with Shellewax Cream and Glow, buffing them to a shine a few weeks later. They still need another buff as the Danish oil is still bleeding a bit, but I will wait another few months.
The larger bowl I let dry for almost 3 months before finishing. It looked pretty dry and I couldn’t wait to polish that grain. It had warped a bit and I found it was almost 15mm out of round. I was getting very worried I had not left enough meat to re-turn it, the sides are actually only 1.5mm thick :o. I sanded it to 1200 grit then used Shellewax/EEE/Shellewax Cream/Glow and got a beautiful shine. No Danish oil this time, so the colour was natural. The photo doesn’t do it justice, especially when the light picks up the small flecs within the grain, but it is as smooth as a baby’s bum.
The fruit bowl is dia 350mm x 70mm, the other bowls are dia 140mm x 70mm and dia 110mm x 50mm. The colours in the photos are pretty spot on.
Comments welcome.
The firewood we were collecting was from a Flooded Gum that had dropped some large branches in a recent storm. Most of it had a beautiful colour, typical of an old growth Flooded Gum, but straight grained and boring for turning. There was a large crotch that looked interesting, so I ran the chainsaw down its length, exposing grain heaven. I quickly threw it in the back of my car to take home. I would be back in a flash if a whole tree fell over, there are a few, all have main trunks that are twisted and around 8ft dia :2tsup:.
Soon as I got back I cut out a dia 400mm by 100mm blank and rough turned it the same day to 20mm thick to dry. I also cut another 2 smaller bowl blanks and left them to dry. I couldn’t wait for the smaller blanks to dry, so finished turned them a month later using 7 coats of Danish oil on the large one and 5 on the small one to try and control the cracking. They warped a fair bit, especially the thinner one, so I finished them with Shellewax Cream and Glow, buffing them to a shine a few weeks later. They still need another buff as the Danish oil is still bleeding a bit, but I will wait another few months.
The larger bowl I let dry for almost 3 months before finishing. It looked pretty dry and I couldn’t wait to polish that grain. It had warped a bit and I found it was almost 15mm out of round. I was getting very worried I had not left enough meat to re-turn it, the sides are actually only 1.5mm thick :o. I sanded it to 1200 grit then used Shellewax/EEE/Shellewax Cream/Glow and got a beautiful shine. No Danish oil this time, so the colour was natural. The photo doesn’t do it justice, especially when the light picks up the small flecs within the grain, but it is as smooth as a baby’s bum.
The fruit bowl is dia 350mm x 70mm, the other bowls are dia 140mm x 70mm and dia 110mm x 50mm. The colours in the photos are pretty spot on.
Comments welcome.