joe greiner
21st August 2008, 10:19 PM
Pine gets very little respect. One family/species in Australia (and a few other places) is even called "Crapiata."
I had a small pine tree felled in my side yard about a month ago. As requested, the arborists left about 1.5m of the trunk standing. Last week (Monday, 11 Aug), I cut two bowl blanks directly from the trunk, and rough turned one of them. I did the final turning on Tuesday, and finished the bottom on Wednesday. I could have been more diligent on the inside, but my main objective was to learn how bad I could make the whole thing. Before final sanding, I applied two coats of sanding sealer; one coat more than needed, I think, because it exhibited some burnishing which I scraped off. Then one coat of paste wax.
All in all, it came out at least halfway good. Slightly oval, of course, 7.125" / 6.75" diameter, 2.75" high ( 181/171mm x 70mm). The wall thickness is surprisingly uniform (finally) at about 1/4" (6.4mm).
I don't use a fancy light box for most photography. And usually the sun is on the other side of the house. One cannot imagine what colour of light comes through that umbrella. This is one situation where Custom White Balance comes into its own. The backdrop paper, attached to a piece of pvc pipe, came from the tag end of a roll of newsprint, several available almost every arvo at the newspaper's loading dock. Some papers charge a deposit of about $2 for the cores; ours doesn't (yet). The pipe-support frame is my sawbuck ( http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=47976 ), which is actually more versatile, and less over-engineered, than I admitted there/then.
While I was completing this bowl, the same arborists felled a much larger pine in the back yard. I counted 75 growth rings, and measured the largest diameter at about 32" (>800mm). Encouraged by the results here, I elected to save the logs. I reckon I can get 1/8 blanks (max 12") from each slice for my own practise, and some larger 1/2 or 1/4 blanks for practise use by some of my WT mates who have large-enough lathes, and/or for my own use when/if. BTW, the two clocks near my computer are set at GMT+10 (OZ-EST) and GMT-4 (US-EDT).
I could not make this up: The chief arborist has requested that I (of all people) help him learn how to turn bowls.
Joe
I had a small pine tree felled in my side yard about a month ago. As requested, the arborists left about 1.5m of the trunk standing. Last week (Monday, 11 Aug), I cut two bowl blanks directly from the trunk, and rough turned one of them. I did the final turning on Tuesday, and finished the bottom on Wednesday. I could have been more diligent on the inside, but my main objective was to learn how bad I could make the whole thing. Before final sanding, I applied two coats of sanding sealer; one coat more than needed, I think, because it exhibited some burnishing which I scraped off. Then one coat of paste wax.
All in all, it came out at least halfway good. Slightly oval, of course, 7.125" / 6.75" diameter, 2.75" high ( 181/171mm x 70mm). The wall thickness is surprisingly uniform (finally) at about 1/4" (6.4mm).
I don't use a fancy light box for most photography. And usually the sun is on the other side of the house. One cannot imagine what colour of light comes through that umbrella. This is one situation where Custom White Balance comes into its own. The backdrop paper, attached to a piece of pvc pipe, came from the tag end of a roll of newsprint, several available almost every arvo at the newspaper's loading dock. Some papers charge a deposit of about $2 for the cores; ours doesn't (yet). The pipe-support frame is my sawbuck ( http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=47976 ), which is actually more versatile, and less over-engineered, than I admitted there/then.
While I was completing this bowl, the same arborists felled a much larger pine in the back yard. I counted 75 growth rings, and measured the largest diameter at about 32" (>800mm). Encouraged by the results here, I elected to save the logs. I reckon I can get 1/8 blanks (max 12") from each slice for my own practise, and some larger 1/2 or 1/4 blanks for practise use by some of my WT mates who have large-enough lathes, and/or for my own use when/if. BTW, the two clocks near my computer are set at GMT+10 (OZ-EST) and GMT-4 (US-EDT).
I could not make this up: The chief arborist has requested that I (of all people) help him learn how to turn bowls.
Joe