Thread: Mango Bowl WIP. Vicmarc Shark Jaws.

Love the grain in the last pic!

Look forward to the next instalment Cliff!

Hey Cliff,
Nice looking bowl - never seen 'raw' (as in unoiled etc) mango wood before - amazingly pale - looks like it finishes real nice.
Looks like you got a good piece - super grain.

Gorgeous bowl Cliff. Love the figure.

Nice Cliff
bye TOni

Cliff - very nice piece of timber. I always seem to have trouble keeping mango up here. It either gets attacked by borers, splits badly or rots/spalts. Is that just me or is there a secret?

Cheers

Certainly much nicer figure in that piece than the cruddy bits I've been drowning for a week! I started cutting the recess on the inside of my rough turnings at one stage until I realised the bloody motor on the MC900 won't let you mount it that way :mad: Next lathe maybe! Looking good Cliff.

Cliff,

Great looking bowl love the figuring, look forward to the finished pics.

Originally Posted by Jackson

Cliff - very nice piece of timber. I always seem to have trouble keeping mango up here. It either gets attacked by borers, splits badly or rots/spalts. Is that just me or is there a secret?

Cheers

As soon as possible, slice it up into blanks, rough turn it & put it in a tub of water.
If you have a lot, just slice it up into blanks, put it in a tub(s) of water.

I have also tried freezing rough turned bits & microwaving rough turned bits.
The tub of water works best for me.
Change the water when it darkens.
You can take it out when fresh water doesn't go dark.

[I realised the bloody motor on the MC900 won't let you mount it that way

Vern,
been there and done that so my first major mod was to move the motor on top

Cliff, awesome timber. Grain's makin' me green. Like to see the finished piece.
I do some green blanks that way too, but I use the soap solution, instead of water.
When your blanks stop turnin' the water dark, does that mean the sap's gone, and been replaced with the water?

Originally Posted by OGYT

...When your blanks stop turnin' the water dark, does that mean the sap's gone, and been replaced with the water?

Dunno, I guess so.
I stumbled across it while attempting to find ways to stop it from going mouldy.
I figured that it was the sap that the mould was feeding on 'cos it can go mouldy in about a day if the weather is warm.
I was hoping to wash the sap out so it wouldn't stain the timber & I found that I could get good big turning blanks without cracks.
The piece I am working on had been rough turned to about 1" 25mm with a base about 1.5" 40mm thick at the foot.
It was then washed thoroughly over a couple of days & then I microwaved it on medium for about a minute at a time allowing it to cool & then weighing it & microwaving again, cooling & weighing until it stopped loosing weight.
I don't always have time for the microwave bit.
If you over do it, you get surface cracks.
If you don't do it, it can still go mouldy if it is stored in a warm humid place.
I then stored it for about 6 years until a friend picked it out of a pile of roughed out work to be made into a Christmas pressy..
It does have a bit of a mould stain in it 'cos I got a whole trailer load of mango at once & this piece had to wait about a week in blank form before it was roughed out.
I have tried roughing out some pieces & chucking them in the freezer or the fridge but they still go mouldy.
The ones from the freezer go mouldy as soon as you remove them & the fridge ones just go mouldy in the fridge.

i wonder if soaking them in a weak bleach solution would persuade the mold spores to go look elsewhere for a home? Or maybe that sodium hyperchlorite solution that photographers (old style) and wine makers use to sterilize things?

Nah, wouldn't bother, the reason bleach is what it is is 'cos it is highly reactive. (how many times can you use 'is' in the one sentence?)
It is very unstable so it would break down to some sort of salt in no time at all.
It is good for killing what is there already but it is not good as a preventative.
Besides that, you risk damaging the timber.

stunning piece cliff.