Thread: some recent things.

I drink little tea so that one is not my choice, sorry but I go for the bowl. That is very nice looking and well done indeed.

You've been busy. Like the tea pot with handle

I'ev actually been thinking of ripping the plastic knobs and handles off my espresso machine and turning new ones up, but that's probably a bit sad, isn't it

Cheers,
Dave

Originally Posted by tea lady

First a new tea set design I have been working on, with a turned handle held into a ceramic flange by 2 little wooden pins. Also with a tray. Wood bits are jarrah! Oiled finish. Ceramics are hand thrown and hand decorated. Tray measures 300mm diameter!

WOW I love that tea post set.

love the tea set,are these type of pots available on the market?
I got a ultra modern chrome steel/glass tea pot as a present which looks better now i have removed the chrome knob on the lid and replaced with a nice turned knob

tea set....

drop box...

bowl...
.

TL,

I really like the bowl. The shape of the bottom is wonderful.

I pretty much have stuck with danish oil or tung oil for finish. With enough coats it will get shiny but it still feels like wood.

I sand to 220, leave the bowl on the lathe, make a pad of cloth folded over about 50mm square, moisten with oil and rub all over inside and outside, go over the end grain several times, Let set a couple hours.

Run lathe slowly and lightly hold a new dry pad against the bowl and go over in and out. Moisten pad with oil and apply to turning bowl until it looks slick. Let set overnight.

Run lathe slowly and lightly sand with used 400 grit sand paper. Vacuum, or brush with a clean paint brush. Apply oil with pad to slowly turning bowl & let set half day or overnight.

Run lathe and using cloth from an old sheet shine inside and out.

Repeat for more shine. Remove from lathe and finish bottom using a jam chuck or by hand.

This gives a baby skin soft feel that is easily repaired or renewed by the purchaser.

Yes, it does take a lot of time. I remove the bowl from the lathe and let it sit on a soft cloth while I do other things on the lathe.

I have 20 to 30 bowls in various stages of finish. I go from one to the other, and when I get 10 finished I take them to my consignment shop.

I have a scraper made from a high speed steel planer blade with a gentle curve across the front. It is about 65mm wide X10mm thick X 300mm long.

To flatten the bottom of a bowl I set the tool rest parallel to the bottom of the bowl and using a finger holding the scraper as a guide against the back of the tool rest take very light skim cuts across the bottom.

For the last finish cuts, after sharpening I rub the top side of the scraper, held flat, on a piece of 220 or 320 grit on a piece of flat smooth medium density fiberboard (MDF), glass would do as well, cast iron saw table, etc.

My grinder is at the tail end of the lathe. When I am turning, it is on all the time. Both stones are 120 grit. One set up with a grinding jig for the bowl gouge, the other with a platform that makes an 80 degree bevel for scrapers. The spindle gouges I sharpen free hand. The accursed skew is sharpened by hand on 220 paper on MDF. My roughing gouge is a discarded 750mm rotary lawn mower blade.

I have a fair number of high carbon tools, so I'll make a cut, quick swipe on the grinder, cut, grind, etc.

I find that for the last few skim cuts on hard wood before sanding, the scrapers sharpened and honed give me a finish that I can start sanding with 180 or 220 grit paper.

Originally Posted by greyhound

love the tea set,are these type of pots available on the market?

What do you mean "one the market"? I made this one. Its what I did before I got side tracked to wood turning!

Originally Posted by Paul39

TL,

I really like the bowl. The shape of the bottom is wonderful.

I pretty much have stuck with danish oil or tung oil for finish. With enough coats it will get shiny but it still feels like wood.

.

Thanks for the run down Paul. I do use oil on most of mythings. Especially the functional things to go with my pottery. The jarrah tray and handle of the tea tea are oiled.. Although I didn't spend as much time as you burnishing it!

I did read on here somewhere that oiled finish didn't work so well on Blackwood cos it fills up the grain and kills the chatoiance. (Oh no! Spell checker doesn't know how to spell that! ) How have you found it, Paul?

I have also been told that oiled finishes don't do terribly well in competitions. Although to my eye alot of things at the National Woodturning Exhibition were way too shiny.

Thanks for saying my bottom is nice.

TL,

I had to look up: Chatoyancy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have had a black walnut bowl that looked pretty good dry, go dead and muddy when I oiled it, especially the end grain. I gave it a few more coats and sanded with 400, then a few more coats, and it got much better.

I suspect that when I first sanded to 220 grit, If I had used a sanding sealer, dried, and sanded with 400, then proceeded with the coats of oil, I would have gotten the finish quicker. I got a chunk of bees wax from a friend but haven't tried that over the oil.

With enough coats on a hard wood, tung oil will get almost as shiny as a sprayed lacquer. I have a couple bowls made from roots that have been on the WIP shelf for years that I put back on the lathe and give another coat and burnish from time to time.

I don't do competitions, so I don't know about the handicap of oil finish.

I started down the garden path of obsession about 4 years ago. I heat with wood and solar so I am always bringing stuff home. I like crotches, stumps, roots, crazy grain, spalted, buggy, anything unusual. A house built in the late 1800s was smashed down to clear the lot about a block from here. The framing was red oak. I brought home a few shattered pieces. Hard as stone but pretty.

I rarely make anything of straight grained solid wood. I will split a crotch down the middle with a chain saw, hack the corners off enough to clear the bed on my 500mm swing Woodfast and rough a bowl.

I made things to please myself, when I had 10 pieces that I was satisfied with, I took them to a crafts shop where I have been buying wedding gifts for years. They were accepted on consignment, and I have replaced the ones sold.

I am retired so I don't need to make things that sell quickly. I am pleased that other people like what I make.

TeaLady

Love the tea set. The combination and contrast of the simply but beautifully turned wood and the ceramics is a real winner.

Really love the tear drop box. You've got the shape just right.

john

Originally Posted by yarrabilly

TeaLady

Love the tea set. The combination and contrast of the simply but beautifully turned wood and the ceramics is a real winner.

Really love the tear drop box. You've got the shape just right.

john

thanks it is getting good response from galleries too!

Top marks all round Tl!!

I would be pleased to own any of those pieces!!