Schrebera alata

**Caveman** · 1st August 2007, 06:47 PM

G'day all.
Just finished this one last night - came out pretty nice cept one strange thing that I can't work out what was the cause.
Measures 12" x 2" - a lovely wood to use , quite hard with a really fine finish - can't find any reference of it ever having been used for any kind of wood working.

There's a strange darker stained ring around the top rim of the bowl over where the undercutting of the rim is - the second pic shows this quite clearly.
I finished the bowl in the usual way - sanded to 600grit - wiped on BLO left it for a bit (+- 1 hr) - wiped off the excess - left overnight - then waxed with beeswax and buffed with a soft cotton cloth. All of this whilst still on the lathe (beeswax & buffing with the lathe running).

Any ideas why this might have happened??? Seems the oil soaked in more over this area than the rest?

**BernieP** · 1st August 2007, 07:26 PM

G'Day Andy

That is one beautiful bowl, especially the treatment you have given the bottom. I note the common name for this wood is Wild Jasmine, however it belongs to the olive family, could it be some reaction to the type of wood that has caused the dark area?
Just a thought probably wrong.

Cheers
Bernie

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 1st August 2007, 07:37 PM

Perhaps 'twas slightly rougher on the undercut side, (unseen tearout?) allowing more oil to be wicked in? Probably not, from your seeming standard of finish, but it has happened to me.

It is curious...

**DJ’s Timber** · 1st August 2007, 07:37 PM

Beautiful work there Andy`

, well proportioned and lovely shape

**Caveman** · 1st August 2007, 07:46 PM

Thanks guys - Skew you could be spot on I reckon - the rim was undercut with a small hollowing tip/scraper and there wasn't enough space get under there and sand properly.
It's a fairly logical assumption.

**Harry72** · 1st August 2007, 09:56 PM

Nice piece Captain(CAVEMAN)

How big was the blank before you started?

**Caveman** · 1st August 2007, 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by Harry72

Nice piece Captain(CAVEMAN)
How big was the blank before you started?

Hi Harry - thanks - was a good couple of inches larger than the finished product (say about 14").
I actually dropped it after completing the outer profile when removing the piece off the faceplate to put on the chuck

. Had to knock off an inch or so to remove the resulting crack.
Could've been worse - at least I got something out at the end.

**Cliff Rogers** · 1st August 2007, 10:44 PM

Nice piece.

Strange about that ring.

**Caveman** · 1st August 2007, 10:50 PM

Thanks Cliff - will try a different finish on the next one - see if the same happens.

**hughie** · 2nd August 2007, 07:33 AM

Andy,

Great piece of turning! The dark line tends to add to the bowl

Art out of Africa ....

**Caveman** · 2nd August 2007, 04:30 PM

Thanks Hughie - it actually tends to be more noticable on the photo - now a couple of days off the lathe and it seems to be blending in somewhat.

**TTIT** · 2nd August 2007, 04:41 PM

I look at oddities like the ring as a forced opportunity for experimentation. Maybe turn the edge of the ring into a bead or carve or burn or whatever you think you might like to try 'one day'. Gotta keep pushing your own boundaries I reckon.
Nice work regardless Andy.

**rsser** · 2nd August 2007, 05:03 PM

Great work Andy. Came up well.

As for my guess on the ring, I can only add maybe a heat effect? I've had sapwood on our desert acacias darken through friction-induced heat.

**joe greiner** · 2nd August 2007, 10:42 PM

Beautiful bowl, Andy. The underside treatment is superb.

In pic 2, the staining seems to be darkest in the straight-on end grain region, and lighter away from it. Is that a generalised pattern? Also presented on the outside of the rim? If so, it might just be that end grain soaks more than elsewhere. If not, it's a mystery to me.

Joe

**Caveman** · 3rd August 2007, 01:15 AM

Thanks Ern, Vern & Joe - yep a forced design opportunity - don't have any carving or burning tools ... yet... one day maybe.

Could well be friction/heat induced - as that is probably the thinnest part of the bowl it could be the cause.

On the other hand grain orientation could also have something to do with it! Maybe something particular/peculiar to this type of wood - who knows.

Still not much further forward towards finding the cause, but lots of possible reasons - thanks for the input.
I've plenty more where that came from so I guess when I can get round to it, I'll try different finishes etc and see how it turns out.

Thread: Schrebera alata

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Schrebera alata

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions