Musings of a newbie

[wood hacker]

Having acquired a lathe when my father upgraded I thought I'd give this wood turning lark a go. I started with some pens, simply because I like pens and they seemed relatively easy to do (I now know better) and had some success at producing a half decent pen, not quite to the standard of some of the old hands but working on it.

Having done that I thought I'd give something a bit larger ago. I very quickly found out that turning wood is more than just jabbing a bit of revolving timber with a sharp (or so I thought at the time) hunk of metal. Not one to let an inanimate object get the better of me I sat back and thought well what do I do now. I quick trip to the library yielded a copy of "Turning Wood" by Richard Raffan and a few hours of reading led to many forehead slapping moments accompanied by muttered "so that's how you're supposed to do it"

So armed by my new found knowledge I started again. I even worked though some of the exercises in Richards book, turning coves and beads etc. As useful as they are (and they really are good learning experience) I just had to try something I could then stick on a shelf and say "see that there, I made that". Once again from the book there was a nice little step by step exercise making a vase. So having found a suitable hunk of timber and roughed it down I managed to do the base quite nicely including the grooves for the chuck to grip when turning the top. So I finished the base, polished it up and then proceeded to the top.

Well this is where things started to get a bit interesting. Whilst hollowing out the top I found that you have to be careful how you approach the timber. I think what brought on this sudden epiphany was when my proto-vase became a missile flying across the workshop when the chisel (yes I am blaming my tools) decided it wanted to grab hold of the timber. Well getting forcibly ripped from the chuck didn't do the groves around the base much good but I remounted and finished the job.

I'm not sure what the timber actually is as I found it sitting around under the house after we moved in and it looked pretty old. I do know that it is fairly hard and resonable dense at somewhere between 1050 - 1100kg / cubic meter. Any ideas as to what it can be? The piece has been sanded to 240 and finished with HUT wax. Final size is approx 150mm tall by 70mm wide.

[TTIT]

Top job - especially for a first attempt Makes it worth all the dramas eh!

[orraloon]

Hi wood hacker,
It is a learning curve but that is a pretty good start none the less. I dont think I need to say keep at it. By now you will not be able to stop anyhow.
Regards
John

[Ed Reiss]

Howdy WH...welcome to the asylum

I'm not sure what the timber actually is as I found it sitting around under the house after we moved in and it looked pretty old. I do know that it is fairly hard and resonable dense at somewhere between 1050 - 1100kg / cubic meter. Any ideas as to what it can be?

...must be FUH wood, not to be confused with FOG wood ...came out pretty good for your first piece!!

FUH = found under house
FOG = found on ground

[bowl-basher]

Hey Wood Hacker
some one has to warn you........STOP NOW..........
Its all down hill from here.... the week ends and nights in the shed .. the complaints from SWMBO..... the serch for funds to feed the ever growing need for more and better tools... ...the continual burning need to collect any even remotely usable lump of wood

Welcome to the Vortex enjoy

Regards
Bowl-Basher

[bowl-basher]

Howdy WH...welcome to the asylum

I'm not sure what the timber actually is as I found it sitting around under the house after we moved in and it looked pretty old. I do know that it is fairly hard and resonable dense at somewhere between 1050 - 1100kg / cubic meter. Any ideas as to what it can be?

...must be FUH wood, not to be confused with FOG wood ...came out pretty good for your first piece!!

FUH = found under house
FOG = found on ground

Edd I think that isone of our most common timbers...
WASATREE
Bowl-Basher

[artme]

Great pice WH. Really pleasing form that catches the eye.

I have lots of Brown Hoonoze, Red Hoonoze and various other varieties of Hoonoze. All interesting stuphph.

[Ozkaban]

Nice first go Flying missiles do add to the excitement, but when they collect you on the way past the fun wears off a bit

I thought the wood species was damifino. I have lots of it All looks a little different though

cheers,
Dave

[rsser]

Prob Eu. nondifferentiata ;-}

Vase hollowing is ambitious for a beginner. Well done.

[joe greiner]

Looks more like Lignum Incognita. Grows everywhere.

Nice save.

Cheers,
Joe

[wood hacker]

Prob Eu. nondifferentiata ;-}

Vase hollowing is ambitious for a beginner. Well done.

Not as ambitious as it sounds rsser. It's a bit of a Claytons vase, meant only for displaying dried flowers and grasses (or plastic if you're feeling a bit tacky). There is a 12mm hole drilled about 3/4 of the way down through the piece and only the top 15mm or so is hollowed out forming a shallow dish down to the central hole.

[Paul39]

Claytons vase, meant only for displaying dried flowers and grasses

Called a weed pot around here.

Very nice piece, welcome to the addiction.

[Ed Reiss]

Not as ambitious as it sounds rsser. It's a bit of a Claytons vase, meant only for displaying dried flowers and grasses (or plastic if you're feeling a bit tacky). There is a 12mm hole drilled about 3/4 of the way down through the piece and only the top 15mm or so is hollowed out forming a shallow dish down to the central hole.

whoops...you blew it WH shouldn't have said anything, no one would have known the difference

[munruben]

no one would have known the difference

Except if you filled it up with water.

[rsser]

no, there's no shame in a bud vase. Done a few myself.

You can drill it to receive something like a test tube so can actually put a flower stem in it.

It's good practice developing an outside form.

Good to see you try out Raffan's idea of a carefully sized rim to avoid chuck jaw marks.