Myrtal Wood Bowl

In my last post I had one shot of a bowl that I was turning. Here's a bunch more...

The first two show the chuck I used to mount the bowl onto the lathe, as well as the the bowl itself, before it was finished. I stopped sanding as I was actually getting the punky side thinner than the solid side of the bowl. At least enough that I could feel it with my fingers.



The next shot shows the base and the wood that the chuck was holding onto, while I turned the bowl. That is followed by a plate chuck designed to grab the edges of the bowl, or a platter, so I can turn the base of the bowl away. Finally a shot showing the base turned away. This time I added no decorative cuts to the bottom, I think 'cause I was already frustrated with the bowl and wanted to finish it and get on to another project.


Speaking of finish, these last two shots are the bowl after I put BLO over the bowl to get it a seal on it. I put a thick layer on, waited a few minutes (no patience here) then wiped of the remaining oil. Note the black spec near the edge, this was a worm hole I found after I got a ways into the turning. I also found a couple of dark inclusions in the bowl bottom as I was turning, but I took one completely out and other was reduced to about half it's original size.

All in all I would call this a great learning experience, but not rank it up too high in the quality level.

Enjoy, but be careful of the splinters.

The Latest Project

I had 2 4x8 sheets of plywood in the shop that I had used for garage doors during the construction of my shop. I tried to come up with a use for them that did not need to have a flat piece of ply, as they had curved over the 6 months that they stood as sentinels guarding the front. I finally decided the best use was for storage units, which you see in the attached picture. This did take about 80% of the wood and cleared out a huge space, both visually and physically. Leaning up against the metal rack the plywood separated the shop into 2 parts, one of which was tough to get to.

Once the shelf units were done, I removed the door I was using for temporary storage and collapsed the saw-horses and put them away. For now I have a piece of 1 ½" thick chunk of plywood for the top, but as you see it really is too short. I need to make a 6-8' long counter for the top to place move of my heavy tools. I currently am working out two ideas, laminate some 2x4' to make the top, or split a 4x8 sheet of MDF and laminating the two halves together for the top. I'm leaning towards the latter.

While I was taking pictures I took another one of the table I made to catch offcuts from the table saw, and a Myrtal wood bowl I am turning on the mini-lathe. When I started turning the bowl the support for the tool bar did not fit under the blank, so I had to move it over as I rough turned the wood. The wood also has a punky side, so it is not balanced and the table has a tendency to vibrate (when I started the table bounced.)

Table frame and vice handle

Okay, I have been out to the shop and working on something besides ornaments. Here are two projects I am working on.

The first project you see is an Indian head carving in a class 2 years ago, but have not worked on it as I could get a good way to hold it up at a working height. I made the 2 support posts out of Myrtal wood, with a hinge joint between them. The 5/16" bolt goes through the center of the joint and I use the new vice handle to tighten the clamp. I wanted a metal handle cause if the joint slips, I can use a mallet to tighten it back up. I finally found and ordered the handle from Lee Valley Tools and it was perfect for what I wanted. I'd been looking at catalogs for 2 years trying to find it.

The second project is a table to put behind the table saw to help catch the over sized boards (plywood). While the finished size turned out a little large for my shop, I'll keep it around a while to see how it works. On top of the frame that you see I placed a 48x38" piece of Melamine coated particle board, not my preferred choice but it should work fine here. Note that I even got to use the 2 new 4' clamps that I got for Christmas. Since the top was Melamine I banded the edges to protect them and also got to use the new little Iron I also got for Christmas. (I understand the guys at the woodshop were getting jealous.)

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Artistry in Wood Show

I went to Lincoln City for the Artistry in Wood show on Saturday. There was a combination of turning and carving booths, mostly carving. There were some great pieces to look at. I think there was a little more carving on cottonwood this year, and I even bought a couple of pieces to give it a try. I also picked up some more basswood and a chunk of butternut. I did not take any pictures this year so you get none to see. A nice part of a regular show like this is that the carvers keep getting better over time. I was impressed by some of the work, even though I have seen several of the better carvers before, their new pieces were well executed. There were a few new carvers at the show with interesting projects.

One that caught my eye was a carver in redwood with a Alaskan Tinglet Indian style of work. While I like the ideas and design I felt that the quality was lacking. These pieces were also large, as the smallest was 2x3 feet.

Another table the carver had been carving folding deer, cut from a single 2"x4" piece of wood. He even showed me a experiment he made carving a three fold joint from a single 4"x4" block. It looks technically tough. He also had some spoons/scoops that he carved from a single block that were quite well done, chains that were about 2 feet long and several other items.

They had classes scheduled throughout the day, but I passed on those as I figured my time was limited.

I did pick up info on 2 other shows coming up:

• Lower Columbia Wood Carvers 2010 26ht Anniversary
  
  Sept. 25 & 26, 2010 at the Cowlitz Expo Center
  
  
• Southcoast Woodcarvers 19th Show & Sale
  
  April 17 and 18, 2010 at the North Bend Community Center
  
  

There were 4 large vendors at the show, and a couple of small one selling from within a regular table. The big guys had some of everything that you could use for carving including wood, knifes, books, gloves, rotary grinders and more. I think 2 of the smaller guys were selling custom knives and a third was selling cotton wood for carving.

All in all, it was a good show.
Enjoy, but be careful of the splinters.

New ornaments

Okay, I haven't posted anything for a while. Blame it on the holidays. Here are two pictures of ornaments that I have turned since New Years. All are slated to be given away, along with two or three more that I haven't made yet. The bodies are Myrtal Wood with Cherry finials. Note that the last one I turned, sitting up on top, has the grain, and consequently the 'rays' in a different direction then the rest. One of these pictures was left very large, so it may take some time to load. All of these are hollow and I am getting better at that part.

Also note that one has two loose rings on it. Just having fun trying to see if I can turn them.

A third picture I included is an ornament I turned tonight, and I don't believe the body is Myrtle wood. It's a little different shape since the piece was narrower and longer. As you can see I had not yet glued it together so you can see the parts. Once it is together I will post that picture.



Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Ornaments

I've taken pictures of 2 more of the ornaments that I turned. One was finished with a varnish, the other LSO and a wax. The bodies of both are Myrtal wood. I'm still fighting the finials, but the one with Olive turned easy. The other one I don't know what the wood is.


Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Been a while...

Lots to cover today. I did get my new table saw as you can see in the pictures. Got lots of cardboard too. Had a friend help get it out of the truck into the shop. I put it together, then coaxed it onto a mobile base I got with the saw. It was heavy and I could only lift a portion of the saw at a time. But I finally got it there. I had it for over a week before I got to turn it on.

Next up I finally took pictures of 2 cypress knee Santas that I carved over the summer. These are 8" tall. I took them both to work for our annual Holiday auction. The silent bidding was today and the one with the bag went for $75. The other is to be auctioned off tomorrow night at the party. Barb wanted to keep the one with the bag, but we had created so little this year that we sent it in anyway. I promised I'd carve another one.

Next up are 2 Christmas ornaments that I turned. I took 2 different ones to the auction today, also, which had the bodies that I posted earlier. One went for $35 and the other will be in the auction tomorrow night. Of the two pictured here, the one with the body of Myrtal wood was the first one I turned. The other uses a piece of a trunk from an ornamental tree I cut down to make way for the shop. It cracked in several places on one side, but I added a top and bottom anyway and I think it looks pretty good. Nice grain pattern. The finials probably hold it together.

Last but not least, they had a Jet sale (15% off) the week I picked up my saw so I also bought this Jet thickness sander to put in the shop. It is very nice, saved me a lot of time already on one of the projects that I did.

You can see 2 pieces of plywood in the background of the Jet thickness sander, which I need to use or get rid of. They were used a garage doors for most of the building of the shop and they aren't flat any more. I need to be careful where I use them as they will probably warp what ever they are attached to. Sigh.

The holidays are upon us, but be careful of the splinters.