Learning the Turning # 26

Kwila Bowl

Kwila (also known as Merbau) grows in South-east Asia, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. I don't know where this particular piece came from, other than the woodworking show at Caulfield racecourse that happens once a year.

It's something of a coarse-grain timber, almost grass-like in its end grain.  I rather like it, and will keep my eye out for more when I see it.

This lovely piece is already spoken for by my daughter, who says it would go nicely with her new table.

Learning the Turning #25

Extra-Flared Chestnut Bowl

Chestnut is a difficult, but rewarding timber to turn.  It's quite hard, can be a bit unbalanced, and I'm not sure just how tough it will be, despite the density.  Could be just the moisture content in this piece, though (and I'm reminded that moisture meters aren't really very expensive).  Be that as it may, it is a very warm, traditional wooden colour and the grain is really quite swoopy and nice.  I'm hoping not everyone will see the remaining tool marks (two days to sand -- really?)

Anyhow, I finished this one this morning and snuck it on to m'lady's desk for viewing.  I hope she likes it.

Learning the Turning - Table #1

Learning the Turning -- Table #1

Solid Jarrah coffee table

I haven't posted any new bowls in a while, because I was working on learning how to make furniture. In this case, a coffee table for my youngest.  She needed a coffee table because her apartment didn't have one, and because long ago I made a doll house for her older sister, but never got around to making one for her.

Jarrah is my favourite wood, and i have a lot of favourites.  It's hard, it's heavy, and it's tough.  It also takes a polish up to mirror levels before you apply any sort of finish to it at all.

This one was finished with Cabothane Clear, a polyurethane based clear coat.  The top has six coats of it, wiped down with mineral turpentine after each application.  The top is biscuit-joined, and the whole thing is glued together with slow-cure, extra strength Araldite two-pack epoxy resin.

If this piece of furniture were part of a role-playing game, it would have Serious Stats.

(If anyone wanted one just like it, figure ~$A3k with a $500. deposit. Lots and lots of hours...  Freight would be extra -- it's about 25kg.  Like I said, Serious Stats.)

Learning the Turning #24

Huon Pine Rolling Pin

I'm not really that well versed in large spindle work.  However, I did find a nice 200mm square section of Huon Pine at the woodworking show, and I couldn't pass it up.  My lady had mentioned some years ago that she really needed a bigger rolling pin to comfortably roll out pastry (she's a cosmically superb cook) without bruising her knuckles or having to put too much pressure on it.  So weight's a thing, more is better?

It wasn't a surprise gift, because I had the foresight to ask her what dimensions she preferred.  Dragged the old one out; half again the diameter, same width, no crevices where food could get caught.

Sharpened the chisels, got to work, finished it over two days.  It's mostly a straight cylinder (I used a straightedge and my least-caffienated stance) and once again, I am absolutely thunderstruck at how beautiful Huon Pine is. Check out the grain in the second photo.

I did not apply a finish, leaving it to my lady to decide whether she wants to use olive oil, or butter, or cosmic unicorn cooking sauce.  I didn't have the faintest idea, to be honest.  But it's a rolling pin, of sorts.

Learning the Turning #23

Liquid Amber

Another lovely blank I acquired from the folks at Pops Shed was marked "Liquid Amber".  I'd never heard of that sort of tree.  I love learning new things (and I'm resisting the urge to add an emoji here).

The shape is another variation of the flared edge style, and this one comes with extra carved rings. The rings are a bit fiddly, cut with a thin-section parting tool.

Anyway this one behaved itself, so you're seeing the results here, unlike the last two blanks which evaded the light by punch-through.  I'd love to blame the blanks,but it wasn't their fault (Why am I seeing the lathe through the bowl?  Oh...).

This bowl did all the right things and I'm rather pleased with it.  Almost spalted in places, but I'm a new wood turner, not a botanist or arborist. I do take precautions not to breathe any of the dust.

Two new pieces of gear since the last posting -- a really nice magnetic clamp-on gooseneck lamp from Carbatec, and an all-singing, all-dancing powered fully enclosed woodturner's face shield from Pop's Shed.  I should have acquired these earlier, they make the work so much easier & thus more pleasant to do.

At no time did this piece fly off the chuck and chase me around the shop.  Still learning, it appears.

Learning the Turning #22

Shake, Rattle and Roll

It's disconcerting when a piece of heavy burl detaches itself from the chuck and chases you around the room.  Steel-capped boots will not keep you from playing jump-rope with a wild and wooly blank spinning around the floor at 2000 RPM.

Eventually I caught it under the bandsaw base and it reluctantly returned to my hand.

This piece is from a highly figured piece of Australian wood -- Victorian Ash burl, I believe.  It's heavily flawed, has a bit of live edge (as you can see) and what you can't see is that the wood was harder than the hubs of hell.  I felt like I was turning iron, not wood.  I sanded it up to 1200 grit and the surface looked like glass when I was done.  My wife says it's gorgeous, I say it's rather nice.

Two days to turn a single bowl.  I may not be specialising in burl, Going back to a nice couple of pieces of camphor laurel I have next.

Learning the Turning #21

Huon Pine

The tree made this, not me.  I intend to remember that.

I carved this tribute to a Huon Pine out of the skeleton of a living creature.

That said, I will be sad when I can no longer source turning blanks out of this timber...

This was a fairly smooth cut, sanded in 8 grades from 80 to 1200.  

At 80, you're still shaping it.  After 600, you're just adding a bit of gloss.

Wax finish, applied while turning and melted in by burnishing with Huon Pine shavings from turning this bowl.

When I get my Etsy shop up (soon) I will be selling little bags of the shavings too.  I've seen this before, as Huon Pine is a natural insect repellent.

Learning the Turning #20

Pittosporum

This is a fairly hard wood, unexpected from what is essentially a flower stalk.

I nearly discarded this blank, due to having snapped off the small bit I use to drill pilot holes for the faceplate screws.  It was a pain to drill around the broken bit, but I did prevail in the end.

Showing it to my good lady wife, she immediately said "Mark that one as 'sold'".

I love how she encourages me :)

Learning the Turning #19

Camphor Laurel

A truly beautiful wood.  This one reminded me of the giant Red Spot on Jupiter.  Very spacy.  The fragrance was otherworldly too, as I'd mentioned some time ago on another bowl.  Camphor Laurel can provoke allergic reactions in some people, but it doesn't seem to have any affect on me.  If you end up with this one, be wary of that, although the entire surface, inside and out (except for the circular mortise on the base) is sealed by the friction-melted wax finish.  The melt was occasioned by burnishing the surface with wood shavings from the turning process, while still spinning on the lathe.

It's kind of nice once in a while to turn a bowl with absolutely no complications or catches or ineradicable chisel scars in the grain, and to have it turn out to be a truly beautiful piece of wood. The grain is iridescent in places, that is the apparent depth of the grain changes depending on the angle -- sort of like one of those antique plastic toys that showed two different pictures depending on how you tilted it.  Remember those?

Anyway this one turned out rather nice, and I'm really quite pleased with it.

Learning the Turning #18

A taller Huon Pine bowl

When I saw this blank, I thought -- such a beautiful piece of wood, I'm going to stop trying for "beautiful" -- the wood itself handles that nicely -- and try for "exquisite".  

Arrogant much?  Perhaps.  But a guy has to have goals, doesn't he?

Deeper bowls are a little more difficult to turn, as I like the short tungsten-carbide scrapers, so confidence-inspiring that they are, but they don't have a lot of reach.  This means they're not quite as stable once you start extending your reach inside the bowl.  Fortunately, Huon Pine is very forgiving due to its very close grain structure.

Ultimately I went to the high-speed steel bowl scraper, which looks a bit like a comma on a stick. Sharpened.  I'm getting a lot more confident about sharpening chisels.

And why do they call it High Speed Steel?  Simply that it melts at a higher temperature, which means you can sharpen it without turning blue.  The chisel, that is -- I don't hold my breath during the process.

Learning the Turning #17

Huon Pine

Iridescent grain is my reward for spending twice as much time as usual on this one.  

I went into the project with the earnest desire of making this bowl worth the centuries it took to grow the tree.  Arrogant, much?  Maybe, but it's pretty easy to be humble in the face of something that took so long to grow.

I must say I'm rather pleased with this one.  Sunrise on one end, sunset on the other.  

Although Huon Pine has a very dense grain structure, it's not entirely homogenous -- there's complexity and figuring and drift in this, almost as if it were some geological feature, rather than botanical.  Certainly I was aware of its age, as much as an ephemeral meat popsicle can be aware of such, and if you look closely at this piece you can almost feel the warmth and chill of each growth ring.  I apply effort, and am rewarded with imagination and the shy exposure of a tree's inner beauty.

My photo, as usual, doesn't do it justice.  

By the way, I am now numbering these bowls, so they can be matched up with their documentation in this blog.  Which will last longer, the bowl or the bytes?

Swish, and Flick

Rock Maple, waxed.

This wand is not magical. Honest. And even if it were, you would need to be able to use it correctly.  I recommend not buying it for its magical power. A Muggle would get no use out of it, to be sure.

Ravenclaw-aligned might, but it depends on the magical capabilities of the wizard using it. Which is of course silly, because this is not a magic wand. It really isn't.

Learning the Turning

Swish, and Flick

These are not magic wands.  There is absolutely no magic in here.  

These aren't the wands you're looking for. 

Move along.

The skinny one in the background is made of Blackwood with a tung oil finish.

The shorter one in the foreground is also Blackwood, with an orange oil finish*.

They ain't perfect, but they were definitely fun to make.  I'm figuring $65 each plus postage and handling.  PM me if interested, we can work something out.

I can guarantee there will be no two alike.

*Originally posted as rock maple, in error.  Blackwood it is.

Learning the Turning #16

Skipping the Busted Bits

A bit of Huon Pine

In 1616 AD, Officials in Württemberg charge astronomer Johannes Kepler with practicing "forbidden arts" (witchcraft). His mother had also been so charged and spent 14 months in prison. (Wikipedia).

About the same time, the tree that this bowl came from was a healthy seedling.  Huon Pine is like that. Grows only in Tasmania, and it's one of the hardest "softwoods" I've ever encountered.  Turns beautifully.  Takes the term "slow growth" to extremes, though, and I treat it with respect.

The lighting was the same in both shots, each with the bowl turned 90 degrees from the other, and indeed it does look like two entirely different bowls.  The colours approximate what I see, too.  The view from where a bit of "live edge" is showing (bark showing, considered a bit trendy among turners.  I don't know, just think it's pretty) is quite a bit lighter.

This one has a wax finish, and for the first time I've used John Sawyer's hint of using handfuls of wood shavings to burnish and melt the wax in.  I like the idea, and there's no shortage of wood shavings on the floor.

The large, expensive and troublesome Blackwood blank that sang the end of the banjo posted previously, failed due to a very brittle edge, and the fact that the blank was so out of balance I could never get it round enough to make a straight starting cylinder.  Different densities within the wood.  I also found it a bit disconcerting trying to turn with the lathe trying to walk around the workshop as I worked.

So this is bowl #16.  Blank #15 is having its number retired, in gratitude to the rather expensive lessons I learned from it.  No photos of #15, it's in the bin.

Learning the Turning

"A Bit of A Catch"

Catches aren't quite so scary once you discover you tend to do more damage to the blank than you do to yourself.  This happened when I was turning the largest bowl to date, a fairly massive chunk of blackwood with (as I discovered) a nice hidden knot.  Knowing what a knot is (it's just a a piece of branch) I wonder how it managed to embed itself.  I'll leave that speculation for another day, I suppose.

Anyway, this big Blackwood blank was spinning fairly fast for its size -- around 1000rpm -- and was actually moving the lathe around on the floor, and that was after I'd gotten it roughly cylindrical.  I'd gone to a square high-speed steel scraper, and the knot decided it really liked the scraper and wanted to eat it, which it did.

The blank came to a noisy dead stop, stalled the lathe, and I slapped the off switch.  The tool rest looked a little wonky, and I blew the dust off and found I wasn't going to be doing any more turning today.  Off to speak to the spares guy at Carbatec, then.

Learning the Turning #14

Claret Ash

I think I'm still making progress.

This one has a wax finish.  I'm finding that in some cases, there is no amount of re-cutting or 80-grit sanding that can take out certain "turning marks", where the grain is not very dense at all.  Rather than spend the extra hour with coarse sanding, I'm thinking I may just have to accept that not all parts of a good blank are hard enough to take a good fine polishing sand.  Great is the enemy of good, I know, but I will continue to either figure out ways around it, or learn to accept it*.

The wax finish is from a stick wax branded "Shithot Wax".  You apply the stick to the turning bowl, then take a blue paper shop towel and burnish it in.  The wax melts and the finish is more durably shiny than the oil I've been using before.  The other bowls are not quite as shiny now that the oil has soaked in and dried;  I'm up for giving them another coat, looks like.

I am hoping to find a good wax finishing product that doesn't contain beeswax (certain person close to me has a bee product allergy) so I'm thinking solid carnuba wax might be the go.  Automobile paste wax perhaps?  Have to try that.

Blanks are getting fairly expensive;  I'm going to have to start selling these things.  They won't be particularly cheap, as it takes the energy of one day to make these (several hours all up) and a few other bits.

*Or accept the fact that I'm just a bit too lazy, and need to lift my game.  Room to improve, room to improve.

Learning the Turning

Oops

Lesson learned:  When drilling the pilot hole, allow for the depth of the chuck mortise.

I wasn't particularly happy with the blank, to be honest.  It had quite a few grub-castings holes to be cleaned out (I was planning to turn that into a feature, for a yarn bowl).  It seemed very difficult to sand any flaws out, and the flaws weren't particularly interesting.

On to the next blank, then.

Learning the Turning Nos. 11 and 12

#11 is just a local hardwood, Ash if I can remember correctly.

#12 is Blackwood, (Acacia Melanoxylon - I remember that from some furniture we bought in Tasmania way back when.)

Blackwood is beautiful.  It's also rather heavy, and I learned that you want to have a slightly larger mortise for the chuck to grip, as it will vibrate a bit if you don't.  This one, while turning the inside, generated a Pa-TWING moment as a piece of it during a catch sailed past my ear and slammed against the sheet steel wall on the opposite side of the workshop. Just a little moment of drama.  Not sure if it was the vibration or just the wood arguing with me, this increasingly-slightly-less-totally-inept wood processor that I am.  Anyway, I love Blackwood.  Who doesn't?

No. 11, in Ash

No. 12, in Blackwood

Learning the Turning #10

And I have absolutely no idea what wood was used here.  

The guys at Pop's Shed who sold me the blank had "CA" written on the bottom.  I suspect that's Camphor, as in possibly Camphor Laurel.  I'll see if I can find out for sure, but for now think of it as "Mystery Wood".

(Edit:  I asked, and it's Cloudy Ash.)

Not quite as happy with this one (although I like the shape -- a bit more subtle than usual) as there are visible catches inside.  You know how I said Rosewood and Banksia are such beautiful woods to turn?  This one is the exact opposite.  Like a fluffy cat you bring home that spits and snarls and looks beautiful while it's eating your DVD collection.  That sort of wood.  

Anyway, it's half-way pretty, so it gets a post.

Learning the Turning #9

More Banksia

I find it humbling to reflect on just how long it took this organism to build up this grain over time.  I see it not so much as my creating beauty, but simply evoking it.  I've got the easy job.

Several photographs of this piece, because it's a more complex shape.  It seemed I could photograph the shape, or the grain, but not both.  I kind of like this one.

There's still a flared edge, although it's a subtle curve.  

There's more of a stem than is shown at this angle.

Trees in the background are lovely, but show up way too dark.  

I will eventually learn how to take a photograph.

"It's looking at me, dad!"

It's shallower than it looks from here.

Learning the Turning #8

This is a new, small, flared-edge bowl

The wood is Western Australia Swamp Banksia

(Beware the bad, bad Banksia man!*)

It's about 4" across, or about the width of a typical piston in a typical car.  Typically.  Because, lots of you can relate to that, yes?

Not shown in the pic are the regularly-spaced indentations inside, where the "eyes" would be.  All carved out and polished up.  This one I took to 1200 grit, and the Tung oil I used to finish it really darkened up the wood.  Might use orange oil on the next bit of Banksia I turn.  It was a reasonably inexpensive blank (about A$8.00) and I enjoyed turning this one.  The grain has this expanding sunset on one side (not shown, sorry) and is an intriguing thing to hold and stare at.  I will be turning more of this if I find it.

The photo below is per request from A.V.Walters, who wanted to see how the bottom was chucked. The light area is a roughly 1/8 inch indentation, dovetailed in.  The 4-jaw Nova chuck I use expands to fit and holds the bowl securely.

*If you understand that reference, you may need to check your credentials.  Australian?  Highly likely.

Learning the Turning, No. 7

Rather small bowl, Tasmanian Myrtle, flared edge.

One Switch To Find Them All, 

And In The Darkness Light Them.

One thing I did not compromise on at all, was the electricity feeds here.  I called in a properly certified electrician, told him what I wanted -- lots of power points, drive these here machines correctly, huge LED shop lights -- and said build the whole thing to code.

One nice little result of doing it properly, is the breaker next to the door.  Shuts *everything* off.

I remember when very young I had a very cheap arc welder that I ran on 110V in my dad's garage in California.  My arc sputtered and died, and the plug on the wall started throwing a rather large arc.  Did not blow fuses.  I took a chunk of wood and beat the plug out of the socket to kill the arc.

Now I know I'm way too smart to make that sort of mistake again, but because it happened once, I'm really rather glad I've got that whole-of-shop breaker where I can reach it easily -- and on the way out!

Message: Don't bet your house -- use a properly qualified tradesman to do your infrastructure.

This is my round-thing making thing:

This is my flat-making thing thing:

And the beginnings of a beautiful clutter:

You may note that the wall is tilted relative to the table (and thus, the floor).  When we moved in, I thought - oh, a workshop area!  Concrete floor! Annnd... that's a ten-inch drop from the right to the left, I said to myself, I said.

The Floorist who came out and brought his classy laser level measured things and said "You have a ten-inch -- 10.01" to be exact -- drop from top to bottom there, mate."  I think he used imperial measurements when he picked up my accent. (I'm told I have one).

The floor is 25mm (aye, one inch) thick medium-density particleboard flooring.  It's quite solid.

But I may have to put out a general warning for my CDO friends out there.  The slope of the wall definitely does not match the levelness of the floor, which is quite flat and level indeed.

And for those of you who understand, the bandsaw is called Bandy.

Two earlier bowls

Still learning the turning. 

I think these two were nos. 4 and 5.

I believe the bottom one is Camphor Laurel (possibly Silver Ash) and the top one is Chili Myrtle.

What I hadn't anticipated was just how nice it smells to carve wood on a lathe.  Camphor Laurel smells exquisite.

(That's No. 2 and 3 in the background.  Too ugly to pose for the camera.)

Rosewood Bowl

Learning the Turning

I am a rank amateur, a beginner, and a long time lover of wood.

A beginner, yes, but I've found an affinity for wood turning that fulfills a deep need to create, in partnership with the grain and the tools and the various components of time, lighting, and effort that turn a cross-section of tree into a cross-section of culture.  

I'm doing okay for a beginner, I think, and this first piece here (actually the sixth bowl I've turned) was well received when I showed it to my friends.  Either they're being unfailingly polite, or there may be something worth pursuing in this.

Rosewood is utterly wonderful to work.  It's hard, has wonderful grain that has a sort of iridescence as you pass the light across the finished work, like the star in a star sapphire.  I can understand why it's found in your better class of guitar fingerboard, like my old Martin D-18.  

This one was turned from a blank screwed to a faceplate to start with,  and with a dovetail recess on the bottom, which I left in place, didn't try to remove once the work was done.  

 Previous bowls were turned with a tenon base (a round extrusion you grip by squeezing in on the Nova chuck's four jaws).  I find this sort of tenon is hard to remove without risking the flatness and straight-up-and-dicular-ness of the resulting work.  With a dovetail recess the chuck's jaws press outward, and the rim is supported by the rest of the blank.  That felt a bit more stable.

I'll try to document my progress a bit more, take a few more photos, and maybe show you a bit of my amateur's workshop from time to time.

In the meantime, I'm on the hunt for more Rosewood.