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