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.