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Although Cindy Drozda may use the vortex primarily for finials, it's by no means limited to that purpose, like any turning tool, it has a primary function (in the case of the vortex tool that is detail rather than finial) but can also serve in other capacities equally well if used correctly...

Getting a clean cut on end grain like that is very tricky and if the wood is punky (half rotted) then no matter how sharp the tool, you will still get some tear out (the pits). One tool I have found that does make the very best end grain cuts with absolute minimal tear out though is based on...

First bowl (which is the better of the set) is Olive Ash. The outer curve looks pretty good, the use of an internal expanding jaw for chucking though means you have to leave a fairly heavy base to avoid going through or leaving it too thin, it's better to have an external tenon, then you can do...

The images are too small and out of focus to get a proper look at the grain, the top one looks a bit like Elm, next could be Oak, third Elm again, but not really sure due to the image quality. Post bigger and better pics, we would know for sure then.

If the bowl is not a natural edged one (they are tricky) then what I do is use a large flat disc of ply with a larger diameter than the bowl (I made one earlier!) mounted in the chuck, the rim of the bowl is placed against it (with a cloth or tissue backing to protect it) and the tailstock...

Pretty tricky to identify in that state, but from the bark I would hazard they are Ash, as for value, not much, if you got a fiver each I would think that would be pretty good. You might get a little more if you cut them into decent blanks, sealed and dried them, but like anything else, the...

I'm with Phil.p on this one, I already got Moles in the garden, I don't want'em spreading via spores! :wink:

Well done Bobblezard, a very nice bowl. Thanks to Richard for the encouraging comment too, some excellent entries altogether and really good to see so many having a go. Very pleasing to top the entrants vote choice too.

It's pretty ancient really, you don't see spindle gouges made that way much now, I have one and I rarely use it, the modern spindle gouge has a round section steel bar and pretty much all of them are HSS these days, which is easier to sharpen (in so far as you don't need to be quite so wary of...

Very impressive!

A natural edged bowl in Laburnam, this wood came from a tree growing in the upper parts of the Preseli Mountains, it was well over 100 years old and was growing in a very hard environment as can be seen from the numerous shakes and gnarled surface, the challenge with this bowl was keeping it in...

Do you by chance mean that Lidl have cheap spanners (rather than gauges) for sale that you checked with a vernier gauge. I am most intrigued by the notion of a verynear gauge as an accurate measuring tool! :) (Sorry about that Phil, I just couldn't resit!) :D

Or leather, you can buy leather string easily enough.

Very nice vase Derek, wood and design working well together. Good turning!

While the advice about dust protection is very valid and should be followed thoroughly, it should be said that there are no spores in spalted wood (at least, no spores from the fungus that caused the spalting) Spores are entirely a product of the fungus fruit body, the actual mushroom...

It's unlikely that there is much difference between the species, it was one of the reasons cited as a difficulty in combating Dutch Elm disease, the lack of genetic variation in Elms worldwide, as such it is hard to try and breed for any resistance. I seem to remember reading as much many years...

Very nice bowls indeed, great form and finish. Quality turning.

Beautiful piece George, the slight cup to the rim, sort of natural edged like, (at least, it appears to have one! :) ) how was that done?

Very nice piece WM, I think the shape is OK too, certainly it's not out of balance and it looks elegant.

It turns nice enough, I seriously doubt that there is anywhere near sufficient concentration in the wood to pose any danger from the cyanide, I too used to use the young leaves (chopped fine, the old leaves though have virtually no cyanide that you can smell) in a killing jar when I had a moth...