Mushrooms

[johnny.t.]

Today I've mostly been turning mushrooms, which prooved to be a lot of fun. I started out doing the small ones at the front and gradualy progressed throughout the day to the largest one with the bit of bark left on it and a captured ring. They are all oak except for the two in the middle of the picture which are beech. They are all finished with walnut oil.

cheers johnny

 

[Blister]

nice work

 

[Woodmagnet]

Very nice Johnny, i love mushrooms.

 

[Paul.J]

Nice set of Mushrooms Johnny

 

[PAC]

Nice work Johnny.

Are your mushrooms turned from green or dry, oak logs?

 

[johnny.t.]

Are your mushrooms turned from green or dry, oak logs?

Green(ish) the tree they come from has been down for about 3 years but was laying in a very wet meadow until about 8 weeks ago, when my father in law was given it for firewood by the farmer. I'm now liberating bits from him when we go to visit(more regularly than usual :twisted: )

johnny

 

[PAC]

Interesting! There's a similar oak tree in a field near me with a large branch on the ground. I must have a chat to the farmer about obtaining a few branches.

So have you applied the finish whilst the wood is still damp? Just wondering if the finish might slow down water loss from the wood and so reduce splitting as the wood dries.

 

[johnny.t.]

So have you applied the finish whilst the wood is still damp? Just wondering if the finish might slow down water loss from the wood and so reduce splitting as the wood dries.

That was my thought(although I don't know as I've only been turning for 2 or 3 weeks), the wood seems to happily suck up the walnut oil even though its moist, I've given it about 6 coats now(wiped on with a cloth) and so far no splitting.......fingers crossed.

johnny

 

[PowerTool]

Nice
Great way to use up offcuts,and you can just be creative with shapes.I often use lemon oil on green-ish timber,certainly seems to slow down drying and stop splitting.

Andrew

 

[PAC]

I often use lemon oil on green-ish timber,certainly seems to slow down drying and stop splitting.

Andrew

Thanks for the tip, Andrew, I'll definitely try oil on green timber.

I've been inspired by Johnny's mushrooms so I thought I'd have a go myself. This one was turned late this afternoon from an apple branch. I dried it with five short blasts in the microwave (weight went from 56g to 38g before stabilising). No splits or distortion. I've not added a finish yet but here it is...

 

[Anonymous]

That's good one Paul, it has a lifelike elegance.... :!:

 

[johnny.t.]

Nice shroom Paul, I like the bark edge

I made one more, not sure what the wood is(rescued from firewood) waxed finish with a small ring.Its about 7" tall.

 

[greybeard]

I'm a fungus fan too - good to see lots of variety in the shapes.

Re the drying of the fallen oak. 3 years will have allowed quite a lot of moisture to come out, even if it was lying in a wet field. The moisture will have kept on coming out until it stabilised with its surroundings, which would not be as dry as a finished piece but is likely to be quite a bit drier than a growing tree.

That's the good news.
The less good news is that to go from wet field to centrally heated (i.e. dry!) house in a matter of weeks might well cause a certain amount of stress...but ironically it's likely to mean any splitting will be at the edges of the base or the cap, which will often look quite attractive!
IME if nothing's moved/split after about 3 months it'll probably not move at all.

Fingers crossed!

 

[PAC]

I made one more, not sure what the wood is(rescued from firewood) waxed finish with a small ring.Its about 7" tall.

Another really good mushroom - love the bark inclusions in this one. It's amazing how many nice pieces are hiding in firewood piles. 8)