Post a photo of the last thing you turned

[Fred48]

Hi fred I could be wromg ss I'm not very good at recognising different woods stiil learning but they look like oak to heres a close up of the grian pattern that swayed me to think they were oakView attachment 186004

Hi Pat
oak has largish vessels that I cannot see in the samples you have shown. Beech can have similar ish medullary rays but much smaller. An end grain photo will clearly show the close grain of beech and the open vessels in oak.
hope that helps
Fred

 

[loftyhermes]

Oak would be very coarse grained for that purpose. Incidentally, they're called spurtles.

Phil, a spurtle is the name for a fancy stick used for stirring porridge or soups or any other liquid in a pan. Usually has a thistle design at the top end to represent it's Scottish origin.

 

[pat from Marck]

That be Sequioa a beautiful tree with amazing colour, I've made a few pieces from it.

Hi stig had my wood source round a couple of days back who gave me a bag of wood for my birthday and whilst he was here asked him about the egg cups and he said it was blue cedar. So did my Google search on blue cedar and sequoia and in my opinion I believe you are spot on with it being sequoia as the bark on the original piece I had matched with the Google images for sequoia and was nothing like the bark for the blue cedar images.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Phil, a spurtle is the name for a fancy stick used for stirring porridge or soups or any other liquid in a pan. Usually has a thistle design at the top end to represent it's Scottish origin.

There appears to be a variety of things named /sold as spurtles.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Yesterday I started on more plant pot covers, I had originally wanted everything to be Silver Birch but I don't have any pieces big enough for the 5 I have my snake plants in so will be joining Ash and Birch together, so far I have 4 Ash bases done with 2 Birch tops turned and epoxy resined into the Ash, tomorrow I'll finish those two so hopefully they won't move or crack at all.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Just finished yesterday's glue ups, as I had hollowed the Ash first I used a parting tool and managed to save a good amount of the birch so can make a couple of small bowls later, outside finished with wax, inside with a good coat of epoxy, I was a little nervous if I'm honest, I wasn't sure I would like the two woods together but it's all I currently have available, I needn't have worried, I really like them, only 2 more the same to do then a 5th one that I will do differently

 

[pat from Marck]

Just finished yesterday's glue ups, as I had hollowed the Ash first I used a parting tool and managed to save a good amount of the birch so can make a couple of small bowls later, outside finished with wax, inside with a good coat of epoxy, I was a little nervous if I'm honest, I wasn't sure I would like the two woods together but it's all I currently have available, I needn't have worried, I really like them, only 2 more the same to do then a 5th one that I will do differently
View attachment 186159View attachment 186160View attachment 186161View attachment 186162View attachment 186163View attachment 186164View attachment 186165
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Like the the two tone differences between the wax finish and the epoxy goes rather well with your chosen wood

 

[pat from Marck]

Not been up to much lately as I've been side tracked in to painting windows but managed to have a play using acacia for the first time love the colours in the light when it was finished

 

[Stigmorgan]

Let's start with a pic of yesterday's completed pots sitting in their spots at my work space, 3 more covers to do for the remaining 3 snake plants in their black pots, the dragon tree top middle needs repotting so I'll do that before making a pot cover, the spider plants will also need new pot covers so everything matches.

Decided to use a block of very spalted punky Mountain Ash, unfortunately it's very soft so once I roughed it down I thinned down some left over poly resin from a fibreglass repair kit and soaked the piece with as much as it would absorb and put it aside, I'll leave it for the weekend to make sure the resin cures.

Next I turned two more Birch tops for the remaining 2 Ash bases, this time I've made them live edge, both resined in place and waiting to be finished probably on monday now.

 

[pat from Marck]

Let's start with a pic of yesterday's completed pots sitting in their spots at my work space, 3 more covers to do for the remaining 3 snake plants in their black pots, the dragon tree top middle needs repotting so I'll do that before making a pot cover, the spider plants will also need new pot covers so everything matches.
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Decided to use a block of very spalted punky Mountain Ash, unfortunately it's very soft so once I roughed it down I thinned down some left over poly resin from a fibreglass repair kit and soaked the piece with as much as it would absorb and put it aside, I'll leave it for the weekend to make sure the resin cures.
View attachment 186236View attachment 186237View attachment 186238View attachment 186239View attachment 186240
Next I turned two more Birch tops for the remaining 2 Ash bases, this time I've made them live edge, both resined in place and waiting to be finished probably on monday now.
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That natural edge is a nice little twist to go with your pot cover collection.

 

[Stigmorgan]

That natural edge is a nice little twist to go with your pot cover collection.

Those two pieces of birch were pretty thin already so just seemed like they were meant for it, the centre on one of them was barely 30mm thick, I've left the tenon on both like yesterday's two so one I use a parting tool to go through I will still have enough for a shallow dish

 

[pat from Marck]

Honey dippers. Had a call Friday from our dance club tutors asking for the dippers I'd made to sell in their local brocante (a street jumble sale) this coming Sunday. So popped in the work shop and made three more from the beech spindles and three more from three small bits of ash that was part of my birthday wood package. (Well I think they ash)

added a little ornamental dipper to go with his honey. I believe this could probably count as my first commercial order although a bit on the small side Anyways they were very happy when they saw them. Oh and I kept one of the large beech dippers from the first batch I made and it works a real treat for putting the honey in my tea. Sweet.

 

[Volksfish]

Largest platter that ive turned, it’s about 15”. From a piece of giant Redwood i picked up near longleat. Thought id Highlight the small crack. Lovely colours.

 

[pat from Marck]

Largest platter that ive turned, it’s about 15”. From a piece of giant Redwood i picked up near longleat. Thought id Highlight the small crack. Lovely colours.View attachment 186279View attachment 186280View attachment 186281

Stunning piece would like to know what material you used to highlight please

 

[Volksfish]

Stunning piece would like to know what material you used to highlight please

Black enamelled copper wire, I did it first in brass wire but it didn’t stand out enough

 

[Fred48]

Honey dippers. Had a call Friday from our dance club tutors asking for the dippers I'd made to sell in their local brocante (a street jumble sale) this coming Sunday. So popped in the work shop and made three more from the beech spindles and three more from three small bits of ash that was part of my birthday wood package. (Well I think they ash)View attachment 186276View attachment 186277View attachment 186278added a little ornamental dipper to go with his honey. I believe this could probably count as my first commercial order although a bit on the small side Anyways they were very happy when they saw them. Oh and I kept one of the large beech dippers from the first batch I made and it works a real treat for putting the honey in my tea. Sweet.

Hi Pat. Lovely work.
The top three are oak. I can clearly see the medullary rays and vessels.
The bottom three are beech again medullary rays and very close grain.
I'm guessing the middle three are ash as stated.
Hope that helps
Fred

 

[pat from Marck]

Hi Pat. Lovely work.
The top three are oak. I can clearly see the medullary rays and vessels.
The bottom three are beech again medullary rays and very close grain.
I'm guessing the middle three are ash as stated.
Hope that helps
Fred

Thanks fred was originally told all the spindles were oak hence the original assumption of oak but now you have pointed out the difference you really can see the differences on the photo.

 

[Owd Jockey]

If I had asked of the Forum, what wood I turned this 22cm diam simple bowl from, I would have put money on not getting the correct answer! This is Photonia ( Red Robin) a shrub that is part of the Rose family (Rosaceae) and related to the Apple. It was basically a shrub that was left to develop into a tree, although the Taxonomy when a shrub becomes a tree is complex and well beyond me! This tree was a neighbour who gifted it me when it was felled to make way for a new fence.

This wood is probably the heaviest and densest I have ever turned. Even this small 22cm bowl weighs in at 1.3kg The lower trunk is around 28cm in diameter and is very difficult to handle due to the weight. I turned a larger bowl just after it was felled about 6 years ago. It was easy to turn, but a myriad of small radial cracks developed which required stabilising with CA glue. Fast forward 6 years with the wood being stuck in my garage, I decided to turn a piece of the
trunk. It had about 14% moisture within, which I would have normally rough turned before putting into the wood kiln for a couple of days. But I did'nt, neither did I bother to turn the pith off. Well I had no plans for the finished piece anyway.

What I did find when I turned it wet and dry, was it was very prone to grab/catch if using any kind of carbide tool , due to its density. It had became very dry and hard over the 6 years but the radial cracks seen in the wet turning did not materialise with the wood dry. The dense wood fibres do give a fantastic polish finish. I summary I don't think I'll be in any rush to turn the rest of the Photonia.

 

[Fred48]

Thanks fred was originally told all the spindles were oak hence the original assumption of oak but now you have pointed out the difference you really can see the differences on the photo.

Hi Pat,
it was a pleasure. Over the years I've used oak and beech a lot. The photographs are clear so it was easy to see the difference.
happy to help.
Fred

 

[pat from Marck]

When I think back to when I started leaning to turn it dawned on me that my first attempt a bowl took me two days. So I set my self an exercise of turning a simple bowl with a decorative band around the top. 2hrs for the basic shape and on close inspection found some tear out on the exterior and 2 small ridges on the inside bit disappointed back on the lathe reshaped me bowl gouge fine cut the outside then scrapped the inside to get rid of the ridges sanded then cleaned before adding the decorative band added the colour and burnt in the heat rings with a bakerlight or bakerlite stick. After the colour was dry applied the sanding sealer. Left overnight applied a tung oil finish and altoough it says dried within 8 hrs left it for a further 24 hrs only to repeat that process again for a second coat. Today applied a coat of wax and here it is on the table drying for you guessed it another 24hrs

Ready for polishing tomorrow. So by my calculations this will have taken 3 and a half days. My conclusions from this exercise is I have gained more technical know-how that I didn't have before if I want a good finish its going to take more time than I'd like and don't rush the initial stages as the tear out and ridges testify.
I'd be intrested in what your opinions on this are good or bad room for improvement etc etc good or bad