The obsession continues.

[Anonymous]

A touch of the Bernard Mathews... boootiful grain; I'm guessing the recipient's more than pleased Chas...

 

[Taffy Turner]

Very nice Chas.

I have turned a bit of Elm burr and found it just about the easiest of the burrs to deal with - how did you find that piece?

The bit I turned really moved after turning and finishing, and now has a very interesting surface texture - very dimpled - almost leather -like in fact.

Regards

Gary

 

[CHJ]

.....I'm guessing the recipient's more than pleased ...

That's still to be determined Graham, it was ordered as a gift, may know about reaction next week, still working on another item for same destination.

......I have turned a bit of Elm burr and found it just about the easiest of the burrs to deal with - how did you find that piece?

Garry, this was a blank cut from a slab I purchase over 12 months ago, now very dry, quite hard needing sharp tooling, and very dusty.

No movement in the 4 days it has taken the bulk of the oil to dry off, had a small spot of end grain lifting when first oiled but this cut back with subsiquent oiling.

 

[Bodrighy]

Lovely piece of wood there Chas. Dare I say it....almost artistic? :lol: I'd love to have a go at some burrs but you don't see many in skips or lying around in the woods.

Do like that, how difficult is it to get a good finish?

Pete

 

[CHJ]

...Do like that, how difficult is it to get a good finish?
...

strangely enough easy to get a finish on it because of the hardness, very little tearing, just a little bit of end grain lift on first coat of oil, downside of the high polish sanding finish was that the slightest error of 'going the wrong way' across the grain with a piece of cloth or abrasive with a rogue grain or wood chip incorporated leaves a visible scratch, frustrating that they never show up until you are into the next stage, oiling in this case.

Worked the first coat of oil with worn 320 abrasive to remove trapped dust and fill the odd little pore after 24hrs drying.

Second coat has just been buffed with dry cotton toweling after drying for 4 days, its not dried hard enough to date to get any sort of glaze, but the semi matt finish looks good to my eyes.

 

[Paul.J]

Lovely looking piece there Chas
Was the design yours or the clients.Either way it looks good.

So is this a piece of Burr or is it just the part with the dots on that is Burr.
What's the difference between Burr and Pippy. :?
Paul.J.

 

[CHJ]

Was the design yours or the clients.

Request to provide item to a previously wrought pattern with pronounce figuring.

So is this a piece of Burr or is it just the part with the dots on that is Burr.

It is a section of main trunk wood that had a significant Burr protrusion on it, presumably as the burr had been forming for some years it got partially included.

I take pippy to mean inclusion of clusters of small branchlets that have not been rogue enough to form a cavitating or gnarled burr, but that is only my own mental picture, someone else may know better.

 

[jpt]

HI

The best way to describe it is with this picture

lots of small branch "pips" dispersed in the wood rather than a concentrated patch of swirling

Hope this helps

john

 

[CHJ]

__________
__________Lousy picture but the best I could get, either too many reflections or too many shadows.
__________High Gloss Melamine Finish.


_________ _______ click on image for larger view

_______Sweet Chestnut & Pau Rosa (210mm)

 

[Paul.J]

Now then Chas are you trying to say that you've got that such a shiney glossy finish that you can't get a decent piccy :lol:
I must say that i like this one.I think the two timbers work on this piece better that the Horse Chestnut one.Very nice indeed
Paul.J.

 

[CHJ]

Now then Chas are you trying to say that you've got that such a shiney glossy finish that you can't get a decent piccy

:lol: :lol:

I am having more success with the melamine finish these days and when it goes right ending up with a depth of gloss that looks more like a layer of glass.

Not easy though, its a devil of a product to get right across a large area without runs or build up streaks, also have found that I was not leaving it long enough between coats previously to harden adequately before flattening back or burnishing.

 

[CHJ]

__________
__________Just to prove I'm still mangling bits of wood._______ click on images for larger view

_________ ___ ___

_______________Oak (147mm)__________________Birch (142mm)__________________Yew (152mm)
______________All the above finished with Tung Oil.

_________ ___ ___

__Coloured Ash, with a Pau Rosa, Oak & Yew______Spalted Beech__________High gloss melamine finish(208mm)
__taking up the 11 o'clock to 12.30 positions.

 

[Paul.J]

Marvellous Chas
You've soon managed to pick up the art of penmaking :roll: like most things :roll:
I think the Yew bowl looks great.Lovely colour.
Paul.J.

 

[PowerTool]

Nice stuff - nice to see you're still being pleasantly productive
As Paul said,didn't take you long to get the hang of pen-making.

Andrew

 

[Anonymous]

Just love those medullaries on the Oak :wink:

Getting ready for Xmas Chas :?: :lol:

 

[CHJ]

Thanks for the comments P & A, resisted the pen scene for a long time but the inevitable has happened, once you produce some more are wanted.

Trying to exploit the natural figuring of the wood scraps I have at the moment rather than construct elaborate blanks, no doubt I shall try something different out of curiosity one of these days.

Spent more time making up simple jigs to to remove the blank measuring & ease the drilling etc. than actually producing the last lot.

I guess so Graham, although there is a possibility that most of these are going to the same outlet, hope to find out tomorrow if they are aceptable.

 

[Bodrighy]

Just as I was beginning to think you had taken up knitting or something out comes the next batch. :lol:

Some lovely pieces of wood there Chas. Usual quality we have come to expect of you. Please could you showw a tatty one just to make us newbies feel better

Whn you make pens, do you have all the paraphanalia that seems to be needed? That's the main thing that puts me off having a go

Pete

 

[CHJ]

Just as I was beginning to think you had taken up knitting or something out comes the next batch. :lol:

Only do that on sunday evenings :lol:

Some lovely pieces of wood there Chas. Usual quality we have come to expect of you. Please could you showw a tatty one just to make us newbies feel better

Don't believe everything you see in a picture Pete, the birch one is a poor looking specimen close up, not suited to the oil finish but is being kept for a reason, and no I won't show the real tatty bits they are in my neighbors firewood pile.

Whn you make pens, do you have all the paraphanalia that seems to be needed? That's the main thing that puts me off having a go.
Pete

If you mean by all the paraphernalia all that's glossy that are shown as must haves in the catalogues, then no I don't, the only thing that is really essential unless you want to get really perverse is the mandrel.

Anything else just speeds up the process. I will do a few pics of my setup and process tomorrow if I can, the actual turning and assembling of a pen from the prepared blank takes about 15mins max. if you just use a melamine and or friction polish finish.

 

[TEP]

Some nice stuff Chas, but we'll have to get you onto something other than bowls though. :twisted:

I see you have done the same as I do with the slim line pens. My hands are a bit big so I leave a bulb beside the nib end as you have, it's a good idea. Although I find a lot of the ladies like the straight slim ones, so I do the two shapes. Have started using the better kits now so don't do many slim line pens these days.

 

[CHJ]

Some nice stuff Chas, but we'll have to get you onto something other than bowls though. :twisted:

Them's what sells at the moment though, and I get chewed up if I produce too many dust traps. :lol: