Popular Post Bombarde16 Posted March 14, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted March 14, 2016 The danger of owning a lathe and a chainsaw is that roughed bowl blanks start to multiply like Tribbles. Time to take one across the finish line before I add to the pile. This is one of the large chunks of red oak that I chronicled in another thread. Since then, it's lived in a brown paper bag. I check my blanks with a kitchen scale, writing the date and the mass on the side of the blank. Eventually, the mass bottoms out, at which point you know it's ready to finish. I filled some egregious knots with tinted epoxy. To make my life miserable jazz things up, I added a segmented rim. This is a scrap 2x2 of exotic lumber leftover from a friend's deck project. He described it as "Brazilian Cedar", which is probably a euphemistic trade name for something that grows south of the equator. Shannon Rogers would probably know what it is. It's hard as a rock, sinks in water, it's murder on cutting tools and it goes straight into your sinuses giving you red snot and making you feel like you've been dunked in Vicks Vapo-Rub. It had been laying about in his shed for years, so the outside had started to oxidize while the inside remained reddish pink. Kind of looks like slices of roast beef cooked medium rare. A newly-retired member of the church choir gifted me an old Black & Decker 8 1/4" chop saw, so I tuned that up as best I could and cut pieces for a 10-segment rim. Nailed the angles on the first try and glued them up with a big hose clamp. Sanded one face and then epoxied the ring onto the freshly trued rim of the oak. By this point, I had already finished the outside of the base and was gripping the piece with a chuck expanding into a recess. It holds, but it always helps to have a little help. I turned a scrap of 4x4 into a small cudgel, allowing the tailstock to keep pressure directed onto the chuck while I worked inside the rim. It's all a matter of leverage. A catch out that far will yank the piece off the chuck, ruining the work at the least and potentially hitting me. After pecking at it for a week (a bit here, a bit there as the schedule allows) here's where it's at. Getting close to the end; I've removed the tailstock and now's where you start to get nervous. The rim is just under 3/8" and I'm working the rest of the walls down to match. Did I mention that this exotic stuff is hard? For all that, this carbide hollower has been performing like a champ. Hoping to finish shaping this week and get on to sanding. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteJr Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 I have a lot of ash on my property that's been down for about 6 months and I have a chainsaw. Is ash an appropriate wood for this project? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 The "brazilian cedar" looks like Ipe to me. I have never seen it called that, but Ipe is brazilian and is used in place of cedar for decks. As you found out it is nothing like cedar at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted March 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 I have a lot of ash on my property that's been down for about 6 months and I have a chainsaw. Is ash an appropriate wood for this project? Absolutely. Probably even better than red oak as the coloring is a little more neutral and you'd have more options for contrasting woods to use for the rim. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHoleInOne Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Oh yes ash is a great wood. Is pretty much similar to white oak in color. Not sure of my stain color on the bowl but you get the Idea of ash. Hey Bomb, very nice bowl. -Ace- 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Hein Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Nice work! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted March 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Done shaping the inside. Let the sanding begin! Started at 36 grit to get some patches in the bottom that refused to cut cleanly. Done with 60 grit, wiped with a wet rag. 80 grit is next. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bombarde16 Posted March 17, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Got it up to 120. First coat of shellac. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Nice! Any specific plans for the bowl when you're done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Looking nice! That rim color and flare really compliment the basic bowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted March 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Nice! Any specific plans for the bowl when you're done? Fruit, perhaps? It came out at an odd size but I'm sure I'll figure out a use for it. If not, I'll give it away and it'll be SEP. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 If more of you wood turners post projects like this it might convince me to buy a lathe. That's a really cool bowl. I also chuckle every time i look at pictures i see the window covering and imagine you running your lathe in your living room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 4 hours ago, Chestnut said: If more of you wood turners post projects like this it might convince me to buy a lathe. For that reason exactly, I'm glad they don't post more. Turning is a rabbit hole I'm sure I could fall deep into and I haven't the time or space for another obsession. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 Yea but turning can be a source of almost instant gratification. Plenty of lathe projects can be turned and finished in less than a day. Bombarde must be single, what wife would tolerate a lathe in the dining room ? Bowl looks great with the exotic rim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bombarde16 Posted March 19, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 On 3/18/2016 at 11:40 AM, wdwerker said: Bombarde must be single, what wife would tolerate a lathe in the dining room ? Close, Steve. Recently divorced and temporarily living in a wreck of a building that nobody cares enough about to demolish. But it would take a very special lady indeed to tolerate a lathe right next to the kitchen... ...especially when it involves muddy crap dragged out of the forest ...and it brings in smells like everything else that's rotting on the forest floor ...and the smells are from a chunk of tree that died from a bug infestation ...and actual bug parts have been known to splatter against both wall and operator while the lathe is at speed Done. Taking a page from Matt Cremona's epic secretary build, I posed the bowl on the remains of the tree from which it came. Easily enough material in that hulk to create a hundred more bowls if anyone cared to do so. In the meantime, this one gets gifted to a friend next week. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skatergirl46 Posted December 18, 2016 Report Share Posted December 18, 2016 Wow, that is beautiful! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 On 3/14/2016 at 7:04 PM, Bombarde16 said: so the outside had started to oxidize while the inside remained reddish pink. That's exactly what happens with sapodilla and bulletwood. Check them out on my site. Also, "Brazilian cedar" is either Cedrela odorata or Cedrela fissilis and that wood is definitely NOT either of those. On 3/15/2016 at 9:44 AM, Mike. said: The "brazilian cedar" looks like Ipe to me. I have never seen it called that, but Ipe is brazilian and is used in place of cedar for decks. As you found out it is nothing like cedar at all. I"ve never seen ipe have anything remotely like that "rare steak" look in the middle so I seriously doubt it's ipe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 March to December..... Got to hand it to Paul eventually he gets around to commenting on wood ID ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 21 minutes ago, wdwerker said: March to December..... Got to hand it to Paul eventually he gets around to commenting on wood ID ! HEY ... I may be slow, but I'm stupid to make up for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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