Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Debt Repaid.

I often repay someone who's kind enough to give me some wood with something from what they've parted with. Here, this is from those several rounds of cherry I got up the hill in Queen Anne.

When I delivered it, Jim wasn't home. Bu this wife appeared to be genuinely pleased and surprised to see me.

Turned out pretty well. I think, any way. The wood was under 15% moisture-wise when I got back to it. And although the markings aren't all that distinctive, it's still pretty. I turn to carving if the grain is kind of plain. Seems to work well.

And for the bottom, the usual signature Celtic knot. So much nicer than an actual signature. Don't you think?

Cherry. Walnut oil finish. 8" x 15".

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Experiment Complete.


Several months ago, I wanted to see if I could save a rotten piece of wood – and if I could, how would it turn?

If you look back, this was the piece with about 16 nails buried in it; and about three-quarters gone. As you can see, really terrific coloring. I only wish I'd spent more time sanding; but to be honest, the smell was really getting to me; and my eyes were watering a lot. (Note: the manufacture says this stuff is very safe to work with; maybe I'm just super sensitive.)

And, oh look... there's still a nail in there...

I soaked the roughed out piece in an epoxy solution from the Rot Doctor (here in Seattle) and let it dry for a while. The upper right hand portion (in the first pic) is all that's not rotten. I was pleased as punch to see the completely mushy parts solidify and then turn well. Although, there is still a very noticeable density difference as it spins, and I was still having a bit of a tear-out issue.

Kinda pricey at $40 for the two quarts needs to soak this piece. But, good to know you can do it if you really, really want to.

Currently this bowl lives in the gallery at tetherinc.com, where I work, down on Occidental. I gave it to Bebet, our curator, after seeing the bowl she had been using for buttons and such, wasn't nearly as nice. And seeing as I rushed this one, I didn't see the point in trying to sell it.

I think it's red maple, but I'm not sure. Finished with a semi-gloss wipe-on varnish.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Suddenly, Serendipity.


A while back I was talking with my neighbor Tom, the master baker. Another neighbor had just taken down a big ol' cherry tree and folks were making a point of stopping to tell him how disappointed they were in him.

Well, had they bothered to look further, they would have seen the poor tree was rotten to the core and could have come down on its own at any time. In its youth, it had split in a storm and never recovered. Interesting to see how nature had tried to grow around the wound and continue on.

But I digress.

This led Tom to mention he had done the same thing several years back, and he still had some of the wood in his garage. (insert drool sounds starting here...)

He was keen to part with a piece, so I told him I'd return it in better shape than I got it. And happily, dragged an old chunk back to my garage and set upon it.

As I got closer to a shape that I liked, the inclusions made it darn near impossible for the piece to dry without cracking. I was surprised a piece of wood this old, stored in a dry garage, still wanted to move as it dried further. And so it cracked. And kept on cracking.

Probably wouldn't have cracked so much if I didn't let it sit so long between sessions. But, as I've alluded to before, sometimes Life gets in the way.

By the time I got back to it seriously, I figured it was shot. There was no saving it. And I showed it to Tom with my regrets. He wanted it anyway.

A few hours after I handed it over, I got an idea. An idea so strong it literally made me stop what I was doing and go back to fetch that wood back. Luckily Tom hadn't thrown it out.

"Carve the outside," I thought. Why not? It'd certainly cover up a lot of the imperfections; the inside was pretty close to done anyway. Might make for an interesting juxtaposition. (I'm not really a fan of that over-used term, but can't really think of a better one.)

And voila!

To think, I was just gonna chuck it. Goes to show me, I was so hung up in my failure, I almost missed the opportunity to see a real opportunity. Wonder how many other times I've done that?

Monday, March 22, 2010

Fudge.

Someone asked me the other day how long it takes this stuff to dry.

Well, wood dries about and inch a year. Give or take, depending on the humidity and where the wood is. Optimally, it'd be out of the elements, off the ground, and out of direct sunlight.

When I rough out bowls, I have about a 60% success rate. Which has dropped since moving from Atlanta to Seattle, I've noticed. Mostly (I'm guessing here) due to my lack of knowledge. A lot of times, I'm trying to keep the pith on a bowl's wall, or too close to the rim -- and that's the area that moves the most; for me any way.

That means, after a year of laying around our tiny garage, I dig some bowls out only to find a few of them have cracked or split. (which is really maddening, with the amount of time some of them take to rough out.) But, that's the deal. The price of learning.

Here, I had several large Cherry bowls set aside. These two didn't make it. One didn't bother me, as it split before I even got it off the lathe during rough-out (see the repairing rim). But the other -- aaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhh!

Why did it split there? Why so drastic? Is it done? I'd need a grain expert to tell me.

I could just throw them out; most turners I know would. But I think I'm gonna try an experiment. I'm going to continue roughing these out towards finish, then pack the cracks with some sort of colored resin, and finish turning them.

Will it work? Dunno. One way to find out. And the mistakes are just as valuable as the successes in this. The knowledge is what I'm after.

Oh, Me Achin' Hands.

Last week, I overheard someone at work say her parents were giving away firewood. And, being the ever-opportunistic turner that I am, I asked, "What kind? What size? How long's it been down? Could I get some? Now? When? This weekend? Where do they live? In town? Huh? Do they? Huh?" (If you can't tell, I get kinda excited about this stuff...)

As luck would have it, they'd just lost a beautiful older Maple -- about three foot thick at the base. Unfortunately, rotting from the center out.

So, I grabbed my chainsaw and headed over to Mercer Island on Saturday morning. I found the tree in about 18-inch lengths, and for the most part, unchecked. Bonus!

I lugged six halves home in the back of our little truck and immediately set about roughing out some big bowls.

First, these pieces are about 50-60lbs (at least the bigger ones are). And as you can imagine, I can't get 'em round with the chainsaw, so it takes a bit of figuring to get them to fit and turn on the lathe.

With my son peppering me with 60 questions a minute, and slamming my knuckles several times trying to saw off corners by hand, it took about 45 minutes to get each one mounted and ready. I got through half of them on Sunday. The rest, I wrapped in plastic and hope they won't crack until I can get to them.

Again, I'm being greedy by trying to get the biggest bowl possible and expect these to crack some from the pith down, but sometimes they don't. And I'm feelin' lucky.

These are gonna be awesome if they dry without cracking. I'd forgotten how hard Maple is. Even wet, it'll dull your tools a lot faster than you think. By the time I finished three, I was worn out.

Wish I had a coring system -- such a waste here. (Could have gotten 5-times as many bowl with the right system. Maybe someday...)Good mulch for the garden though.

Next morning, my hands were stiff, My neck was stiff, and it took some coaxing to stand up straight. What a wonderful workout. Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Thank you Jane and Steve Urner for the generous gift.

What's In Thar?

Whenever you drag home a piece of green, there's really now way to tell what the inside will look like without just diggin' into it.

Take this piece of Cherry I got from my new pal, Lou Maxon.

He's thinning some property before building a new home there, and invited me out to have a look around. This was the biggest thing I could find that wasn't rotten. Or, was it?

The shallow half, a nice crotch piece, is gonna work out fine.

The half with the pith; not so much. (insert dirty word here...) The dark spots are soft enough to dig your fingernail into. Seems the base of the 35ft. Cherry tree was staring to rot from the inside out.

And, I could have cut the bad parts off and settled for a shallowed bowl, but, well, let's be honest -- I'm greedy. I want a bigger bowl, plain and simple.

So, rather than just chuck it, I decided to soak the really soft spots with CA glue and let the rest dry naturally. So, we shall see.

It'd be nice to hand Lou back a little something from his land in a year or so. Fingers crossed.