Hi All,
Well, I went downstairs and beginning at 6:30 this morning and until 10:30 I worked on various bowls. Ill talk about them one at a time:
Ive thinned out the Blue House bowl quite a bit:
and I think it still needs more hollowing out. It does look much better than last night and Im happy with the inside slope of the bowl. But a little more would be better. Im going to bring the bowl inside and let the wood fibers settle down for a few days and Ill re-turn it next week. So far so good on the bowl.
Next, I took a look at the other two bowls in the drying box. The sycamore bowl from last week dried but is some what misshapen and has a crack. So I put it on the lathe and hollowed it out to almost its ultimate shape and here it is:
As you can see this bowl has some really wild, irregular grain patterns and this plus all the water and tree sap in it has probably contributed to this crack. I am going to keep the bowl and place it back in drying box for a week and see how it does. Im going to keep working on it despite the crack.
I also took a look at a cherry wood bowl that Ive been working on and as this is a gift, Im not going to post those pictures right now. But it is drying nicely and Ill get up super early on Monday and hollow that out. Its a lovely shade of apricot pink.
I also ordered and received several bowl blanks this week.
The above two blanks are both 10 inches in diameter and 3 inches thick and will make lovely bowls. The top one is hickory and the bottom one is red elm. Even covered in wax and in a rough state, you can see the beauty of the grain in the wood.
I also received 3 smaller blanks that are 8 inches wide and 3 inches deep:
From left to right they are honey locust, sassafras, and beech. These are hard dense woods that will turn well.
I decided to turn the hickory blank above and so Ive started on it today:
Ive reached my limit of photos for this blog posting so Im going to stop and Ill post more photos later today of this bowl.
Ive got a busy autumn here in the SWW workshop and well see how to deal with the sycamore bowl and youll also see the Blue House Bowl when its finished. So we have more adventures ahead us and as always, thanks for stopping by.
Time for some coffee,
VW
Hi Everyone,
Youre gonna love this--I went downstairs to finish the bowls and have a quiet cup of coffee and I took a drink of the coffee and I think I swallowed a wood chip! I hope it doesnt take root.
Here are the finished bowls:
Notice the strategically place apple...
Anyway, this closes out this project. I have several large bowls to make over the next several weeks and Ill post pictures and spine tingling narrative to go along with it. Oh, and Im going to be making a bowl that will be raffled off this holiday season and Ill post lots of details about that.
So, Im going to go and have some wood-free coffee and sit for a while.
As always, have a great day and thanks for stopping by.
VW
Hi Everyone,
Well, Ive started back to work and I must say Im really tired! Its been a long time since Ive gone to work and Im going to need to establish a routine and get myself back in the swing of the things. Im also going to be turning a whole bunch of bowls for Christmas presents so Im going to be busy this semester (and Im learning Javascript code so Im a busy critter).
I finished the small poplar bowl. Here it is:
It will make a lovely gift for a friend of mine.
And I bought a small piece of hickory and Im turning this into a plate for another friend to whom I owe a big thanks to:
Lets talk about bowls for a few minutes: Ive been asked to make several black ash/Brazilian cherry bowls, a walnut bowl (which Ive begun working on and Oh Baby, what a bowl!), and a bowl that will be raffled off this holiday season. I went and bought some more Brazilian cherry this morning and I cut up my remaining piece of black ash and Im assembling the turning blanks as I write (Ill post some pictures shortly). So Im going to be working on the black ash bowls and the walnut bowl over the next several weeks and posting about this.
Ill be back shortly with some photos.
VW
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Hi Everyone,
Well, I guess summer is going out with a bang here in the northern mid west and weve got fall colors all over the place. I love autumn--its my favorite time of the year.
Ok, back to business. I took the black ash bowl from last time down to the workshop and began hollowing it out. Here you can see the Brazilian cherry layer begin cut down:
And here you can see how Ive cut through the red colored wood and down into the black ash layer:
This bowl turned out remarkably well. I completely hollowed it out and I left the walls a little thicker than usual. I think the bowl works well with thicker bowls both from an esthetic point of view and for practical reasons too. I think a heavier bowl with a broad foot is more stable to work with if the bowl will be used for cooking or displaying food. And after all thats what were here for--kitchenware.
Here is the bowl hollowed out and sanded smooth:
This only took about an hour to smooth and you can see how polished it looks. That piece of ash wood was amazing and it produced several bowls and plates and all of them came out beautifully.
Here are a couple more pictures:
And finally here it is with its first layer of finish:
It is dry and stable and in a couple more days it will be ready for a finish.
And I just produced this in the last 2 days! Does anyone have an idea as to what I can do with all of this wood? I should have a contest-hmmm....maybe I will.....Ill give it some heavy thought. In the meantime if you would like to have all this wonderful wood, let me know. Its going in the trash if I cant find a use for it.