todays work pine and poplar bowls post 2 (different bowls) critque please

[curtis rosche]

here are the pictures of the poplar that i roughed out. and the peice of pine that i tried to turn. the peice kept chipping out really annoying.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Curtis did you try some oil or wax on it, or even shellac, that will stiffen the fibers some and give you a chance to get a better cut, you might have to do that a couple of times as it doesn't penetrate very deep, the wood certainly looks much better than the Poplar, (I assume that is Tulip), keep at it Curtis you are getting better as you go.

[curtis rosche]

the first two pictures are of poplar. the last three are pine. im not sure what kind of pine. i finished the out side, and put waterlox on it, i thought it might help since it hardens the wood and it penetrates but i guess i didnt put enough on

[David Christopher]

Curtis, both bowls are very nice ( I like the poplar the best ) .....dont forget that sandpaper is a tool too...it will fix chatter

[curtis rosche]

thats the weird thing about that pine. it takes a brand new peice of sand paper and dulls it with in 15 seconds. i tried a shear cut on this but it would get all of the tearout

[Chris Haas]

really like the grain on the pine one.

[Augusto Orosco]

here are the pictures of the poplar that i roughed out. and the peice of pine that i tried to turn. the peice kept chipping out really annoying.

Hey Curtis, nice bowls! But is that blood in the rag? :eek:

[Dean Thomas]

Pine can be like that, yes, it can!

Yes, ANY really soft wood will fill abrasive super quick. White pine may be the worst at that in the pine clan. Might...

Pine can be cut clean, but the trick is that it has to be CUT. Any hint of scraping at all and presto, you no longer have "clean". I totally agree with Leo that if the wood really is the issue, you might want to use something similar to sanding sealer to help make the very surface of the wood you're about to cut as solid as possible. Do not use any water-based finish. A couple of choices, imo: You want to take a Deft or other lacquer sanding sealer and thin it way down and hit it a couple of times. Thinned down, it dries really quickly. Second choice is to use a shellac based finish to do the same thing. Again, use alcohol and thin it down for maximum penetration and quickest dry time. Let it dry COMPLETELY. Don't hurry it. the point is to penetrate and firm up the wood.

Shellac will color your wood much more than will the lacquer. That is the chemical side of things--back to the mechanical side for a minute. I have a couple of points for consideration.

What some call a sheer (shear?) cut really isn't. Obviously, I have no idea what it is that you are actually doing, right? So don't take this as a know-it-all shot at you or anyone else, please.

Sheering/shearing on a lathe is defined in all sorts of ways. It is often combined with another word to create a different activity, sheer-scrape. My understanding of this activity is when both flutes of a gouge are aimed at the wood in question and where the lowest wing of that gouge is actually touching wood very lightly. Some folks say this should be run with the gouge parallel to the floor, others say you can do this with the gouge perpendicular to the floor. In either case, no bevel is involved at all. this is not a cut.

One source that I found a number of years ago talked about the sheer cut as opposed to a sheer scrape. The writer of the article (now sadly long lost) talked about the angle of the particular portion of the gouge wing as it addressed the wood. His diagram or picture showed that cutting portion of the gouge at about 88º to the floor, and very, very high up on the wood. The threads were gossamer thin, and profuse. The author also suggested that careful attention was to be paid to the "significant grain direction" involved so that the cutting allowed the bevel to smooth the wood's natural cell structure. The author did not use the "box of straws" analogy, but it would have fit right in there. We normally cut our curved shape by essentially cutting the shape out of the box by starting in the middle of the bundle and cutting outward, rather than starting at the open ends of the straws and cutting "up hill". He talked about (as I remember it) cutting predominantly downhill. Whenever we're cutting the four compass points of the bowl, we're going to have to deal with the grain issue. It will be a better cut one way or the other. Figure it out and allow that to become the predominant cut. Should be pretty quickly discernible.

Thoughts?

PS (thought I forgot, eh? :rolleyes: ) I like the basic forms and seeing the nice utility shape on the poplar bowls was nice stuff. I like the pine forms as well. Not fancy, nice. My only concern was the detail on the inside of the poplar bowls. Whenever you have a corner inside a bowl, you have a niche for stuff. Oily, greasy stuff or just dust that will eventually stain the wood after marrying with whatever finish you add. It's different in boxes than it is in bowls, IMO. Not shooting, just thinking out loud.

[Jarrod McGehee]

Hey Curtis, Augusto beat me to it but I like the bloodrag the best. ha. nice bowls. that pine has some nice color but I bet it chips because it's too soft of a wood that just isn't dense enough. just my opinion

[curtis rosche]

the rag does have blood on it. i guess inhaling the dust while sanding made my nose bleed. i am going to get surgery on it this summer, cause when i got it carterized it didnt really work. i bleed like crazy.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Curtis - you are getting better with each bowl! Really like the shape of the poplars but agree with Dean in that you don't want corners inside a bowl. As you are learning how to cut the different types of wood remember that super sharp tools are your friend!

Dude - start wearing some type of breathing protection! If you are getting that type of reaction to wood dust - be smart about it! We all want to see you turning for many years ..... safely!!

[Jack Giovo]

Curtis

I also think your stuff is coming along as I see your posts and thanks for letting us see your progress.

I do have another question - have you ever thought of some kind of mask for sanding? It will protect you till you get the old snoz fixed and your lungs also - once you get used to it it isn't all that bad and you don't spend the night choking up dust:D

Jack

[curtis rosche]

the saw dust just dried out the inside of my nose, it doesnt take much, some times i can just flick it and it will bleed. but next time i will wear a dust mask

[Don Carter]

Curtis:

I use an expensive 3M half face mask with P100 filters. Please give them a try. I was having all kinds of allergy problems to the point where I couldn't do any woodworking/turning. These masks have allowed me to have my fun without all the problems. Plus they have hot pink filters that are way cool.:rolleyes:

All the best.

Don