Eucalyptus HF

[alex carey]

This piece has been sitting in my basement for about 20 months. It had been in a plastic bag, when I opened it there was so much fungus I almost passed out. I stopped using plastic bags for this reason. Too much smell, too much mess, and tooooooo many bugs. The wood was mostly dry, I finished it all in one turning because it was mostly dry. I am not anticipating it to change at all. It didn't feel wet and water wasn't flying off but it did cut as if there was some moisture and when I drilled to depth I could see a bit of wet wood coming out.

I recently bought the Deluxe monster hollowing set. I used this and it worked beautifully. My thanks to Randy Privett for a well designed tool. This was my second time using it.

This piece was hollowed to about 1/4 an inch and it is pretty consistent which I am really happy with. All the cracks were there to begin with and the hole was rotten wood that started to come loose. I sanded to 3000 and gave it a few coats of a general finish.

8" tall, 7" wide at top and 3 1/2" wide at bottom

Thanks for looking, Comments and Critiques more than welcome.

Alex

P.S. Pictures are the best I could pull off without doing some major work. i use an old shower curtain and some over head lights. It "Kind of" does the job. I experimented a little bit with lighting.

[Dewey Torres]

Alex,
That is a very interesting entry hole. Most I have seen curve up and out of the piece. Yours looks like a rain catcher!! I love the lines on the piece.

I will now have to go research the hollowing set you mention. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Dean Thomas]

Nice shape. Easy on the eye. Which of these is closest to actual color of the piece??

[alex carey]

lol, this first one is just like it. I was messing around with lighting. I kept putting my finger over the flash because otherwise I had a huge glare. Finally I turned off the flash which helped a lot. I'm not really into the picture taking aspect of turning but I know the SMC rule. If there aren't pictures it didn't happen.

[Dean Thomas]

You can use gauze or layers of handkerchief over the flash instead of your finger. Finger will allow the flash to penetrate the flesh and pick up fleshy colors. Remember playing with flashlights and body parts when you were a kid? ;)

[alex carey]

Yeah I started to realize that after a while. Next time I'll do it a bit better.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking HF Alex. Nice form and finish. I like the inward look of the opening.

I have the Monster tool also and it really makes doing HF's easy.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nice work Alex! Interesting form and a good looking finish! Photos can be a struggle to get control over, but like everything else, with time you'll manage! Keep up the good work!

[Jarrod McGehee]

hey nice work Alex. got a huge blank of eucalyptus that I came up on and cut up and I want to turn it soon. It's still green though so it might cut pretty easy.
What kind of eucalyptus is that because I got the gum kind with a lot of bark on it and some red "sap"? it's alright though.

[alex carey]

Yeah, I think its the same stuff. Don't turn the stuff in one sitting otherwise chances are it'll warp a lot and crack. Eucalyptus loves to move.

[Jarrod McGehee]

Oh it sure does. It's like a constant twisting thing. it's crazy. but the figure you can find on some of them are pretty sweet. Oh and my grandparents live in Encinitas and there are some on the side of the road with some crazy huge burls. they're like at least 100 years old.

[Bill Bolen]

Pretty piece Alex and a unique mouth. Love the grain and the overall form is good too. Good luck with the photo's, that is an area I struggle with...Bill...

[Allen Neighbors]

Really nice HF! I also like the inward sloping top. I have some Eucalyptus, and just haven't turned anything but a couple of pens. Now I gotta get after some of it. Well done!!