Have not done much but.....

[Jeff Nicol]

Hey all, I have been fighting everything from a bad back to a stomach virus to a 101 fever for the last month! It seems as I feel a little better something else gets me! I keep plugging along and checking in, so I thought I better try and turn something to see if I still had it in me! Here is what I started on the other day. Big ugly red oak burl with lots of crazy stuff! It is fun trying to hollow it as when it is spinning you can see in through all the voids and it give me a false sense of the opening I am really turning through. It looks big but in fact it is only about 2.5" and if I get to close to the ghosted opening when it is spinning the tool can get sucked into the void in a heartbeat! I'm not spinning it to fast yet as it is out of balance, so the more I get out of the middle the better it will be. I plan on picking off the rest of the bark to show all the wild swirls in the burl so it should look good when I finish it.

Jeff

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jeff - sorry to hear you have not been feeling well! Hope you get better soon!

Interesting HF! Looking forward to seeing it finished!

Be well!

[John Keeton]

Wild thang!! Jeff, that has some awesome potential!

[Jeff Nicol]

Thanks Steve and John, This thing had been resting up against the wood pile for most of the summer and until last week one day. I was trying to clean up some of the massive pile of "Potential" masterpieces and finally brought it in the shop. It has finally stopped dripping water. I have to make a larger swan neck tool to get this thing done as the voids inside are brutal on the smaller one I have been using. I will make one out of 5/8" or 3/4" stock or maybe both. Never can have to many tools!

Jeff

P.S. John the package is on the way!

[Baxter Smith]

That is quite a chunk of wood. Looking forward to seeingit finished!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Wow Jeff that is one knarly piece of wood. I can't wait to see that thing finished. Ought to be a beauty though. Hope you get to feeling better.

[David E Keller]

Glad you're feeling better... Looks like an interesting piece of wood and I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.

[Mike Svoma]

That's cool, Jeff. Is that part of "The Burl"?

[Matt Ranum]

Wow thats one heck of a chunk of firewo----I mean turning material :D

Glad to hear your feeling better and can't wait to see what it turns into.

[Jeff Nicol]

That's cool, Jeff. Is that part of "The Burl"?
Mike, It is from a log I got from my buddies Mom and Dad. They gave me 4 big oak logs to saw into lumber or whatever I wanted. One of the logs had this big gnarly thing on it. I have the rest of the slab that I will make into a big bowl also. It does not have any burl, but nice grain. It almost was firewood, but I got there first!

Jeff

[Mike Svoma]

Nice.....really nice.

[Thomas Canfield]

Jeff,

How big was that chunk of wood?? What type faceplate or mount are you using with it? It must have had quite a bit of unbalance to start and even after getting it turned. How about a little more information? I only have a 3 1/2" faceplate at present and would have been hesitant to use it for some of the odd shape laarger pieces.

[Jeff Nicol]

Jeff,

How big was that chunk of wood?? What type faceplate or mount are you using with it? It must have had quite a bit of unbalance to start and even after getting it turned. How about a little more information? I only have a 3 1/2" faceplate at present and would have been hesitant to use it for some of the odd shape laarger pieces.
Thomas, I started out with the 3 1/2" face plate, but had the tailstock up until it was rounded out. I used some shorter screws with good threads to hold it in place. I plan on dishing out the bottom to get rid of the screw holes later. Once I got a good tenon for my stronghold chuck to grab onto I attached it to that. The chunk started out about 16 1/2" across and about 11" deep and definitly out of balance when I started. Turning slow is the only way to start and speed up as it got more balanced. So far so good.

Jeff