recent hollowform

[curtis rosche]

heres a hollowform i just finished. first thing i have done in awhile,, took for ever to hollow and sand because it is locust. but i think it looks good. it is spaulted,, and i filled the cracks in with epoxy and charcoal.
comments and critques welcome

sorry about the picture quality, its been really busy around here for a couple weeks, i almost didnt have time to take them

[Bernie Weishapl]

Very nice HF Curtis. Like the charcoal with the spalting.

[Mark Burge]

Nice one Curtis. I really like spheres and you did a good job with this one. The shape is well matched to the wood. It almost looks like an ancient world map in parts. I like the idea of using charcoal as a filler with epoxy. It made for very dramatic vertical lines in the piece. I'll have to try that sometime. Did you use artist's charcoal or charcoal from the barbecue grill?

[curtis rosche]

i took some charred peices out of the woodstove, then chipped off some black,, and then put it in an old food processor to make it into as fine of a powder as i could.. then when i put it in the container to use, i shook it just right so the finest stuff came to the top, and mixed that with the epoxy.
thanks for the compliments. a few other people have said the same thing about looking like a map.

[Steve Schlumpf]

You did pretty good on the form Curtis! The black filler works well with the color of the wood! What did you use for a finish?

[curtis rosche]

waterlox for the finish. i used it at school and got stuck on it. its simple and easy, it polishes nice, and it brings out the figure in some woods

[Bill Bolen]

Excellent piece Curtis. The filled cracks really make a stand-outpiece...Bill...

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Good looking Elm hollow form Curtis, sure is tough wood to hollow, too bad it split so much but you did a nice job of recovering it with the Charcoal and epoxy mix, almost looks like spalted wood lines ;) :D

[curtis rosche]

Leo, I am 100% sure this is locust, i cut down the tree last summer. its the same locust that i have been making everything else out of, just that this peice is spaulted

[John Keeton]

Curtis, I agree on the "globe" look - very neat with the spalted lines and great idea on the charcoal - messy, but great idea. Hope that wasn't your girlfriend's blender/processor!!:eek: You could be in real trouble.

[Eric Kosanovich]

Curtis,
Vary cool looking
What type of epoxy did you use?

[curtis rosche]

i dont have the link on this school computer but i will post it when i get home,,, its a self leveling clear epoxy, i got a gallon of it for about $30.
it got really thick when i used it cause i accidentally left it in the cold garage. that was a bad idea, it made it fillin the cracks alot slower, and then when i went back to fill them in again, the epoxy suck to the gloves and ripped the fingers off of them.

[David E Keller]

cool looking piece... the cracks and spalt make the piece for me.

[curtis rosche]

sorry,,, the place i bought the epoxy from doesnt have it anymore.. it was cheap though,

[Baxter Smith]

Looks like a very challenging piece of wood to turn! Will have to try one of these someday.

[curtis rosche]

warning to you, dont try to turn dry locust as a hollowform, unless you are ready for a very rough ride from your tools, and a beating for your lathe. i roughed this out when it was green,,, then let it dry. that last bit of hollowing i though my lathe was gonna split. sounded like a screaming banchy,,, it was vibrating the tool against the toolrest even with the lightest cut.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Maybe I'm wrong Curtis,but it surely looks like Elm with that interlocking grain, especially on the third picture, but hé I'm not infallible, but like I said good job ;-))