Leo Van Der Loo
08-16-2010, 12:19 PM
This is more a show of a futile attempt to shape wood that is gone bad, rather than the piece itself ;)
I had to move a big plastic bag with some wood in it that had been sitting too long and was in my way, so did that and had a look what was in there, couldn't tell for sure, bandsawed some ends and sides off and found it to be Beech that I had been given by my brother a big while back :o
It was spongy all over but there was one side that seemed still more solid, anyway I decided to try and find out what the wood would look like and if I could shape it.
At 1800 rpm a sharp skew made a rough surface, and there was another soft spot at one end, jacked the speed up to 4000 and tried a spindle gouge, better cut but still rough, honed a skew and another try, very fine cuts and slow feeding it made a somewhat better surface, OK so shaped it into a vase, kind off, and a tenon with CA hardenedto hold it.
Now drilling, drilled partway with a 5/8 forstner bit and then the rest to the bottom with a 1/2" twist drill bit, that did work not too bad and the tenon didn't get twisted off, then opened the neck up using a small spindle gouge while steadying by hand (hot at 4000rpm :eek:) the end as the soft wood couldn't be held very well, I stuck a dowel in the hole flipped it around and held the piece that way in the chuck with the tenon steadied by the tailstock center.
Now sanding and I got it decent but an oil finish wasn't going to do it, so after one coat of tung I decided to use CA as a finish, it did fill the roughness and after 3 coats I called it quits, this wasn't ever going to be a beauty but at least I had been able to use at least a small part of this wood and made it into some semblance of a Vase.
Life is too short for .................., but it can help you to get a better turner I think, and can be just fun to fool around for a change :rolleyes: :D
There's this small nub that was the tenon and I cut that off with a skew, it give you some idea of the woods condition;)
158497 158498 158499 158500
I had to move a big plastic bag with some wood in it that had been sitting too long and was in my way, so did that and had a look what was in there, couldn't tell for sure, bandsawed some ends and sides off and found it to be Beech that I had been given by my brother a big while back :o
It was spongy all over but there was one side that seemed still more solid, anyway I decided to try and find out what the wood would look like and if I could shape it.
At 1800 rpm a sharp skew made a rough surface, and there was another soft spot at one end, jacked the speed up to 4000 and tried a spindle gouge, better cut but still rough, honed a skew and another try, very fine cuts and slow feeding it made a somewhat better surface, OK so shaped it into a vase, kind off, and a tenon with CA hardenedto hold it.
Now drilling, drilled partway with a 5/8 forstner bit and then the rest to the bottom with a 1/2" twist drill bit, that did work not too bad and the tenon didn't get twisted off, then opened the neck up using a small spindle gouge while steadying by hand (hot at 4000rpm :eek:) the end as the soft wood couldn't be held very well, I stuck a dowel in the hole flipped it around and held the piece that way in the chuck with the tenon steadied by the tailstock center.
Now sanding and I got it decent but an oil finish wasn't going to do it, so after one coat of tung I decided to use CA as a finish, it did fill the roughness and after 3 coats I called it quits, this wasn't ever going to be a beauty but at least I had been able to use at least a small part of this wood and made it into some semblance of a Vase.
Life is too short for .................., but it can help you to get a better turner I think, and can be just fun to fool around for a change :rolleyes: :D
There's this small nub that was the tenon and I cut that off with a skew, it give you some idea of the woods condition;)
158497 158498 158499 158500