What do you get when you cross a marble with an orange?

[David DeCristoforo]

For my birthday earlier this year, my son gave me several chunks of wood "suitable for turning". One piece was a chunk of "marblewood". I have never turned marblewood or worked with it at all for that matter. In fact, up until now I have never even heard of it! The piece was six inches square and three inches thick. I wanted to make something that utilized as much of the piece as possible so the form was "designed" to accomplish that. At first I figured that it was called marblewood because of the figure. But after turning it, I'm thinking that it's more because it's so hard! The other piece was a two inch square by sixteen inch long piece of Osage orange, another wood I have never worked with although I have, at least, heard of it.

I decided to make something that used both of these pieces and gift it back to my son for Christmas. Since the marblewood was obviously going to be the main form, that left the Osage for the pedestal and finial. Looking pretty plain at this point especially with the blasphemous "not black" detail pieces. So to dress it up a bit, I added a Brazilian rosewood burl collar and pedestal base and an ebony ball to top it off.

There was also a nice piece of "ambrosia" maple… now where did that go?

167468 167469 167470

[Ken Hill]

I really like that Osage!

[John Keeton]

David, I think this is one of your best pieces!! I really like the way the various elements come together, and the wood is beautiful.

Just very nice!!

[David DeCristoforo]

Thanx John... I'll take that as a compliment...;) Seriously, though... (no really, I actually can be serious...) this is the first piece that I really planned out and then followed the plan through. Of course, this was aided by the fact that I didn't screw anything up along the way necessitating one of those sudden "strokes of brilliance". I tried to make all of the elements relate to each other both in scale and form.

[Josh Bowman]

David, that is absolutely beautiful.

[David E Keller]

I like it... You have a very distinctive style which I enjoy. I'm not usually a fan of multiple woods, but in this case, the rosewood compliments the darker streaks in the marblewood. The osage as it ages will be a little more brown which should continue to work nicely. I think you've done a nice job.

Osage is one of the few woods that's readily available around here... Pretty common in Keeton's neck of the woods as well I believe. Most consider it a nuisance tree, but I think it's a great wood for turning.

[Michael James]

Anoher winner! As usual the form, pedestal, finial and finish are 1st rate, but I REALLY like the color scheme, as the marblewood covers both the rosewood and ebony tones. Keep em coming!

[Baxter Smith]

Very nice David. Its good you could use those woods together. When the osage darkens a bit more I think it will look even better.

[Roger Chandler]

I like it a lot David! Interesting about the way you planned it from beginning to end...........I think that must be a prerequisite to getting a fine art piece.

Nice form on the marblewood, and the pedestal is nice, different woods pull all together [collar and pedestal base]

Well done!

[Bernie Weishapl]

David that is a beautiful piece. I really like the wood combo.

[Don Alexander]

topnotch stuff +1 for what John said :)

[Doug W Swanson]

David,

You did an excellent job with this piece but I think adding the two extra woods is a little much. Then again, I usually think simpler is better for the most part.

I'm sure your son will be proud to display this piece. I know I would be....

[Curt Fuller]

Man, that's nice! It has about everything you could ask for. A beautiful blend of complimentary woods, great form, great balance. You're really getting the hang of this turning thing Mr De!

[Richard Madden]

Now I really like this. I'm not normally a big fan of the tall pedestal pieces, but this one I'd say you nailed. The wood combinations look great, the proportions of all the elements are right on. One of the first things that caught my eye was the size of the base. Looks just right. Some, with a small base look like breathing on them would tip them over. I'm saving these pics to maybe copy at a later date. What are the dimensions?? Your son is going to appreciate this I'm thinking.
Makes me think I should start planning out pieces ahead of time.

[Jim Burr]

That one stops the show David!! It took me a while, but I warmed up to it. Great use of different "mediums" to keep the eye moving! One thing...how do you do your collars?

[Tom Sherman]

I believe you succeeded in getting the most from these woods David. Like has already been mentioned everything fits wonderfully.

[bob svoboda]

Everything works very well together. Very nicely done!

[Christopher K. Hartley]

David, I'm impressed! This is a wonderful use of woods and really has character. Very nice presentation. Keep them coming.:)

[Bill Bolen]

Elevated HF's can be elegant in form and your design sure brought that theme out. Well done sir!...Bill...

[Ron Bontz]

Just excellent. :)

[Scott Hackler]

Nice David. I have been messin with a chuck of Marblewood for x-max bulbs and I can attest to how hard it is. It sure polished up nicely, though.

[steven carter]

Marmalade?

What ever you call it must mean beautiful! I really like the wood combination, it looks great now but will look even better as the osage orange darkens. This piece looks very balanced to me, great job.

Steve

[David DeCristoforo]

I'm really pleased to get such positive feedback on this. To answer some of the questions:

"What are the dimensions??"

Well like I said, the "body" is six inches by three. The pedestal is 4.5" tall with a 2.25" diameter base. The lid/finial is 3.75" tall. There were no particular formulas used to arrive at these dimensions but I did play with them on paper before setting out.

"One thing...how do you do your collars?"

I have pretty much adopted the "Keith Burns" method. I'm calling it that because Keith answered my question about how to "do collars" with this elegantly simple method. I make the opening the size I want and then cut a small ledge (AKA rabbet i the flat world) on the inside. Then I turn the collar piece to fit, leaving it "fat" on the top. After it has been glued in place, I turn the top of the collar to whatever profile I want.

I am also pleased to hear, from those who have more experience with Osage orange, that it will darken a bit. As it is, "fresh", it is a bit too light for my taste.

Thanx again for taking the time to look and making the effort to comment. The support this forum provides is amazing!

[Alan Trout]

Dave, I really like what you did. Very nice. I have wanted to try some Marble wood. but it looks really splinter prone like purple heart.

Overall great job.

Alan

[Rob Cunningham]

Nicely done David. I really like the combination of woods, and the overall form.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...Marble wood...it looks really splinter prone..."

Actually it's more brittle than anything else. Really like turning marble!

[David DeCristoforo]

I probably should have started a new thread but since this one had good example photos, I thought I'd take a shot here. The problem is that my photos are crappy. They look good enough at first glance but none of them are really sharp and that makes the details kind of blur a bit. I have a decent camera (Nikon D80) and a graduated photo backdrop. I get "enough" natural light in my tent which has a translucent white cover. By "enough" I mean that the flash thingie doesn't pop up. But I'm using it on the "auto" setting and I'm sure there are some manual settings that would work better. Right now the camera is set to capture "RAW data" and the resulting images are pretty large with a 240ppi resolution. But even these don't really look sharp. Using photoshop "sharpen" filters only seems to accentuate the poor rendering of details. I would appreciate any help or advice that might "sharpen" my photographic skills a bit...

[Baxter Smith]

David, I am not much of a photographer but I have the same camera and recently got the graduated backdrop. The automatic setting has a relatively slow shutter speed and not that great a depth of field. I would suggest using manual, picking an aperture of at least F10 and the appropriate shuttter speed for proper exposure. A tripod may be neccessary and a good idea anyway to eliminate any shake.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...picking an aperture of at least F10..."

Aha! I knew this was going to get into f's and shutter speeds. I'm going to have to read the manual now to find out how to set stuff manually (ooo... is that a pun?). Do you use a light meter? How do you match the shutter speed with the aperture setting? And, since this camera does not accommodate a cable release, do you have problems with blurring at slow speeds when triggering the shutter? Or do you use the timer? I do have a tripod... a very old beatup one but it's pretty solid.

[Baxter Smith]

"...picking an aperture of at least F10..."

Aha! I knew this was going to get into f's and shutter speeds. I'm going to have to read the manual now to find out how to set stuff manually (ooo... is that a pun?). Do you use a light meter? How do you match the shutter speed with the aperture setting? And, since this camera does not accommodate a cable release, do you have problems with blurring at slow speeds when triggering the shutter? Or do you use the timer? I do have a tripod... a very old beatup one but it's pretty solid.
Set the dial on the top left of the camera to M. Look through the viewfinder and depress the shutter button halfway. You will see information light up on the bottom of the screen. When you spin the wheel right in front of the shutter button you will see the F numbers/aperture change. Depending on your lens, you could go from about 2 - 25. Lets say for now just adjust it to 10. Just to the left of the F on your screen you will see the shutter speed that your camera is presently at. You now need to spin the dial on the upper right back of your camera. This will change the shutter speed. You have the correct shutter speed for proper exposure when the little lines to the right of F10 in your viewfinder are right on 0. It will look a lot like adjusting the balance on the radio in your car. Depending on your car! When there aren't more lines on one side than the other you have the proper exposure. You can also select the ISO. Press and hold the ISO button on the back lower left corner. Then spin the top back right button to set your ISO. 400 or below is probably best. This camera doesn't do real well at ISO much above 600.
I have a little remote that works well but you can also use the timer.

If some of the buttons don't seem to do what I mentioned, the camera has the capability to switch button priorities but I think these are the default settings. Sorry if these directions are confusing. If you can make it to Ken Hills on Saturday, I could try and show you. Getting there might be quicker than reading that whole manual and definitely more fun.:)

[David DeCristoforo]

"Set the dial on the top left of the camera to M...Getting there might be quicker than reading that whole manual and definitely more fun..."

Well I followed your instructions and what do you know? It works just like you said! I suppose I could have read the manual but your directions are way simpler! Can't wait to try it out...

Thanx...