Chinese Elm Burl Hollw Form

[George Guadiane]

I have another larger piece that I went back to. I turned the outside of that three times, on the last one, I put it back between centers, turned a new tenon and trued the opening up, back to center...
The more I hollowed it, the more off it got. I finally managed to cut through the bottom, so now its junk. This stuff REALLY likes to move.

This is turned from one of the pieces I picked up in my hardwood shopping mall (mulch yard).
I turned this one green to finished, all except removing the tenon...

BIG mistake. It shifted a lot too. I managed to get a good enough bottom on it, but next time, I have to just keep on turning till its really finished.
Sanded to 600
8 inches in diameter by 4 1/2 inches high.

As Always, All Critiques, Comments and Questions Welcome.

[Mark Burge]

Well, I think it's a beauty, George. Very interesting piece.

[Doug W Swanson]

It is a beauty all right. The grain variances are spectacular! I little of this and a little of that add up to a whole lot of wow!

[Ken Glass]

George,
The eyes in this piece are eye-popping. It is full of them. I like the shape of it also. I am not sure you told us the finish, but it looks very rich and sanding it to 600 can't hurt. Well done.

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beauty George. The wood is just beautiful.

[Baxter Smith]

That has some intersting features for sure! On a lot of your pieces, the voids are my favorite part but on this one, the wood wins out!

[Ron Stadler]

It looks great to me, and the wood is spectacular, very interesting piece. Sorry about all the movement though.

[Don Alexander]

:)another great "airwood" turning:)

seems to be a theme around here the last few days :D

[Dale Bright]

George,

A wonderful piece of wood and a great shape. You have done very well.

Dale

[John Keeton]

George, you certainly have a gold mine with that "mulch dump!" Another very nice turning, and the movement doesn't seem to have hurt this piece - great character!

[Roland Martin]

Very nice form, George, and the wood is wonderful. The amount & size of the eyes, grain and color make for an extremely interesting piece.

[Josh Bowman]

George,
I really like the piece. I guess that's the down side of turning green, is the movement.

[steven carter]

George,

You did a great job with this burl, great form and finish.

Steve

[bob svoboda]

Just beautifully done George. I'm a sucker for holey wood and this piece is terrific.

[David Reed]

this wood has a lot of everything going on with it and you did a bang up job with the turning as well. Very nice piece.

[George Guadiane]

First, let me say thank you for all of your kind comments:
Thank You!


George,
The eyes in this piece are eye-popping. It is full of them. I like the shape of it also. I am not sure you told us the finish, but it looks very rich and sanding it to 600 can't hurt. Well done.

I use the Rolly Munro hollowers in my Monster hollowing rig. Properly set, I get amazing results for my actual skill. You would think that the eye buds would break off at some point, and I'm sure that some of them do, but I broke off two of them while handling this piece, They were hanging on by less than the thickness of a sheet of veneer and, when I was done, there was a paper thin bridge over one opening that has since shifted to broken. I really like the eyes too.


That has some intersting features for sure! On a lot of your pieces, the voids are my favorite part but on this one, the wood wins out!

Baxter, do you watch the TV when it's off?:rolleyes: Seriously, I'm really enjoying the voids myself. The openings spray shavings all over the place, but they also give me a peek into the inside I can't really get any other way. And that view allows me to end up with a thinner more even turning. I'll probably do a lot of them as time goes on to keep me more closely in touch with what's actually going on in there.


George, you certainly have a gold mine with that "mulch dump!" Another very nice turning, and the movement doesn't seem to have hurt this piece - great character!

John,
I managed to save this one, and learned an important lesson with this and its larger brother (RIP). I think I have to turn these burled pieces cross grain and smaller. The side without burl on it ended up several times thicker than the side closer to the center of the tree... I don't know if that makes any sense.

That mulch yard is the find of a decade. I'll be sad to leave it (when I move to Hawaii or Florida).
I just took out about 300 pounds of HYPER curly/burly/slightly ambrosia maple from one BIG stump. I leave truck loads of stuff that most of us would kill to have. But I have to, they need SOMETHING to make mulch out of. There is, for instance, enough GIANT red, white and black oak logs to keep Andy DiPietro busy for 100 years - OK, maybe only 50, but there is LOTS of it. Curly everywhere. I'm very lucky to have found it and the pursued meeting the manager, then owner who each like wood art.

[Jim Burr]

Great work George! The movement really adds to this piece. 600 finish must have been a chore, but it sure paid off!

[David DeCristoforo]

Beautiful! I love the third pic it the top row and the last one where you can see those eye clusters hanging out there!

[Mark Hubl]

I think it is a beauty. Many a treasure at the dump. Really a pretty piece of wood.

[George Guadiane]

Here is the one that didn't survive. It will only lay with the burl side up. The other side is "plain" wood but MUCH thicker.

[charlie knighton]

very nice....

[David DeCristoforo]

"Here is the one that didn't survive...."

Hey! That looks just like some of my turnings. It ain't easy to get that "natural" broken look at the bottom!

[George Guadiane]

"Here is the one that didn't survive...."

Hey! That looks just like some of my turnings. It ain't easy to get that "natural" broken look at the bottom!

I would disagree, I do it without too much problem at all.:cool:;):eek:

[David E Keller]

I love this turning, George. Elm burl is one of my personal favorites, and you've done this one justice. The little 'bridges' crossing the openings are fantastic. I hope you find more of this stuff... I love looking at the finished pieces.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Well that sure is something else! Love the wood, the eyes and especially the voids! The way the wood dried also adds to the flavor!

Very nice work George! Really cool form!

[Ray Bell]

Beautiful George. Like David, I really like the third picture. Looks like a lot of little limbs were growing out there.

[Tim Rinehart]

George, that's a great looking piece, I like it! Nice eyes in that burl.
Mulch pile...!!! Hmmmph. I may have to get some friends of mine in Albany to search out that mulch pile of yours!

[Baxter Smith]

Too bad about the one that didn't make it. Its still a great piece of wood. You must have more than enough "good" wood to turn but is there anyway you could turn a plug for the top. Glue it in, then gripping the end of the plug sticking out, return the body of the piece with what was the bottom now the top. Sort of a goblet shape. Then spin it around and turn the plug into a pedestal/base. Easy to think about, tougher to do.

[George Guadiane]

George,
Mulch pile...!!! Hmmmph. I may have to get some friends of mine in Albany to search out that mulch pile of yours!
Want the address? It's on Rt 66 in the south end of Ghent. Stop when you get to the BIG pile of logs on the east side of the road...
But don't go on the property without permission. Taking wood from anyone's property without consent is a crime. I went to the trouble of locking the place up with turnings. You can come for a visit if you like. I'll take you.

[Don Orr]

Really nice work as usual George. The wood, shape voids-everything.

And as I keep saying-one of these days I'll get over to play. Hopefully after the new year.

[Marc Himes]

Very nice form and great wood. Too much wood; what a great problem. This is a great piece George.

Marc Himes

[George Guadiane]

Really nice work as usual George. The wood, shape voids-everything.

And as I keep saying-one of these days I'll get over to play. Hopefully after the new year.

Thanks Don,
Hope you have a great Christmas, and I REALLY hope you make the time to make the trip over here to try out the Rolly/Monster combo.


Very nice form and great wood. Too much wood; what a great problem. This is a great piece George.

Marc Himes

Marc,
Once I figured out what the good stuff was, I went looking for where it is. Since then, I've had too much of it. It IS a hardship, but I'm learning to deal with it.