Got all my "bad" turnings out of the way for the year

[Brian McInturff]

Sometimes things just don't go quite as planned. First up is the Walnut HF. I got this blank in 2009 from Mark Norman(all that beautiful Walnut that fell into his lap!) and started turning it. I was down to hollowing out the inside when I tweaked my back(upteenth time now). Then my job sent me out of town for almost 8 months only coming home every 4th week for 4 days. When I finally got to a point I could look at it again was this past November. The thing had warped and cracked something fierce. I actually thought I'd just toss it in the scrap pile. This thing was so far out of true that it turned in an elongated circle. probably out 2-3 inches from plane over the length of it. It's only 7 inches tall. I didn't even try to do anything with the inside. Couldn't sand the inside or finish turning the inside bottom. I did use Abralon sanding sheets and turned the lathe on low speed, probably about 125rpm, and wet sanded the outside, a very time consuming event. When I finished that I cut the tenon off with a small bow-saw. When I sat it on a flat surface it leaned worse than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. So I used the stationary belt sander and got it worked down to where it sits level when you look across the top(My pictures are off a little). Why would I go through all this you ask? Because the wife saw it and wanted it. I told her I'd make another one instead and she said "oh Goodie" I'll have a pair of them.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz318/turff49/turnings001a.jpg
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz318/turff49/turnings002a.jpg

Next up was a snake skin pen. I've had this blank for a few years. Got it turned, sanded, and polished. Only problem is whoever casted it didn't do something right. Looks like there are some small air pockets over some of the snake scales. This leaves them with a dull whitish looking distortion. I'm not sure what I'll do other than use it myself now. I had to tell my brother it would be a little longer before I had him one.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz318/turff49/turnings012a.jpg

Next up was a little spalted oak piece. Everything went fine with it until I hooked up the Vacuum chuck. I got lucky I didn't implode it. It caused some small areas to actually suck the fibers out. and put a fine interior wall crack in it too. Never had that happen and thought I was bleeding off enough. I guess the wall thinness was the problem. It's actually only 5/32nds. Probably too thin for a spalted piece.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz318/turff49/turnings005a.jpg
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz318/turff49/turnings006a.jpg

Then there was the spalted maple. the small blank already had a stress fracture in it but I decided to give it a try anyway. This is for my desk in my office. It actually came out ok other than the crack(from the stress fracture). The walls are right at 1/16th. I left the inside bottom a little thicker to give it a little weight. I may drill an inset in the bottom and put a magnet with felt over it for even more weight.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz318/turff49/turnings003a.jpg
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz318/turff49/turnings004a.jpg

Next was a segmented brick pen. Beautiful pen but I need to tell the designer to change the glue he used. There was some white that shows in some of the glue lines. They weren't noticeable until after I had already done the CA finish.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz318/turff49/turnings007a.jpg

And lastly was the Multi-tool pen kit. I loved the idea. I like the blank I used. It really came out nice. But the plating on the kit just sucks. It just feels cheap. Looks good and they had the right idea but it's just cheap!
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz318/turff49/turnings011a.jpg

So hopefully all the bad Karma for the year is done and I can be happy with the next pieces I crank out. It really just felt good being able to get in the shop and work at the lathe. I think I tried getting back into it too soon after my back surgery. I guess you really should wait about a year. But I may be pushing it anyway with 7 fused disk now. Comments and critiques welcome. I think the foot on the spalted maple is to large myself. Wish I had cut it down a little more and just made it like a bead on the edge. Thanks!

[John Keeton]

Brian, at least the upside is you got to spend some time in the shop!! Very nice work on the pens, and I like the wood on the spalted maple piece. Were I choosing, I would roll the outside profile into the base - no flare, no bead. Good save on the walnut piece, and you get brownie points from the wife!

[Donny Lawson]

Looks like you started off with pretty nice pieces. I guess everyone has some "Bad" pieces from time to time. Maybe yours will take a turn for the better.

[Brian McInturff]

John, I guess I should've stuck with tradition and went with the contour all the way to the base. I've got several like thatso I thought a base would be ok. I know why I don't see any with bases now. But it works. It's a pen holder on my desk for regular pens. The base keeps it from being tipsy. Now that I've showed all my "dangits" I'll have to post some of my good ones next. I guess I better use the attachment process instead of inserting pics. They came out way too big.

[bob svoboda]

I see a lot more good than I see bad-Ya gotta just keep at it and magic will happen (that's usually when I say to myself "how the heck did I do that?)

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree that there is a lot of good there. Pens are really nice. Keep at it and it will come.

[Brian McInturff]

Oh, I've had my moments over the years. Some, have been really nice pieces. I thought I'd show that we all turn our share of bad ones also. We so often show all our good items but rare to show our mistakes. It did seem that all mine hit me at once. Although the walnut had set for over a year mounted in the chuck on the lathe. I figured I'd show that it's still possible to save some when things don't go right. The rest are just little issues. The only one that shocked me was the vacuum sucking the oak piece in the way it did. I've turned about 10-15 pieces from spalted oak and never had that happen. Guess I better turn some good ones this week or I'll be considered "the Wood Butcher" :o