Kathy Marshall
07-31-2011, 4:27 AM
I've been working on a smaller pecan log (about 6" x about 24"). I picked out that log because my tree trimmer friend asked if I would turn a bunch of small bowls, 3"-5" or so, and such to give out to her regular customers for christmas. She said she'd need about 200 of them :eek: so I figured I better get started. When I cut the 1st section off the log, I noticed there were alot of worm tracks in the sapwood, so I thought I might get some cool looking pieces!
This was the 1st one. It's about 4" x 2" with a coat of DO. I used an awl to pretty well clean out the tracks, and used the elf tool to texture the base (pretty happy with how the texturing turned out).
203594 203589
This is the 2nd one I did. This one is also about 4" x 2" but instead of DO, I used a combination of blue and red Rit dyes. On this one I didn't clean the tracks as much, just used my air to blow off what was loose. For the dyes, I put the blue on 1st because I wanted it to get down in the tracks, so I was pretty liberal with it and just wiped off the excess from the non track areas to leave a lighter coating. Then I went over it lightly with the red (to keep it out of the tracks). The tracks that still had dust? in them turned almost black. The dust, (though pretty firmly packed in the tracks) really sucked up the dye. Where the dust had blown out, it left a nice light blue color. The color is not showing true in this pic, it's actually more of a purplish color.
Not one of my best, that's for sure, but I don't mind showing the bad along with the better. I noticed I left some tool marks and there was some tearout that I couldn't get rid of. But I was just playing around so it's all good. If I were to do another like this, I would clean out the tracks thoroughly and make sure I had as good a surface as possible before applying any dye.
203591
This was the 3rd and my favorite of the bunch. It's about 5" x 6" and I turned it endgrain to try and get a continuous band of tracks around the widest parts. The tracks on this one were painstakingly and meticulously cleaned using a dental pick. It literally took hours just to clean out the tracks. Natures piercing was no quicker or easier than hand piercing, but I do like how natural it looks ;) . Just a coat of DO so far.
203593 203592
This is the 4th. It's about 6" x 4" x 2" with a coat of DO. I cranked the lathe up to about 1800 - 2000 rpms for this one, I usually turn NE bowls around 1000 - 1400 depending on size, but I wanted to try it a bit faster to reduce "cutting air". It worked well, had almost no bounce when turning the wings and ended up with a surface that was easy to sand by hand to a finish. For cleaning out the tracks on this one, I used my Dremmel tool with a teeny, tiny round cutter. It did the job quickly but not quite as cleanly as the pick. But all in all it turned out ok.
203590203595
Still have a chunk of the log left with a fork on the end and also a couple more half sections so I'm ready for when I feel like cleaning tracks again lol.
Thanks for looking!
As always comments and critiques are welcome.
This was the 1st one. It's about 4" x 2" with a coat of DO. I used an awl to pretty well clean out the tracks, and used the elf tool to texture the base (pretty happy with how the texturing turned out).
203594 203589
This is the 2nd one I did. This one is also about 4" x 2" but instead of DO, I used a combination of blue and red Rit dyes. On this one I didn't clean the tracks as much, just used my air to blow off what was loose. For the dyes, I put the blue on 1st because I wanted it to get down in the tracks, so I was pretty liberal with it and just wiped off the excess from the non track areas to leave a lighter coating. Then I went over it lightly with the red (to keep it out of the tracks). The tracks that still had dust? in them turned almost black. The dust, (though pretty firmly packed in the tracks) really sucked up the dye. Where the dust had blown out, it left a nice light blue color. The color is not showing true in this pic, it's actually more of a purplish color.
Not one of my best, that's for sure, but I don't mind showing the bad along with the better. I noticed I left some tool marks and there was some tearout that I couldn't get rid of. But I was just playing around so it's all good. If I were to do another like this, I would clean out the tracks thoroughly and make sure I had as good a surface as possible before applying any dye.
203591
This was the 3rd and my favorite of the bunch. It's about 5" x 6" and I turned it endgrain to try and get a continuous band of tracks around the widest parts. The tracks on this one were painstakingly and meticulously cleaned using a dental pick. It literally took hours just to clean out the tracks. Natures piercing was no quicker or easier than hand piercing, but I do like how natural it looks ;) . Just a coat of DO so far.
203593 203592
This is the 4th. It's about 6" x 4" x 2" with a coat of DO. I cranked the lathe up to about 1800 - 2000 rpms for this one, I usually turn NE bowls around 1000 - 1400 depending on size, but I wanted to try it a bit faster to reduce "cutting air". It worked well, had almost no bounce when turning the wings and ended up with a surface that was easy to sand by hand to a finish. For cleaning out the tracks on this one, I used my Dremmel tool with a teeny, tiny round cutter. It did the job quickly but not quite as cleanly as the pick. But all in all it turned out ok.
203590203595
Still have a chunk of the log left with a fork on the end and also a couple more half sections so I'm ready for when I feel like cleaning tracks again lol.
Thanks for looking!
As always comments and critiques are welcome.