Just Peachy

[Kathy Marshall]

I got a call from the tree trimmers today. That had taken out a smaller peach tree and did I want any?
So I stopped by after work and picked up what they had. It was a lot of small pieces and few medium sized ones. The main trunk was about 7" diameter but only about 18" long before it branched out, a couple more were about 5" diameter and then they went down from there.

I picked out one that was about 4" diameter for an NE bowl.
This is the first time I've turned peach. It's soft but it cuts like butter, in fact it cuts a little to easy. If you want an excersize in tool control, try some peach. The wood just sucks the blade right in. Surprisingly, tear out was not an issue, the cuts were clean but I ended up with some small ridges but they sanded out easily by hand. It's 8" by 3 1/2" x 1 1/2" with a coat of DO.
I think I'll give this one to my tree trimmer friend, I think she'll like it.

204229 204228 204227

Thanks for looking!
As always comments and critiques are welcome.

[John Keeton]

Another nice piece, Kathy, but don't you have 199 bowls to go???? Do you have time for these frivolities????:rolleyes::D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Good looking bowl! I really like the coloring in the grain! Your friend is going to love it!

[Josh Bowman]

I agree, I like the coloring and grain. What a great gift.

[Dennis Ford]

Oh yeah, she will like it. Very nice work.

[Cathy Schaewe]

That is pretty -

[Robert McGowen]

That is nice. It looks like it was similar to turning a propeller though!

[Bill Bolen]

Outstanding angle wing Kathy. You friend will love it as that Peach sure has a lot of color.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice piece Kathy. Love the grain and form. Lots of nice color.

[Ed Morgano]

Kathy,
Beautiful work. What I want to know is how did you hold this to turn the bottom, top etc.? Which did you do first?

[Jon Nuckles]

Very nice, Kathy. I would not have even considered making something from a 4" diameter limb, let alone turning it side grain. Nice job preserving the bark and getting smooth cuts turning so much air!

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks for the comments everyone!
I got the chainsaw out and cleaned up the main trunk today. It was a little shorter than I thought, about 12" to the start of the branching, so I got a couple small bowl blanks and trimmed up the rest for an endgrain hf. There is about 7 piths besides the main one due to all the branching. Going to be tough to keep it from cracking to pieces, but if I can do it, it should have some really cool grain, and the color on the bigger log is much better than on this smaller one. The nice thing is that as easy as this stuff cuts, I should be able to turn the outside and hollow the inside in record time, before it even thinks to start cracking!


Another nice piece, Kathy, but don't you have 199 bowls to go???? Do you have time for these frivolities????:rolleyes::D
Since I'm down to about 194 to go, I thought some frivolous activity was in order :D


That is nice. It looks like it was similar to turning a propeller though!
Now that you mention it, it did look and sound like a propeller :eek: Learned early on to use my longest tool rest and always go around it to turn the lathe on and off, never over the top even though the long rest leaves lots of clearance.


Kathy,
Beautiful work. What I want to know is how did you hold this to turn the bottom, top etc.? Which did you do first?
I turned the outside first between centers and turned a tenon on the bottom. Then I turn it and mount it in my chuck to turn the inside. To turn off the tenon and finish the bottom, I use a one of my scraps as a jam chuck and use double sided tape to hold the bowl on the chuck then use the tailstock to keep pressure on it. When the bottom is done, there is a little nub left where the tailstock is against the bottom, I remove the tailstock and very carefully turn off the nub (sometimes I just take it off the lathe at that point and use a little carving gouge to take off the nub), depends on how well the tape is holding (there have been times when I thought the piece would break before the tape let go).


Very nice, Kathy. I would not have even considered making something from a 4" diameter limb, let alone turning it side grain. Nice job preserving the bark and getting smooth cuts turning so much air!
Yep, even small logs have their use! I crank up the speed on smaller pieces like this and it almost negates the "air", for this one I was at between 1800 - 2000 rpms, although I still sand by hand.

[Greg Bolton22]

If it is anything like the peach that i cut from my parent's yard, it will move like crazy as it dries and crack if it is too thick. I lost all of the bowl rough-outs to cracking. I did manage to get a nicely distorted goblet and a few bottle stoppers out of the rest of the wood though. Turn it wet and turn it thin!

Greg

[Mark Hubl]

I think it's a Peach! Very nice NE.