Grrrrr. This piece of wood refused to be a bowl.

[Russell Neyman]

My niece, Claire, spent the weekend at my house to take turning lessons, and I pulled out an old half-turned bowl as a practice piece. It was cherry and had split at one point; I had epoxied it back together and had it handy for her to mess with.

Well, normally I can get away with repairing split pieces, but this time the darn thing just broke and broke and broke. After the first time, I gave her a piece of madronne and put this one aside, and she did quite well with that. (Stuff turns like butter!) But I guess I got my back up because after she left I re-glued and tried again. It got to the point where I was determined to win the battle with this piece of cherry, and the wood just didn't want to become a bowl.

I won -- sort of. It broke apart a total of NINE TIMES and I re-glued it every time. It took me several days, and I chipped up my faceplate pretty good. More than once I had to rummage through the stuff on the other side of the shop looking for pieces. Truth is, I was as stubborn as the wood was. After all that, it still was fairly fragile, so I drilled holes all over the splits, stitched them with copper wire, and soldered the joints. So here I share that "creation" ---

208033

"Won't" -- Cherry, glue, copper wire, solder; 10"D x 4"H; wax finish.
(could just as easily been named "Scarecrow" after the horror film icon, below)
208034

It's all in fun. I think I'll mail it to Claire just so she can see what a little determination can do. By the way, the madronne bowl she turned that weekend turned out wonderfully!

[James Combs]

Now that's funny... in a fun kind of way. lol Nice looking form and some great accents. lol

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is funny.LOL Nice looking form. Sometimes they just test our patients.

[Baxter Smith]

Now that is a save!

[Ed Morgano]

Russell,
I think you've earned a place here..... You might want to consider starting a unique business in "Bowl Repair". :D

[Russell Neyman]

I guess while I'm at it, I should reveal that this isn't the first time I've wire-stitched a split and soldered it back again. Below is a 9"D x 6"H madrone bowl that I knew had a split in one edge, so I "repaired" it with the same technique. Again, just for fun.

208068

I use it for salads and chips all the time.

[Jim Underwood]

I won -- sort of. It broke apart a total of NINE TIMES and I re-glued it every time. It took me several days, and I chipped up my faceplate pretty good. More than once I had to rummage through the stuff on the other side of the shop looking for pieces. Truth is, I was as stubborn as the wood was.



LOL! :p

I laughed so much at this that my wife wondered what was the matter with me. I thought I was the only one stubborn enough not to give up on a piece long, LONG after one should give up....

[David DeCristoforo]

Boy, does this remind me of someone I know! But you beat into submission and that's what counts!

[Russell Neyman]

Russell,
I think you've earned a place here..... You might want to consider starting a unique business in "Bowl Repair". :D

Somewhere in all of this is a smartass comment about a "re-turn policy" on bowls I make. I'll let your imaginations run with that....

[Harry Robinette]

I'm with DD on this one cause he said it first. Beat that thing into submission and be proud. No one could say that woodturners don't try harder.

[Russell Neyman]

That is funny.LOL Nice looking form. Sometimes they just test our patients.

Gotta ask you, Bernie. Have your really posted here 18,500 times? is that possible. I mean, if you were here every day for five years, you'd have to average ten posts every day. Gotta be a software glitch!!!

[michael p williams]

That is a very unique piece, I think it turned out really nice. Sometimes they just don't want to be what we want them to..