Russell Neyman
09-23-2011, 9:13 PM
I have experimented with different ways of turning madrone, which turns like butter when it's green. Cured, it's as hard as a rock. I've messed with several different methods of producing spinny things out of this reddish tree that is so common here. This small 7-inch bowl, called "Meteor," is a very simple vessel a bunch of us turned at a party* last December, starting with a piece of wood that was literally days old and soaking wet. We turned it thin, then dried it in the kitchen microwave one minute at a time, allowing the wood to return to ambient room temperature between zaps. You can see, clearly, the degree of distortion and variation in grain density. That night, the finished product was extremely white (madrone is typically reddish) but it has slowly turned pinkish-brown since. This bowl has absolutely no finish at all except hand-applied beeswax.
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I guess while I'm here I might as well make note of an alternate method of turning green madrone, which is to boil it in water. First, I turn it green to roughly twice the finished wall thickness, then boil it in plain water for about four hours, putting it into the standard paper bag filled with bowl shavings for several months afterward. When the moisture level gets to about 12%. I put it back on the lathe and turned it to what I was looking for: a 11-inch bowl for salads and potpourri. This one (below) is left essentially unfinished, sanded to 400 grit and waxed. So this method is semi-green turned, I guess. Note how red it is compared to the first one.
208313
* I should explain the "we turned" reference. Every few months I have a Turn 'n Burn Party here on the banks of Puget Sound. We begin the evening at the top of the hill in my wood shop, gathered around the lathe. I chuck up something interesting, begin to turn, and eventually invite others to give it a try. (OK, some guys would rather bend an elbow and watch, but quite a few grab a bowl gouge, too.) After an hour of that, we head down to the house, where we carve a roast and dive into the cooler, microwaving the bowl we turned earlier. When that dies down, we move to the beach below the house, where we sit around a large fire and tell lies. It's really good fun.
208311 208312
I guess while I'm here I might as well make note of an alternate method of turning green madrone, which is to boil it in water. First, I turn it green to roughly twice the finished wall thickness, then boil it in plain water for about four hours, putting it into the standard paper bag filled with bowl shavings for several months afterward. When the moisture level gets to about 12%. I put it back on the lathe and turned it to what I was looking for: a 11-inch bowl for salads and potpourri. This one (below) is left essentially unfinished, sanded to 400 grit and waxed. So this method is semi-green turned, I guess. Note how red it is compared to the first one.
208313
* I should explain the "we turned" reference. Every few months I have a Turn 'n Burn Party here on the banks of Puget Sound. We begin the evening at the top of the hill in my wood shop, gathered around the lathe. I chuck up something interesting, begin to turn, and eventually invite others to give it a try. (OK, some guys would rather bend an elbow and watch, but quite a few grab a bowl gouge, too.) After an hour of that, we head down to the house, where we carve a roast and dive into the cooler, microwaving the bowl we turned earlier. When that dies down, we move to the beach below the house, where we sit around a large fire and tell lies. It's really good fun.