Kathy Marshall
12-04-2011, 11:30 PM
This was turned from a piece of Sweet Gum sent to me from Chris Burgess. The chunk of Gum was soaking wet and so sweeeet to turn!
Normally the really wet stuff that I turn dries out enough on the surface during turning, that I'm able to sand through all the grits. Not so for this piece, it was still flinging water till the very end. I did manage to get a fairly decent sanding up to 150, so I went ahead and turned off the tenon and finished the bottom. It then sat in the house in a plastic bag (slightly opened) for a couple weeks until it was dry enough to finish up the sanding. I was able to use my cole jaws to hold it to sand the outside on the lathe, but the inside was all hand sanded. It then received a coat of DO and went back in the bag for some more slow drying. I took it back out last week (after being in the bag about 1 month) and added some General Finishes Woodturners Finish and it now feels like its mostly dry.
There was very little warping, you can see just a little wave on one part of the rim. Otherwise, if turned over on the rim on a flat surface, it sits flat (no rocking). It may move a little more before it's completely dry, but I don't mind that.
Thanks again Chris for a lovely piece of wood!
214820214821
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.
Normally the really wet stuff that I turn dries out enough on the surface during turning, that I'm able to sand through all the grits. Not so for this piece, it was still flinging water till the very end. I did manage to get a fairly decent sanding up to 150, so I went ahead and turned off the tenon and finished the bottom. It then sat in the house in a plastic bag (slightly opened) for a couple weeks until it was dry enough to finish up the sanding. I was able to use my cole jaws to hold it to sand the outside on the lathe, but the inside was all hand sanded. It then received a coat of DO and went back in the bag for some more slow drying. I took it back out last week (after being in the bag about 1 month) and added some General Finishes Woodturners Finish and it now feels like its mostly dry.
There was very little warping, you can see just a little wave on one part of the rim. Otherwise, if turned over on the rim on a flat surface, it sits flat (no rocking). It may move a little more before it's completely dry, but I don't mind that.
Thanks again Chris for a lovely piece of wood!
214820214821
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.