Sweet Gum fast track

[Bill Hensley]

I decided to "fast track" some Sweet Gum to see how it would respond. This is only the second piece of it I've turned and I love how it turned although the wood I'm turning is non-desrcript. This wood was cut probably early October and was on the firewood stack.

Last Friday I shaped it and hollowed it.
Saturday I finished hollowing it.
Applied the dye.
Applied 4-5 coats of sanding sealer.
Tried sanding the sealer, wasn't quite ready but this is fast tracking.
Sanding dust tinted it pale blue and didn't want to come off so I applied some more dye to get the overall light blue shade. Dye applied on top of the sanding sealer.
Left alone to dry over night
Sunday - appears to be dry on the surface
Applied 2-3 coats lacquer with the airbrush
Allowed to dry for a few hours
Parted it off
Set aside.
Tuesday
Wet sanded and buffed. Now I wait to see if starts cracking or splitting.

214980

[John Keeton]

Bill, I certainly like where you are with it presently - hopefully, it remains intact! Really like the "dipped and runs" look. Hard to tell - is it an endgrain turning?

[Bill Hensley]

John - Thanks. Actually it is dribbled and run. Yes it's end grain.

I was going for unbiased runs so I set a cone on top and poured it over the cone to let it go where it would.

[David E Keller]

Very cool! I'm really digging the dribbled look!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really a nice looking piece. Hope it holds for you.

[Michael Menzli]

Looks great. I just laid over 5 or so sweetgums on the farm..def. some interesting wood at times. I will say that the consensus has been that sweetgum loves to move and twist. I cant rem exactly but read it takes a large amount of weight to keep a board of it straight. Hopefully this one holds for you.

[Kathy Marshall]

Great looking piece! Love the dye job!

[Baxter Smith]

The dye makes for an interesting look. We have a lot of sweetgum around here but I have yet to turn any of it.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nice form Bill and a very interesting dye job! Reminds me of some fired pottery I have seen! Hope the piece behaves and doesn't crack on you!

[Sid Matheny]

It sure has a WOW factor in my book! Super job and I hope it don't do anything to screw it up. Love it!!!

Sid

[Joe Watson]

Definitely eye catching, great work.