Kathy Marshall
01-01-2012, 5:33 AM
The last day of the year and I started off the day by giving my chainsaw a little tune up, then I cut up some logs to send out on Monday, and then it was time to cut up some blanks for me :D. I got some Chinese Elm logs a couple weeks ago which I've been wanting to try, and this was the first chance I've had to cut off a blank since I got them.
I had just the project to try it out on, one of the girls from work asked me to turn her a yarn bowl, actually she asked me to make her 5 of them :eek:. She showed me a picture of one she'd seen that she liked. It was a calabash type form with a natural edge but no bark (bark and yarn don't play well together).
So I thought I would turn a prototype and see how it went. I started off by cutting off a 7" section from about a 7" diameter log. I rounded off the corners then mounted it between centers. Then I turned a tenon on the bottom and shaped the outside. Then I mounted it in the chuck and hollowed the inside with my Jamieson system.
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I turned out to be about 6" x 6" and just has a coat of DO. I'm happy with the shape but on the next one I think I'll bring the upper half in a little more and I'm glad I decided to do a test piece 1st. Everything went well until I went to cut out the slot for the yarn. I should have used a smaller cutter. The one I used was a little too big and it got away from me a couple of times resulting in an even bigger slot. I'm thinking next time I might just use a coping saw to cut the slot and then use one of the smaller cutters to widen it a little. The kerf from the coping saw should give me a better line to follow and help to keep the cutter on track.
As far as the chinese elm, it cut really nice and sanded up easily even green. It must not be like the elm most people turn, because I didn't notice any smell to it at all (good or bad).
217824217823217822217821217825
I think I'll see if my mom wants this one, the real ones need to be a little bigger, about 8" diameter.
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.
I had just the project to try it out on, one of the girls from work asked me to turn her a yarn bowl, actually she asked me to make her 5 of them :eek:. She showed me a picture of one she'd seen that she liked. It was a calabash type form with a natural edge but no bark (bark and yarn don't play well together).
So I thought I would turn a prototype and see how it went. I started off by cutting off a 7" section from about a 7" diameter log. I rounded off the corners then mounted it between centers. Then I turned a tenon on the bottom and shaped the outside. Then I mounted it in the chuck and hollowed the inside with my Jamieson system.
217820
I turned out to be about 6" x 6" and just has a coat of DO. I'm happy with the shape but on the next one I think I'll bring the upper half in a little more and I'm glad I decided to do a test piece 1st. Everything went well until I went to cut out the slot for the yarn. I should have used a smaller cutter. The one I used was a little too big and it got away from me a couple of times resulting in an even bigger slot. I'm thinking next time I might just use a coping saw to cut the slot and then use one of the smaller cutters to widen it a little. The kerf from the coping saw should give me a better line to follow and help to keep the cutter on track.
As far as the chinese elm, it cut really nice and sanded up easily even green. It must not be like the elm most people turn, because I didn't notice any smell to it at all (good or bad).
217824217823217822217821217825
I think I'll see if my mom wants this one, the real ones need to be a little bigger, about 8" diameter.
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.