Cherry Burl "Platter", Cedar Bowl and Disappointment

[Nate Davey]

Once again I find myself posting in behind John Keeton:(, but oh well. The first is part of a piece of Madrone Mike Ash gave me at our visit. I was going for a simple form but wanted it to be translucent. I was very disappointed when it came apart....fortunately I have another bigger piece left. You are right John, this stuff cuts like butter. The last piece of madrone I'm going real conservative.
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Next, the Minister of Finance wanted several large bowls for the table, so here is the second, the first was a large maple bowl. This is 11"x5" and finished with WOP. The color and grain of this cedar was spectacular and I have another big piece I hope to do a hollow form out of. Cedar will REALLY test your sanding skills.
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There are a couple of firsts with this one. First anything over 16", first carved feet and first flat top with a hemispherical bowl. All in all I'm not unhappy with this, the underside is not worth showing, but a good first. Tim Rinehart gave me the links to what I need to fix the deficiencies with it. Finish on the top is WOP and AO on the bottom. The feet are about 1/8" too short to support the form and the bottom of the bowl is flat. The platter is 18" long and 6" at the widest part.
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Thanks for looking. Comments and criticism appreciated.

[Steve Mawson]

Cedar came out quite nice. Really tough to keep the red color but you are off to a good start. You are right, the Madrone is just a little too thin:mad:, happens to all of us sometime. Top of the last one looks very nice so you are at least half way there. Still like the wood a lot.

[Eric Gourieux]

Dang, you were soooooooo close to success on the Madrone. It looks like it was paper thin - before that one area became air thin! The cedar looks real nice. I turned some cedar yesterday, and it was REALLY splitty. Is that a word? Your cedar has great figure, and the finish looks good. The bottom piece is also really nice. That form or concept has been on my to-do list. I don't think I'll attempt the carved feet just yet. For attempting so many "firsts", you sure picked a nice piece of wood.

[John Keeton]

Nate, at least we can all agree you had good even wall thickness on the madrone - it saw light all the way around!!!:D I have been there, and have the diploma to prove it.

You are a brave man to turn cedar - between the finishing challenge and the cracking, I don't do cedar. Great start on the footed piece - perhaps it can be salvaged and completed as you intended.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nate bummer on the madrone but will say that cedar is great. I love turning cedar and finishing it. Not only does it look outstanding it makes the shop smell good.

[David E Keller]

Looks like you went right past translucent and right into transparent... You're certainly not the only one around here with that skill set! The cedar piece sure is pretty, but I also find it to be fairly miserable to turn and finish. The winged burl piece is quite interesting... I think if you'd have started the bowl portion more off center, it would have tilted over onto the feet. I'm not sure if that was the look you were shooting for, but it's at least an option with these winged bowls. I'd be interested to see what Tim suggested for that piece if you're willing to share.

[mike ash]

OK.... we can't have this!!! More madrone coming your way.

[Dick Wilson]

Nate, as to your madrone HF, I have seen it before. My first HF with my laser light ended up spinning around the boring bar when I decapitated the turning at the bottom. I will presume a couple of things: first that you are using a laser light and I suspect the laser has round bars. If so, watch yourself around the laser. It is very easy to bump the light towards the center of the turning. You think you are following the wall thickness when in reality you are going towards Zero wall thickness. I changed to square tubing and problem solved. Beautiful cedar bowl, I love the color of cedar but hate turning/sanding it. The only thing I can say on the short feet is to take them off. It doesn't look like you have enough material to turn the outside of the bowl round.

[Dan Forman]

Nate --- Tough luck with that first one, the cedar and cherry turned out very nice.

Dan

[Michelle Rich]

it's happened to us all..it's a right of passage. The others you posted look real nice. keep getting back on the horse!