Deflated

[David DeCristoforo]

Another hollow orb from the second chunk of maple burl from David Reed. This was a real challenge because the "wood" was close to rotten with a huge bark inclusion/void running right through the center. It continually deformed as it was turned. Everything that could be wrong with a hollow form is exampled here. Out of round, lumpy, uneven wall thickness, inside as rough as a back country dirt road, soft spongy spots, you name it. The wood really should have been stabilized in some way first. When I got to "parting it off", I had to run the lathe at the slowest speed because there were just a couple of threads of wood holding the "ball" onto the tenon. Finally, it just kind of fell off.

It reminds me of a partially deflated basketball. 8" in diameter in many places...

223036

[John Keeton]

8" in diameter in many places...David, I have been working on some bowls/lidded pots for the Beads of Courage program using some BLM that I "rush dried" with some DNA. It is moving all over the place on me, so I can certainly relate to this post!!

Nonetheless, you performed some Double D magic on this one - looks great on the black background. Very much resembles the moon on a clear night.

[Maria Alvarado]

It has a lunar eclipse look to it. Really cool, I'm glad it survived the process!

[David E Keller]

I like it, but then I've always had a soft spot for deflated basketballs...

[David DeCristoforo]

"...I've always had a soft spot for deflated basketballs..."

The whole time I was thinking "I shoudda sent this piece of wood to Keller..."

[Curt Fuller]

Just as the moon was settling below the horizon this morning it had that same look and color. Very cool!

[Baxter Smith]

Nice work on a tough piece of wood. The picture and background is great as well. Reminds me of a photograph of some distant planet!

[Steve Vaughan]

I'm thinking this is really a cool photo of Mars, you know, the red planet. That is sweet looking, rich color. Really like it.

[Scott Hackler]

Very cool David. I love spheres and this one turned out very nice. When I saw the voids in this I immediately thought that it would be kinda cool to "create" a larger void where the hollowing opening is. That would make it more organic and confuse the viewer as to how it was hollowed!

[Dick Mahany]

Wow ! That is so cool. I really like it and hope to develop skills one day to do such neat pieces. I also really like the black photo backgroud as it makes the piece pop even more!

[Ed Morgano]

Another masterpiece David. Did you wrap it with anything when you hollowed it?

[Kathy Marshall]

Very cool! I'm thinking Red Planet too.

[Rick Markham]

David, your BLM burl must have been best friends with the manzanita burl that I've been working on. It was constantly off balance, and despite many attempts to true it, it refused. I just turned the tenon off the thing and It's now left me with quite a bit of sanding to do... Mine kinda fell off too... and not at the right time LOL

It's a very nice lumpy orb!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Now that is absolutely cool! Love the dramatic photo, the rich color of the wood and all that burl!! Beautiful work David! This one belongs in a gallery!!

[Nate Davey]

Very nice David. Beautiful job and difficult piece of wood.

[Brian McInturff]

David,
How thin is the wall on this. Just wondering if you did any reverse chucking or once it"fell" off if you just sanded it down by hand where the nub was. You had to have the patience of Job for that piece.

[David DeCristoforo]

Thanx for all the comments, folks.

"Did you wrap it with anything…"


There was not much to be gained by wrapping it with anything. The weakest part was at the bottom where the ball and tenon were connected. The void ran right through that area so there was less and less actual wood holding everything together and no real way to strengthen that area. I tried shooting CA into it and then some epoxy and finally I attempted to strap it together with a wire tie. None of that really accomplished much.

"How thin is the wall on this. Just wondering if you did any reverse chucking or once it"fell" off if you just sanded it down by hand..."

Well, that all depends on where you measure it! Like I said it's not consistant. In many places it's 1/8" which was the "target". but in other places it's more like 3/16" and at the bottom. it's around 3/8". No reverse chucking for fear of crushing it. Just sanded out the bottom which I had managed to cut down to around an inch and a quarter when it detached.