First "REAL" Ambrosia turnings!

[Jeff Nicol]

Hey all,


It has been a long time since I have posted anything that I have been working on, so I thought today was a good day to turn a beautiful piece of Ambrosia Maple that Mike Cruz sent to me. But the problem is.....I WANT MORE, MORE, MORE!!!!! It was absolutely wonderful to turn and I had big curls all over the shop, as you can see in the pictures I had them hanging on everything!

224336224337224338 Once I got it roughed out and wearing my stylish chip guard for my neck, I set up the McNaughton set and cored out 4 nice bowls. The big one is a hair under 15" then 12" and so on. The second largest was an afterthought as I had only planned on 3, but there was enough to get another so I went for it. I started at about 5/8" at the top and ended up about 3/8" on the bottom so I cleaned it up and glued a scrap on the bottom so I could basically finish turning it. It ended up with a thickness about 1/4" with the bit extra at the rim.224339224340224341 Here are the four bowls when I was done roughing and getting them ready for returning later. They are just beautiful and I can't thank Mike enough for the blank!

224342 I worked on another blank that I will put in another post later,

Jeff

[Steve Vaughan]

Boy, you jumped back in big! That's a nice set of bowls, and with all these recent postings on the McNaughton, I'm gonna have to find me a big ole piece of wood myself! Love the bowls and love all the curlies!

[Rich Aldrich]

Beautiful wood. Nice set of bowls. I need to learn how to use my McNaughton, but I need time.

[David DeCristoforo]

Glad to see you finally cleaned up your shop! That is some awesome material. Love the rim detail on the big one...

[tom martin]

Beautiful set Jeff! A true knock out! That's probably the nicest Ambrosia maple I've ever seen
Tom

[John Keeton]

Jeff, that is some fantastic Ambrosia!!! But......I can see right now, I am going to have to make another personal visit to your shop for an inspection. We can't have the place looking like that!;)

[Nate Davey]

Great bowl set Jeff, I love the heavy bowls and these definitely qualify as "heavy". Love the cape, BTW.

[mike ash]

I agree with the great job on some fantastic wood. I also wonder if you are going to be advertising those capes for sale soon?

[John W Dixon]

Man I just love ambrosia maple and that is just beautiful. Can't wait to set that set all finished. They look great.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful bowl set out of some outstanding ambrosia maple.

[charlie knighton]

very nice.....

[David E Keller]

Gorgeous stuff, Jeff! I love the shot of you with the cape... You look like a woodturning superhero!

[Baxter Smith]

That looks like a good time Jeff! Fabulous wood only makes it better!

[Jeff Fagen]

"SUPER TURNER"! Able to core large bowls in a single pass!:D That is some cool wood,I hope to turn some some day.

[Jim Burr]

Face protection please, like to have you around if I need a steady!!!...and by the way...nice bowls!

[Scott Hackler]

Looks good Jeff. I'm with you, ambrosia maple is awesome fun.

[Doug Herzberg]

Your shop makes mine look neat and tidy, most days. The fetching Mrs. Herzberg says she will now "shut her mouth." I tried to talk her into some mustard while she was being so agreeable, but no go.

The worms did and especially good job on that maple. Your corings look great too. Those are some beautiful bowls. Thanks for sharing.

[Dick Wilson]

Jeff, Watch out for the knock on the door!!:eek: John will be standing there with his tooth brush in his shirt pocket, broom in hand, demanding you clean your shop. Oh, the white gloves are sticking out of his hip pocket. Unbelievable maple. I am glad you have coring capability cuz it would be a crime to put all of that on the floor in shavings.

[Donny Lawson]

WOW, those are some beautiful bowls. I could really use a coring rig. That really makes a difference in what you can produce. Great work.

[Tim Rinehart]

What a way to return...that's some gorgeous ambrosia man! I love the shots of the shavings on the rafter items...well done!

[Thomas Canfield]

You definitely let the chips fall where they may. Nice looking coring, and makes me want the McNaughton. It looks like there are a lot of unfinished projects in the background. I am just getting a new shop completed after moving, and hung my steady rest on the wall yesterday, but have not found enough lathe tools yet to get back to turning and have to do some flat work to get the shop ready and things off the floor and out of boxes.

[Rick Markham]

Jeff, it's super good to see you're turning, those bowls are super nice!! That's some amazing looking Maple. No one can accuse you of not making curlies! You have them everywhere, even hanging from the rafters! Don't change a thing my friend!

[Rick Markham]

Jeff, Watch out for the knock on the door!!:eek: John will be standing there with his tooth brush in his shirt pocket, broom in hand, demanding you clean your shop. Oh, the white gloves are sticking out of his hip pocket. Unbelievable maple. I am glad you have coring capability cuz it would be a crime to put all of that on the floor in shavings.

Dick, that made me chuckle. You realize he has to core if he didn't there would be no more room to turn :)

[Kathy Marshall]

Beautiful set of bowls Jeff! That ambrosia maple is awesome, great markings!

[Michelle Rich]

wow! mike sent you gorgeous wood..your nest of bowls really show off that wood. Great job

[Tony De Masi]

Nice work Jeff. That wood sure looks familiar................

[Doug W Swanson]

Beautiful stuff, Jeff!

[Jeff Nicol]

Thank you all for the fine comments! I have another big blank like that from Mike that is waiting for me to do some more magic on. I too was so amazed at the equal amount of ambrosia throughout the blank and also very glad that I invested in the coring system, it has paid for itself many times over already! The McNaughton is not as hard to use as some would have you believe, or maybe it is just me, but when I first got it, figuring out that ending up with the cutter tip at center or slightly above center when the core is ready to break off. I found this out because I was having a heck of a time with catches and they were due to falling below center during the cut, also I was turning to slow to keep the chips cleared out. The speed will have to be determined by each individuals comfort, but I am not talking more than about 700rpm+- depending on wood and moisture content.

On the no face mask, I normally wear it when I am roughing things out and always when I am standing in front of the lathe. But for the pictures I wanted my beautiful mug to shine through so I just had on the saftey glasses. Then of course my other outstanding piece of turning wear, "THE CAPE" is because I hate the chips down my shirt, but I don't want another complete layer on so I use the cape. I may get my sewing machine going and make one with some velcro on it for ease of use, maybe in a bright "LIME" green or color that won't be lost in the mess!

Speaking of the mess, I have moved and cleaned up a lot since the last time John visited, so he would be amazed at the transformation, but there are a lot of projects going and all of the walking sticks and canes in the rafters, make great curl catchers. I would welcome a visit from John or anyone passing through, I have 2 spare bedrooms and I make pretty good coffee and the bakery is close by with out of this world apple fritters to go with it.

But I did pay for the turning yesterday, my hands were swollen up from the arthiritis and my back and shoulders were not real happy either, but it was so much fun anyway and I will do it again.

Thanks again for all the great comments, more to come,

Jeff

[Jim Burr]

Wow...really? and no one noticed that you may lose that mug due to ignorance? Well...how about we ban every turner for a month that displays hazardous turning techniques in any forum? You may be a great supporter of SMC Jeff, but I sold 5 pens this week and had my protection on during every step including cleaning the shop. Maybe you could be an example rather than a determent to safe turning?...it only takes a second...either way:mad:

[Mike Tilley]

Great looking set Jeff don't clean to much it will just get that way again

[Mike Cruz]

Jeff, WOW! You sure did that wood proud. That is an unbelievable set. I hope you keep that for yourself, but obviously, you can do whatever you want with it.

Is that the piece I just sent you?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Beautiful set of bowls Jeff! Thank goodness you had a clean driveway so you could take photos!!

[Joseph M Lary]

Nice bowl set, looking forward to see it finished.

[Roland Martin]

That ambrosia is absolutely gorgeous,Jeff. To follow through the whole blank like that is an amazing bonus, thank God for the coring system!

[Mike Cruz]

Well, Tony, if you got a coring system, the BOWL SET would look familiar...

[Mike Svoma]

As you can see in picture number 2, he really is the newest of superheroes, cape and all. It's a blank.....it's a bowl.....it's SUPER TURNER!!!