Flared Honey Locust

[Lee Alkureishi]

Hi all,After my last post, I took all the advice to heart and went back to the drawing board. Here's my latest attempt - I took a smaller, lighter chunk of honey locust, used my 1/4" oland tool to rough & shape from the tailstock end, and my circular carbide cutter (new bar) to finish the inside, sanded to 400 and finished with my homebrew friction polish. I'm pretty pleased with the final form - comments and critique always welcome!Lee

[Roger Chandler]

Not bad, Lee............a natural edge with a trumpet shape..........that red in the honey locust is right nice looking beside that white sap wood..........makes for an interesting combination along with the bark..........good stuff!

[Lee Alkureishi]

Thanks :)Forgot to mention that I turned this wet - Hoping it won't crack as it dries... The walls are pretty uniform at a little over 1/4" thick. Fingers crossed! Lee

[Roger Chandler]

When turning green/wet wood, you should use a drying process to avoid cracks...........I know that getting into turning takes some time to accumulate the necessary items for doing it all correctly.........that why we call it a Vortex......it sucks you in and your money with it!

I use denatured alcohol [DNA] to soak my green turnings in.......I rough turn to about 1/10th wall thickness........a ten inch bowl for example should be roughed out to approximately 1 inch thick walls..........put in a DNA bath for a couple of days, take it out, let is air dry for a couple of hours, the put into a paper bag with shavings and staple it shut for a few months....it will warp, but most of the time will not crack [sometimes they do anyway] and then you put it back on the lathe to finish turn with the correct thickness and true everything up.

You should purchase some Anchorseal for sealing up green wood ......you can use it for slow drying as well.........several methods available to the turner.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice looking piece. I do like the NE. With wet wood when I turn to finish 1/4" or less I saturate with Antique Oil. I keep it one till it won't soak in anymore. I found when I saturate it, it seems to keep it from cracking. May move some but I haven't had one crack yet.

[Dennis Ford]

Very nice looking vase, there are many ways of drying our turnings. The common goal is to get the wood inside to dry at about the same rate as the surface, when the surface dries while the inside is still wet, the wood cracks. My method for this type piece is to wrap it in brown paper and store it in a shed.

[Jerry Rhoads]

Oh, I love Honey Locust. Just got some fresh, need to get to work.
That is a very nice looking piece Lee, like the shape a lot.

[Jamie Donaldson]

This is a perfect piece for the brown paper bag drying process, and the price is right. I suggest that in the future you make the walls about half that thick/thin to further assure that it doesn't crack, and stretch your learning in the process.

[Lee Alkureishi]

This is a perfect piece for the brown paper bag drying process, and the price is right. I suggest that in the future you make the walls about half that thick/thin to further assure that it doesn't crack, and stretch your learning in the process.

Thanks for the tips. I'll bag it when I get home :)