Maple Rough Out

[Steve Schlumpf]

Had this chunk of Maple sitting under a tarp in back of our shed since last December and decided this past Sunday to put it on the lathe. I use a wheel barrow to get the wood from the shed to the house and a deer gambrel to hoist it onto the lathe but it is up to me to carry the thing down into my basement shop. Didn’t weigh this one but believe it was very close to 100 pounds - if not a little more. I am going to rethink that carrying down the stairs part…

Chainsawed on Sunday, rough turned on Monday/Tuesday and hollowed on Wednesday and Thursday. I have the piece sitting in a plastic bag to prevent moisture loss while I figure out a container to use to for a denatured alcohol (DNA) soak.

229355 229356 229357 229358
229360 229359

Size at this point is 16” high x 13” diameter and approximately ¾” thick. I will post the finished version when I get to it in a few months.

As always, your comments, opinions and critiques are welcome!

Thanks for looking!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Steve that is a impressive piece. Good thing my shop is not in the basement because at my age there is no way I could have gotten it down other than let it roll down the stairs. lol I am sure the minister of the house would have frowned. Can't wait to see it finished.

[Roger Chandler]

I like the shape of this one a lot Steve.........that is going to be a nice vessel..........dimensions? Oh yeah............nice carpet! :D you know we have to yank on your chain just a little! ;) That American Beauty really looks good with that large piece on it........:)

Okay..........I see the dimensions now...........I guess I looked at the pics before I read the entire post.....:o

[Hayes Rutherford]

Now thats a good size piece. Your lathe probably enjoyed the workout. Look forward to seeing the end result.

[David DeCristoforo]

Lookin' good Steve! But you got your rug dirty...

[curtis rosche]

if you ever come out my way, i have two old chair lifts, the ones with the cable at the top and the chair on wheels, you could easily set one up on your stairs for moving wood down and shaving bags up

[Harry Robinette]

Steve
I use to put a 2x8 down the steps on one side then start the log FLATSIDE DOWN and then stay in front and step down backwards controlling the slide. It worked very well.
Then I bought a house with an outside basement door much nicer.
Whats the two wheel steady thing in picture 5.

[Mike Goetzke]

Steve - I like the figure of the wood especially at the large diameter portion. I just got the itch to turn and was wondering in the first photo is that a shop made face plate that is held in your chuck (instead of a cast threaded face plate)?

Thanks,

Mike

[Steve Schlumpf]

Harry - that is my homemade 2 wheel steady rest. Not much to look at but it works!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Mike - that is a chuck plate that was designed and built by Jerry Marcantel. He wrote an article - posted on the Sawmill Creek Home Page - on how to build your own. Check it out here: Chuck Plate (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/content.php?129-Building-a-Chuck-Plate)

[Richard Jones]

Steve,

That has great SW potential, hope it drys well.

On pieces like that, do you drill out the pith or leave it in?

Looks like you have T-track for your steady. Any problems with flex?

Thanks for sharing.

Rich

[John Keeton]

Steve, this one is coming along nicely! I like the finished (well, rough finished!) shape, too. Do you have plans for color on this one?

[steven carter]

That is a beauty sitting on a beauty! I look forward to seeing the finished vessel. I'm not sure when a HF becomes a vessel, but I think this one is large enough to qualify.

[Scott Hackler]

Looks good Steve. You should install a coal chute to get the logs into the basement!

[Lee Alkureishi]

Hi Steve,

it looks like you turned this piece with the pith running straight through it from top to bottom. Does that cause any problems, or is the wood dry enough already that cracking won't be an issue?

It looks like it'll be a great piece!

Lee

[Quinn McCarthy]

Zoiks Steve that is a monster destined for the monster.

Q

[Ron Erickson]

Steve use the plastic bag to soak it in. Just make a nest in a box useing the shavings, takes a lot less DNA.

[Jim Burr]

That had to hurt! You should have a "How many M&M's in the vase" contest!

[Rob Cunningham]

That's quite a chunk of wood to be carrying down the steps.:eek: Glad to see you're giving the Beauty a good workout.

[Mike Goetzke]

Mike - that is a chuck plate that was designed and built by Jerry Marcantel. He wrote an article - posted on the Sawmill Creek Home Page - on how to build your own. Check it out here: Chuck Plate (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/content.php?129-Building-a-Chuck-Plate)
Steve - thanks for the link. Saved me a few $, I was ready to buy a face plate. I have an additional question on the linked plate. Why don't you just drive the plate into one end of the piece and then chuck it up?

Mike

[philip labre]

Steve, I really like these large pieces you've been turning on the new lathe! I have some nice sized butternut I keep wanting to bring up to you, but just no time. I think the color of the butternut would work well with these styles and hopefully I'll have time to at least bring some with to a meeting.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Mike - that is exactly what I did. Check out the very first photo and you can see the chuck plate is being held by my Talon chuck.

[Nate Davey]

That is awesome Steve, totally jealous here.

[Bruce Pratt]

Steve,

Curious why you didn't turn to final. With the grain orientation, I wouldn't think there would be very much asymmetric warping, and the pointed base should minimize pith-associated cracking.
-----------
Bruce

[David DeCristoforo]

Funny thing about this... in the first pic, the log looks huge. But in the next pic, the form does not appear to be anywhere's close in size to the capacity of this lathe. Obviously the form would appear smaller but I know you didn't remove that much material. Maybe it's just an illusion created by the angle. I was also looking closer at the figure in the last pic and there is some really sweet movement in the grain.

[charlie knighton]

thanks for the pictures, look forward to your progress with this piece

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Steve,
That's a big chunk of wood to spin with a Talon. Maybe it's time to begin thinking about a Stronghold. Meanwhile, turning such a big piece of wood has to be fun. By the way, I bought a small Brute garbage can for soaking my big bowls. I also bought dolly to move it around the shop. When I want to make sure it is airtight I wrap stretch wrap around the lid and top of the container.
faust

[Pat Scott]

I like your lathe.

Looks to me like you need a bigger chuck though!

So "DNA" just means Denatured Alcohol? What is the purpose of soaking in alcohol, what does the alcohol do? I'll take a guess that the alcohol absorbs or dries the moisture in the wood and is to prevent cracking? Or does it just speed up the drying process?

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

Steve, glad to see your working your way up to some larger work. I've been wanting to see you do this for a long time. I do understand that having to carry logs down a stair case can be a big problem though. I know my back wouldn't hold up to carrying 100lb plus logs anywhere, no less a flight of stairs.
This piece appears to be pretty straight grained with out any large knots so I do believe you could have roughed turned it down to about a 1/2" thick and still had plenty of wood left to do a finish turning to about of about 3/16" thick or so. I have had better luck air drying green rough outs ( less cracking problems) if I rough turn to about 1/2".
Good luck with the drying & I'm looking forward to seeing the finished piece.

[Kathy Marshall]

Now that's a bigun! It's going to look great when it's finished!

[Joe Scarfo]

My first thoughts were... what are you showing off... the turning or the American Beauty attached to it :-)

My 2nd thoughts were envy..

:-)

[Baxter Smith]

Nice chunk of wood! I would think anyone who can afford a lathe like that could afford a hand truck and a strap or two to get a 100# piece of wood down a flight of stairs. Got to be cheaper than an ER visit!;):)

[Steve Schlumpf]

... it's on the list Baxter! :D

[Bill Bukovec]

Hi Steve,

Do you get much cracking/checking in the pith on a piece like this?

Since it will be at the bottom, does it matter?

If not, does the DNA prevent the cracking?

Looking forward to the end result.

Bill

[Dan Forman]

When I have something too big to carry down into the basement, I just slide it down on a ramp, let gravity do the work. They have always been half rounds though, sliding on the flats. Something round like this, you would want to orient lengthways, so it wouldn't roll. Might want some containment on the floor so it wouldn't roll around if it lands wrong. If you intend doing a lot of these, you could build a V shaped ramp, which would keep them in line all the way down. Even a dolly can be hard on the back going down stairs. I prefer to use gravity, not fight with it. :)