Rob Price
06-19-2012, 10:06 AM
At a recent local crafts show, a gentleman walked up to our woodturning club booth and made a generous offer. He had recently cut down a cherry tree, and was using it for firewood, but offered to let anyone come by and dig through to see if they could make something out of it. I took him up on it. The tree had been dead on the stump for years. The sapwood was pretty far gone, and the wood was dry and cracked- it was tough finding suitable wood. But one piece has worked out so far. This is half of it. I'm hoping to turn the other half soon. I'll give one of the bowls to the guy as a way of saying thanks.
The wood was pretty dry. The shavings came off hot and dry. Lots of dust, so I went ahead and finish turned it from the beginning. It moved some, not much more than some kiln dried walnut I did a few weeks ago. The hole in the rim was rotted out sapwood, but it was right against some of the best figure, so I left it.
Finished with Watco Butcher's Block oil. I was thinking it would be some type of food safe oil blend, I know there's an entire debate about food safe, but I like oil finishes over film anyways, but figured it would be an easy to maintain finish for the person who gets the bowl. Anyways, the stuff looks, smells, and acts like poly. So when I wiped it on the inside of the bowl and spun it around on the lathe, thinking it would buff in the oil, instead it got tacky and left tiny little swirls in the finish. Short of sanding down to bare wood, it doesn't look repairable. A second coat didn't dry after 24hrs and had to be wiped off with mineral spirits and buffed with steel wool. I'm not happy at all with the finish, at least as an oil finish. I will say it has a nice low sheen and silky smooth feel for a film finish. So maybe now that I know what to expect I can get better results.
The shape is a play off a similar walnut bowl I did a few weeks ago, thanks to John K for help with the design. Comments, critiques welcome. Thanks.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YA901vF0LFM/T-CFBYP6bKI/AAAAAAAABvE/BAkblnik8dk/s800/IMG_2317.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3fhi8wxp7EI/T-CFB7kKIVI/AAAAAAAABvM/HPNg8qW6HrI/s800/IMG_2323.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1-HlNqGfHfs/T-CFCpNH9eI/AAAAAAAABvU/f5FOyA7Ah9Q/s800/IMG_2326.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-dumUgGmq8FI/T-CFDUpvFWI/AAAAAAAABvc/aiz77HlIPFE/s800/IMG_2328.JPG
The wood was pretty dry. The shavings came off hot and dry. Lots of dust, so I went ahead and finish turned it from the beginning. It moved some, not much more than some kiln dried walnut I did a few weeks ago. The hole in the rim was rotted out sapwood, but it was right against some of the best figure, so I left it.
Finished with Watco Butcher's Block oil. I was thinking it would be some type of food safe oil blend, I know there's an entire debate about food safe, but I like oil finishes over film anyways, but figured it would be an easy to maintain finish for the person who gets the bowl. Anyways, the stuff looks, smells, and acts like poly. So when I wiped it on the inside of the bowl and spun it around on the lathe, thinking it would buff in the oil, instead it got tacky and left tiny little swirls in the finish. Short of sanding down to bare wood, it doesn't look repairable. A second coat didn't dry after 24hrs and had to be wiped off with mineral spirits and buffed with steel wool. I'm not happy at all with the finish, at least as an oil finish. I will say it has a nice low sheen and silky smooth feel for a film finish. So maybe now that I know what to expect I can get better results.
The shape is a play off a similar walnut bowl I did a few weeks ago, thanks to John K for help with the design. Comments, critiques welcome. Thanks.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YA901vF0LFM/T-CFBYP6bKI/AAAAAAAABvE/BAkblnik8dk/s800/IMG_2317.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3fhi8wxp7EI/T-CFB7kKIVI/AAAAAAAABvM/HPNg8qW6HrI/s800/IMG_2323.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1-HlNqGfHfs/T-CFCpNH9eI/AAAAAAAABvU/f5FOyA7Ah9Q/s800/IMG_2326.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-dumUgGmq8FI/T-CFDUpvFWI/AAAAAAAABvc/aiz77HlIPFE/s800/IMG_2328.JPG