Kathy Marshall
07-28-2012, 10:24 PM
It was a beautiful day out today, overcast and breezy. A good day for chainsawing. I had a couple of big ash logs left from a load I got about 8 months ago and they seemed to be in decent condition. I cut one of them up into a couple of big bowl blanks and some hf blanks. Then on to the bandsaw.
While I was at San Jose I picked up a set of Carter bandsaw guides and a new blade and with the weather so nice, I decided it would be a good time to get everything installed. The difference is amazing! I have never cut a blank so easily. The blade is a little thicker than the Bosch blades I've been getting at Lowe's. I don't know how much of the ease of cutting is due to the blade and how much is due to the new guides, but together the result is great.
I mounted up one of the big bowl blanks and proceeded to turn. There were a few cracks visible on the pith side, but the bark side looked pretty clean, so I mounted it backwards of how I normally would and made the bark side the top. With the pith side at the bottom, I was able to turn away most of the cracks. There was one stubborn one that I just couldn't find the bottom to, so I ended it filling it with CA.
Once the sanding was done, I was happy to find the ash had a little bit of curl in it. I was tempted to add some dye on the outside to accentuate the curl, but finally decided it would look just as nice a la natural. It's about 10 1/2" x 3" with a coat of walnut oil.
237939237941
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.
While I was at San Jose I picked up a set of Carter bandsaw guides and a new blade and with the weather so nice, I decided it would be a good time to get everything installed. The difference is amazing! I have never cut a blank so easily. The blade is a little thicker than the Bosch blades I've been getting at Lowe's. I don't know how much of the ease of cutting is due to the blade and how much is due to the new guides, but together the result is great.
I mounted up one of the big bowl blanks and proceeded to turn. There were a few cracks visible on the pith side, but the bark side looked pretty clean, so I mounted it backwards of how I normally would and made the bark side the top. With the pith side at the bottom, I was able to turn away most of the cracks. There was one stubborn one that I just couldn't find the bottom to, so I ended it filling it with CA.
Once the sanding was done, I was happy to find the ash had a little bit of curl in it. I was tempted to add some dye on the outside to accentuate the curl, but finally decided it would look just as nice a la natural. It's about 10 1/2" x 3" with a coat of walnut oil.
237939237941
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.