Olaf Vogel
08-02-2012, 10:18 AM
So I "might" have been a little too ambitious on this endeavor.....
Last year, the school across the road cut down a very old hazelnut tree - according to the arborists, the largest they'd seen. Of course I grabbed all the main chunks.
I'd always wanted to do some really large pieces and this was my golden chance.
The logs only had to be moved about 100 yards, but even with a hand cart it was a huge effort. The largest one, I had to roll across the road - there was no way of moving it any other way.
I was in great shape, and like a typical guy, I figured "I can do that! OK, I'll be a bit sore tomorrow, but just suck it up".
Well....I seriously hurt my back, ended up with 2 herniated disks and am still slowly recovering. Stupid.
Then this beast sat in my back yard for several months and taunted me....while I crept around the house with an ice pack on my back and slunk off to the chiro.
238252
Feeling better last week, I decided to get the monkey off my back.
After learning what a "rucker" is and how they do their jobs, I picked up a lot of info on how to move big, heavy items - safely.
I got it into the workshop and mounted onto the lathe, this time, using a ton of ropes, pulleys and (this time) my brains - not my back.
238249
Hand lifting was definitely not an option so I mounted a double winch system off the ceiling to raise and align this beast. Surprisingly it worked well.
The edges had been chopped off and rounded out as best as possible with my rudimentary chainsaw skills. But it was still a huge effort to get it balanced enough to spin.
After that, things went well, but took a few days. I created 4 leaf bags of shavings and blew out 4 wheels on my steady rest from the weight. And learned how awesomely strong the Oneway Stronghold chuck is. Hollowing was tricky since this is by far the deepest I've ever gone. But a light touch and some precautions and it worked out.
4 days later I'd happily conquered my nemesis.
238250238251
Even at this stage its still 24" x 24" and 75 lbs with 2" thick walls - soaking wet. For obvious reasons, I never weighed the original blank.
Usually I commandeer the kitchen scale to weigh my pieces, but wisely opted for the bathroom scale instead.
Now to wait 3-4 months til this sucker dries out. Based on the previous one, it should loose about 50% of the weight by then.
I successfully finished bowl from the same tree, in the same diameter and dried it without cracking. So I'm optimistic.
This project definitely taught me a lot about safe practices OFF the lathe as well as on.
I told my (very supportive) fiancee, that next time I come with such a silly idea, please smack me in the head and tell me to contemplate that again over another beer....
Last year, the school across the road cut down a very old hazelnut tree - according to the arborists, the largest they'd seen. Of course I grabbed all the main chunks.
I'd always wanted to do some really large pieces and this was my golden chance.
The logs only had to be moved about 100 yards, but even with a hand cart it was a huge effort. The largest one, I had to roll across the road - there was no way of moving it any other way.
I was in great shape, and like a typical guy, I figured "I can do that! OK, I'll be a bit sore tomorrow, but just suck it up".
Well....I seriously hurt my back, ended up with 2 herniated disks and am still slowly recovering. Stupid.
Then this beast sat in my back yard for several months and taunted me....while I crept around the house with an ice pack on my back and slunk off to the chiro.
238252
Feeling better last week, I decided to get the monkey off my back.
After learning what a "rucker" is and how they do their jobs, I picked up a lot of info on how to move big, heavy items - safely.
I got it into the workshop and mounted onto the lathe, this time, using a ton of ropes, pulleys and (this time) my brains - not my back.
238249
Hand lifting was definitely not an option so I mounted a double winch system off the ceiling to raise and align this beast. Surprisingly it worked well.
The edges had been chopped off and rounded out as best as possible with my rudimentary chainsaw skills. But it was still a huge effort to get it balanced enough to spin.
After that, things went well, but took a few days. I created 4 leaf bags of shavings and blew out 4 wheels on my steady rest from the weight. And learned how awesomely strong the Oneway Stronghold chuck is. Hollowing was tricky since this is by far the deepest I've ever gone. But a light touch and some precautions and it worked out.
4 days later I'd happily conquered my nemesis.
238250238251
Even at this stage its still 24" x 24" and 75 lbs with 2" thick walls - soaking wet. For obvious reasons, I never weighed the original blank.
Usually I commandeer the kitchen scale to weigh my pieces, but wisely opted for the bathroom scale instead.
Now to wait 3-4 months til this sucker dries out. Based on the previous one, it should loose about 50% of the weight by then.
I successfully finished bowl from the same tree, in the same diameter and dried it without cracking. So I'm optimistic.
This project definitely taught me a lot about safe practices OFF the lathe as well as on.
I told my (very supportive) fiancee, that next time I come with such a silly idea, please smack me in the head and tell me to contemplate that again over another beer....