Turning HFs with Xray eyes....don't we wish

[Tim Rinehart]

Ok, so anyone who has hollowed highly voided forms knows how much easier they can be to see what's happening inside, but not without extra care needed for a piece that is inherently less stable. During demos and club meetings, I encourage folks to practice hollowing with a piece of wood they don't mind drilling some holes in with a large forstner bit, to allow seeing what the tool is doing while turning.

I was taking various progress shots this past Sunday of a piece I'm working on, a large buckeye burl piece, and I was able to capture this shot which is pretty cool in seeing the actual effect.
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I'll post more on this piece when I get a bit further along...it's still a bit of a work in progress. ;)

[Chris Studley]

Probably make getting shavings out of there easier too...

Cool picture...

[Ken Glass]

Tim,
Great shot. How about a pic at 0 rpm's to see the form.....

[Bernie Weishapl]

It surely does make it easier to see what is going on plus chips removal is easy. Can we see a still pic's?

[Tim Rinehart]

Well, since you asked nicely...here's a couple shots of the still piece while in the lathe.
This piece had to have been root burl.
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I couldn't keep any of my gouges sharp for more than a few swipes when shaping the outside, and I really struggled with tearout...something I can usually keep at bay with sharp edges and light shear-scraping. I discovered particles of grit/dirt that had consistency and hardness of Sakrete.
Here's a pic of the bulk of this junk I excavated from several of the voids.
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While digging one of them out to get the concrete mix, a cavern opened up inside and can be seen as I get to the bottom of the hollowing.
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Had I decided to cut the based another inch or so shorter...I would have been without any structure at the base.
Here's the piece ready for hand sanding and who knows what kind of finish??? About 13 1/2" tall and maybe 10-11" diameter.

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[Jim Burr]

That is going to look really cool when finished Tim...glad it held together for ya!

[Tim Rinehart]

That is going to look really cool when finished Tim...glad it held together for ya!
Thanks Jim. I'm giving it a solid week or two to complete any final dryout. It's about 3/8" thick, but really light as a feather. I love when buckeye burl has a nice silvery grey, but this piece is mostly blonde, and so am leaning towards some color to liven it up a bit. I colored a test piece and got some wacky results, either because not completely dry, or nature of root burl to have drastically different characteristics for absorbtion on it. Keeping my fingers crossed, may be a leap of faith ...or simply suicide.

[Nate Davey]

Great piece, Tim. I did a Russian Olive Root Burl that tested my sharping skills. Can't wait to see this finished.

[Mike Cruz]

Very cool, and pretty, too! Tim, when staring at that first pic in your OP, I can see it spinning... Thanks for sharing.