Gave myself a Challenge

[Kathy Marshall]

Today (well technically yesterday, since it's after midnight), I wanted to turn something Big.
I took a little stroll through the woodpile to see what I had in the way of big diameter logs.
My choices were Ash or Silk Oak. The Silk Oak would have given me a big face grain blank, but since I just turned some on Saturday, I decided to go with the Ash. The problem was the log was too short for a big face grain blank. So I gave myself a challenge to turn a large bowl endgrain :eek:.
I trimmed off the ends and was left with a 6" slab of Ash. I took that to the bandsaw and cut a round blank.
244876
Then I mounted it up and proceeded to turn. Endgrain bowls do not cut as nice as face grain!
The log was pretty dry, so I wasn't getting shavings, I was getting crumbles. Tearout was bad, but I didn't worry about it when roughing and was able to get a pretty clean surface with some light finish cuts.

It's my biggest bowl yet at 15" x 4"! The cracks were filled with epoxy and copper and the bowl has a coat of antique oil. I'll add a few more coats of antique oil to build up a finish.
244877244879244878

Now that I've got that out of my system, I won't have to think about doing another one!

Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Kathy,
That effort was a bit dangerous. I know you take all the precautions but that bowl was a prime cantidate for flying apart. If you want to make a big bowl and don't have a piece oriented correctly let me send you one. I am out of town until this time next week but will gladly send you a wonderful piece of ash for a big bowl as soon as I return.
faust

[Tim Rinehart]

Kathy, this came out great...but before I even read Faust's comments, I was thinking the same thing. I do like pieces with voids and small manageable cracks, but weigh the risks more and more given the publicized incidents over the last few years, along with a few I know about that were from local friends with lots of experience but the wood just 'exploded' on them from hidden defects.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Kathy that turn out to be a beauty. I have to agree that if it were me it would have been in the burn pile. I had one several years ago explode on me in which some stitches were involved. So if it has cracks it is gone.

[Reed Gray]

I am with the others here, I would have split it and burned it. Too much work filling the cracks, and too high risk for me.

robo hippy

[Mike Cruz]

Kathy, I have a question... Was this blank cracked like that before you turned it, or did the cracks develop later (during/after turning)? I think the bowl turned out great. I know you are experienced and safe. Can't really speak for the others, but I have a feeling the comments by the others are more aimed at other people that might see this and try it. Either way, it is a risky proposition...you won!

[Darren Jamieson]

A very interesting bowl, haven't done any ash but I know it is used here in place of oak alot (floors and furniture) so having worked with our oak alot I would say that even with the cracks it was probably very sound when you turned it. From reading your post I got that you were just looking for something big to experiment with and then you'll go back to the norm. Looks good to me Kathy.

[Baxter Smith]

Glad you got it done in one piece Kathy! Rougheded out my first endgrain bowl last week. Didn't include the pith so it only ended up at about 9 inches. Hopefully it won't have quite as many cracks.;):)

[neil mackay]

I


Now that I've got that out of my system, I won't have to think about doing another one!

Its a bit like that.:) great looking bowl and the cracks add a rustic look to it.

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks everyone, for your comments and your concern.
I probably should have added that I wouldn't recommend turning endgrain bowls for beginners, especially if cracks are present. Cutting on dry, hard endgrain is rough enough to launch a bowl without a well cut tenon, sized appropriately.
I did take precautions. I filled the cracks on the outside as soon as it was shaped, and filled the cracks on the inside as I made my way down. I turned at a low speed starting at about 220 and only got it up to about 400 for the final light finish cuts. I also had the tailstock in place for all but about the bottom 1" on the inside.

Kathy,
That effort was a bit dangerous. I know you take all the precautions but that bowl was a prime cantidate for flying apart. If you want to make a big bowl and don't have a piece oriented correctly let me send you one. I am out of town until this time next week but will gladly send you a wonderful piece of ash for a big bowl as soon as I return.
faust
Thanks for the offer Faust! I've got plenty of 12" blanks and the tree trimmers could call at any time with some big logs.

Kathy, I have a question... Was this blank cracked like that before you turned it, or did the cracks develop later (during/after turning)? I think the bowl turned out great. I know you are experienced and safe. Can't really speak for the others, but I have a feeling the comments by the others are more aimed at other people that might see this and try it. Either way, it is a risky proposition...you won!
Thanks Mike, the cracks were there but not as bad as they look now.

Glad you got it done in one piece Kathy! Rougheded out my first endgrain bowl last week. Didn't include the pith so it only ended up at about 9 inches. Hopefully it won't have quite as many cracks.;):)
Thanks Baxter, a 9" endgrain bowl sound like it would be much more manageable!