Kathy Marshall
02-28-2013, 12:10 AM
This was turned from a chunk of California Pepper that I got from fellow club member, Jason Clark, back in October I think. Jason had turned some cool pieces from it, microwaving some to get warping similar to madrone. Apparently this wood spalts easily and you could see the results in his pieces by the order that they were turned.
I had some other projects going, and trying to get some Christmas gifts turned, so I couldn't get to it right away. Then the lathe went down, so I was further delayed. I finally got it on the lathe about 2 weeks ago.
It definitely had been spalting, a little too much in fact. It had turned very punky, in fact when I drilled out the center, I was able to punch through from the outside where the void is just by sticking my finger through it. Tear out was reallyyyyyyy bad. I roughed (and I mean roughed) out the outside, then drilled the center and took out some of the bulk, then I put it in my bucket of soap mixture to see if it would help stabilize it at all. The plan was just to leave it overnight, but I got caught up in some other projects and kind of forgot about it :eek:. This weekend at the symposium it hit me that it was still soaking. So Monday night I took it out of the bucket and washed it off, then set it aside to dry. Tuesday night I started turning it. It was still punky and tearout was still a big problem, but it was improved from before.
This is what it looked like after the soap and water soak. I think you can see the difference in cuts by the little stip at the bottom as compared to the rest that I hadn't touched yet.
255640255641
After a lot of scraping and shear cutting, I ended up with an almost acceptable surface. There were a few really stubborn spots that just wouldn't clean up. I didn't go real thin on this one, just to about 1/4" or just a touch under.
Lots of sanding later and after some DO and antique oil, this is what I was left with. It's 6 1/2" tall x 6 wide. It's a shame that I couldn't get to it sooner, because it's got some great color and grain and it would have looked so much better if it had had good solid wood all the way around.
Sorry for the out of focus on the last pic, didn't notice it until I had taken down the photo tent.
255642255644255643
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques welcome.
I had some other projects going, and trying to get some Christmas gifts turned, so I couldn't get to it right away. Then the lathe went down, so I was further delayed. I finally got it on the lathe about 2 weeks ago.
It definitely had been spalting, a little too much in fact. It had turned very punky, in fact when I drilled out the center, I was able to punch through from the outside where the void is just by sticking my finger through it. Tear out was reallyyyyyyy bad. I roughed (and I mean roughed) out the outside, then drilled the center and took out some of the bulk, then I put it in my bucket of soap mixture to see if it would help stabilize it at all. The plan was just to leave it overnight, but I got caught up in some other projects and kind of forgot about it :eek:. This weekend at the symposium it hit me that it was still soaking. So Monday night I took it out of the bucket and washed it off, then set it aside to dry. Tuesday night I started turning it. It was still punky and tearout was still a big problem, but it was improved from before.
This is what it looked like after the soap and water soak. I think you can see the difference in cuts by the little stip at the bottom as compared to the rest that I hadn't touched yet.
255640255641
After a lot of scraping and shear cutting, I ended up with an almost acceptable surface. There were a few really stubborn spots that just wouldn't clean up. I didn't go real thin on this one, just to about 1/4" or just a touch under.
Lots of sanding later and after some DO and antique oil, this is what I was left with. It's 6 1/2" tall x 6 wide. It's a shame that I couldn't get to it sooner, because it's got some great color and grain and it would have looked so much better if it had had good solid wood all the way around.
Sorry for the out of focus on the last pic, didn't notice it until I had taken down the photo tent.
255642255644255643
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques welcome.