Off-Kilter

[Thom Sturgill]

Some turners claim that the wood 'tells them what it wants to be'. In that case this piece was very confused. It could not decide whether to be a formal ogee shaped bowl, or just a plain bowl, natural or hard edged, with or without a foot - so its all of them!:eek:

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It also did not want its picture taken. this is the only image out of a dozen that stayed in focus! 5 1/2-6" wide and 2 1/4" tall. Just sanding sealer on it at this point. Turned from a wet Red Bay blank. Would have been deeper, but the blank had cracks half way up so I lost half the depth of the blank.

C&C welcome of course.

[Peter Blair]

Love it Thom! Reminds me a little of Linus (sp) from Charlie Brown . . .

[daryl moses]

I like it, just shows that wood has a mind of it's own and some things try as we might we just can't control.
I turned a bowl yesterday on my new lathe, [sweet gum] and no matter how I tried it just wouldn't stay in balance. Not real happy about the outcome, but it is what it is. I'm not as brave as you though and aint no way i'm gonna post a pic of it, lol.
BTW, that piece of gum was about the hardest thing I've ever tried to turn. Sad part is I've two more blanks of the same stuff and i'm not really looking forward to turning it.

[Thom Sturgill]

I like it, just shows that wood has a mind of it's own and some things try as we might we just can't control.
I turned a bowl yesterday on my new lathe, [sweet gum] and no matter how I tried it just wouldn't stay in balance. Not real happy about the outcome, but it is what it is. I'm not as brave as you though and aint no way i'm gonna post a pic of it, lol.
BTW, that piece of gum was about the hardest thing I've ever tried to turn. Sad part is I've two more blanks of the same stuff and i'm not really looking forward to turning it.

The bowl fits my sense of humor - slightly off kilter. I had lost just a bit of the natural edge and the piece had slipped when I turned the outside between centers and I did not notice it until I reversed. So one side was thicker than the other and the lost bark was on the thin side. Taking all of the bark off would not save the bowl...

[Peter Blair]

Hey Daryl, I think it was Trent Bosch who said life is too short to turn crappy wood, I may have paraphrased him.

[Thom Sturgill]

Hey Daryl, I think it was Trent Bosch who said life is too short to turn crappy wood, I may have paraphrased him.

That's normally attributed to John Jordan. At least that's what the Ruth Niles Tee-shirt says. He also says that a cracked bowl is just a cracked bowl no matter how well you fixed it up.

[Peter Blair]

My apologies to John Jordan, sorry!
Still valid!

[daryl moses]

Hey Daryl, I think it was Trent Bosch who said life is too short to turn crappy wood, I may have paraphrased him.

No matter who said it first, they are probably right. I may just delegate the Sweet Gum to the firewood pile.:)