Roger Chandler
12-15-2015, 11:17 PM
Believe it or not, this is 1/2 of a piece of Bradford Pear! This particular tree came down as the result of a construction site, where in former decades the sight had been a nursery, which my understanding is that the soil had been enriched for all those decades, and this tree as well as others that were left when the nursery closed back some years ago, had ideal growing conditions........that is the only way I can explain the size of this. I have turned a good bit of Bradford Pear over the last few years, and the color, bark and grain features all say it is definitely Bradford pear.....although a big one!
This piece of wood was very heavy......I know it was about 25" from corner to corner before I clipped the corners with my smallest chainsaw today........I estimate the weight to be around 100 lbs. or so, and I know that it was all I wanted to lift, that is for sure! :eek:
Here it is mounted on a faceplate and on the spindle of my G0766...
327252 As you can see, I ran into some bark inclusions, and had to take them out, as one ran through the tenon area, so I felt that was not safe, so turned that area away, and made another tenon.
327253 I only did a fairly rough calabash form, and it will be refined in the second turning to make the form better........that is why they call them "rough" outs! :rolleyes:
327254 Finally.......I had to leave it on the lathe without finishing the inside of the rough out, as I had to attend to other important issues. I did put a plastic bag over it, and taped it to the chuck for overnight.......will finish the roughout tomorrow.
327255 I post this to help others see that the G0766 can handle some big pieces. This is also my first real attempt at a Calabash form.......I think it is on its way, but I will certainly need to tweak the curves a bit in the final turning, once it dries. And of course, I will turn away the tenon and have a fairly flat base, with maybe just a little concave area in the middle of the base.
This piece of wood was very heavy......I know it was about 25" from corner to corner before I clipped the corners with my smallest chainsaw today........I estimate the weight to be around 100 lbs. or so, and I know that it was all I wanted to lift, that is for sure! :eek:
Here it is mounted on a faceplate and on the spindle of my G0766...
327252 As you can see, I ran into some bark inclusions, and had to take them out, as one ran through the tenon area, so I felt that was not safe, so turned that area away, and made another tenon.
327253 I only did a fairly rough calabash form, and it will be refined in the second turning to make the form better........that is why they call them "rough" outs! :rolleyes:
327254 Finally.......I had to leave it on the lathe without finishing the inside of the rough out, as I had to attend to other important issues. I did put a plastic bag over it, and taped it to the chuck for overnight.......will finish the roughout tomorrow.
327255 I post this to help others see that the G0766 can handle some big pieces. This is also my first real attempt at a Calabash form.......I think it is on its way, but I will certainly need to tweak the curves a bit in the final turning, once it dries. And of course, I will turn away the tenon and have a fairly flat base, with maybe just a little concave area in the middle of the base.