First Turning w/ My Hollower

[Mike Goetzke]

My wife is trying to crochet and I'm trying to turn so when I saw a yarn bowl posted here thought it would be perfect practice. I also wanted to try out my new-to-me hollower. Everything went pretty well. This will be twice turned so I know I may have gone a little thin on the wall. Also, learned the attack angle of the cutter tip to the wall needs to be kept constant for the laser to work well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/Wood%20Turning/Yarn%20Bowl/IMG_1317_zpsnaitncdb.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mbg/media/Wood%20Turning/Yarn%20Bowl/IMG_1317_zpsnaitncdb.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/Wood%20Turning/Yarn%20Bowl/IMG_1318_zpsfivxwakm.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mbg/media/Wood%20Turning/Yarn%20Bowl/IMG_1318_zpsfivxwakm.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/Wood%20Turning/Yarn%20Bowl/IMG_1319_zpsg6uan0di.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mbg/media/Wood%20Turning/Yarn%20Bowl/IMG_1319_zpsg6uan0di.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/Wood%20Turning/Yarn%20Bowl/IMG_1320_zpswwagtetn.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mbg/media/Wood%20Turning/Yarn%20Bowl/IMG_1320_zpswwagtetn.jpg.html)

Thanks,

Mike

[Steve Doerr]

Mike, nice shape on the outside of the bowl. That is a perfect sphere!! If you go ahead and thin it out a little more, there will be no need for you to twice turn it. Nice looking hollowing system. What kind is it?
Steve

[Doug Ladendorf]

Yeah, I like the shape too. Looks like it will be a great yarn bowl!

Doug

[Allan Ferguson]

Ditto. And like that work light.

[Peter Blair]

I'm with these guys! Like the look and the light and I too think that if you thin it a little more you can finish it now instead of waiting.

[Thomas Canfield]

That is a great shape. It looks like the wood is fairly punky with all the spalting and rough surface, and may not have that much moisture/shrinkage issue. It looks a lot like Sycamore dpwn here. The surface looks rather rough for sealing and twice turning. Good luck making the wife happy.

[Mike Goetzke]

That is a great shape. It looks like the wood is fairly punky with all the spalting and rough surface, and may not have that much moisture/shrinkage issue. It looks a lot like Sycamore dpwn here. The surface looks rather rough for sealing and twice turning. Good luck making the wife happy.

The wood is sycamore. Is it a funky wood? I have quite a bit more but made the first turnings with the smaller pieces. I even tried a shear cut on the outside and still very rough.

Mike

[daryl moses]

The wood is sycamore. Is it a funky wood?


Sycamore is typically NOT funky. Unless it is diseased, dead, lying on the ground etc. One of my favorite "green" woods to turn.
Great bowl BTW, love the shape. With lots of sanding it should look really nice.

[David Delo]

Pretty cool looking rig Mike. Nice job on the outside shape and good luck on however you decide to finish it.

[Peter Fabricius]

Your yarn bowl is coming along nicely. The Kobra is very impressive and so is your work light.
I am sure the final product will be just right for your wife!
Peter F.

[Brice Rogers]

The wood is sycamore. Is it a funky wood? I have quite a bit more but made the first turnings with the smaller pieces. I even tried a shear cut on the outside and still very rough.

Mike

If your wood is a bit punky and you're getting tear out, make sure that your tools are razor sharp, and make sure that you are shear cutting. I sometimes put an oil on the vessel and it helps (BLO works as does WD-40, mineral oil, etc.). Also make your finishing cuts really really light. I have had good luck with light up-hill pull cuts using a sharp gouge. I have also had some luck with a round-nosed scraper that was freshly sharpened with a burr.

I have also had some help using Minwax hardener (the solvent based stuff). For small punky areas, you could also apply thin CA (super glue).

Others have reported help using a coat of sanding sealer, thinner Poly, thinned shellac, etc. Just about anything that helps to harden the wood.

[Thomas Canfield]

The wood is sycamore. Is it a funky wood? I have quite a bit more but made the first turnings with the smaller pieces. I even tried a shear cut on the outside and still very rough.

Mike

Mike - It looks like you are making a good choice to try a smaller piece and work out the kinks. Your wood looks similar to some that I have that came from a tree with some dead wood and had started rotting in the pith area of some branch sections off the main trunk. Your final finish method will be a factor in selecting any hardening material to apply to give you a better finish cut and very sharp tools are required, even to sharpening after only a couple of light passes. I have used a Danish Oil blend on my pieces and that seemed to hardened/lubricate the area to allow for a better cut, but really gums up the sandpaper later. The wood does produce very nice finished piece with the extra grain/color enhancement with the oil finish.

[Richard Henke]

Did you just get that Kobra unit. How long did you have to wait to get it?

[Mike Goetzke]

If your wood is a bit punky and you're getting tear out, make sure that your tools are razor sharp, and make sure that you are shear cutting. I sometimes put an oil on the vessel and it helps (BLO works as does WD-40, mineral oil, etc.). Also make your finishing cuts really really light. I have had good luck with light up-hill pull cuts using a sharp gouge. I have also had some luck with a round-nosed scraper that was freshly sharpened with a burr.

I have also had some help using Minwax hardener (the solvent based stuff). For small punky areas, you could also apply thin CA (super glue).

Others have reported help using a coat of sanding sealer, thinner Poly, thinned shellac, etc. Just about anything that helps to harden the wood.


Mike - It looks like you are making a good choice to try a smaller piece and work out the kinks. Your wood looks similar to some that I have that came from a tree with some dead wood and had started rotting in the pith area of some branch sections off the main trunk. Your final finish method will be a factor in selecting any hardening material to apply to give you a better finish cut and very sharp tools are required, even to sharpening after only a couple of light passes. I have used a Danish Oil blend on my pieces and that seemed to hardened/lubricate the area to allow for a better cut, but really gums up the sandpaper later. The wood does produce very nice finished piece with the extra grain/color enhancement with the oil finish.

Thanks for the finishing tips. Even shear cut with sharp tools doesn't eliminate the tear out completely. On another blank I was almost able to push a screwdriver through it. I hope I don't have a pile of punky wood now. I'm not a very experienced turner so didn't have hope of roughing so many blanks before needing to get the wood out of the garage/shop. Also, had several flat work projects take priority. I looked for help on how to store them and I Anchorsealed them and then put them in plastic bags. I'm thinking now the bags may have been a mistake. The first few pieces I turned were smaller chunks that I had already cut in half. Maybe the log sections have aged better - I'll have to try digging one out.



Did you just get that Kobra unit. How long did you have to wait to get it?

I was very fortunate to find the unit listed on another forum so wait time was a few days.


Thanks for all the replies - they were so encouraging I made a second yarn bowl.

[Wes Ramsey]

I've turned a few pieces from mildly punky sycamore, and the only way I've been able to get rid of the tearout is to sand it away. At least in the pieces I have been turning, punky sycamore end grain breaks off pretty deep. It doesn't cut well at all. If you figure it out let me know!