Russian Olive vahse

[Curt Fuller]

I decided to try again at turning a hollow form. I just don't get the hollowing process using the sorby curved neck hollowmaster. I got catches that tore this out of the chuck jaws three times, luckily not breaking the tenon. I finally used a round nose scraper to finish it the best I could. The walls are still 1/2 - 5/8 thick. And I used the old trick of making the opening in the collar small enough that no one can stick their finger inside to feel how rough it is.
The left view is the wood towards the inside of the tree, the right is the outside with some verticle bark inclusions and yellow sapwood. The collar is Bocote. About 8" x 5".

[Corey Hallagan]

Nice looking piece. Never seen russion olive turned other than a pen. Looks great!

Corey

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Good job Curt. Lookin' Good!

Bruce

[Tom Sherman]

Curt I believe that you are on the right track, keep stroking dude you'll get what you're looking for

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Curt, I don't know the first thing about hollowing tools, curved neck or otherwise, but it looks like you have a beautiful piece there! The form is wonderful, and the wood really has something to say.

[Lee DeRaud]

The walls are still 1/2 - 5/8 thick. And I used the old trick of making the opening in the collar small enough that no one can stick their finger inside to feel how rough it is.Ok, I'm a hollow-form newbie here, so be gentle: why exactly is there this obsession with thin walls on a piece that, by design, hides the inside? It's not like somebody is going to fill it up with water to find out how big the inside is.

Sure looks good to me, as is.

[Andy Hoyt]

Ok, I'm a hollow-form newbie here, so be gentle: why exactly is there this obsession with thin walls on a piece that, by design, hides the inside? It's not like somebody is going to fill it up with water to find out how big the inside is.

Sure looks good to me, as is. Lee, it's kinda like the same reason as to why Edmund Hillary climbed Everest. "Because it's there", and in both cases something can be done about it.

If you spy a HF chunk of wood that's - say 6" x 6" - you have a preconceived notion as to its heft. What I like about thin walled forms is that once picked up that preconception is blown away leaving the picker upper that much more impressed with the effort.

Nice one, Curt!

[Lee DeRaud]

If you spy a HF chunk of wood that's - say 6" x 6" - you have a preconceived notion as to its heft. What I like about thin walled forms is that once picked up that preconception is blown away leaving the picker upper that much more impressed with the effort.Hmmm...I guess that's partly what bothers me: if something doesn't look delicate, I don't really want it to feel delicate. And depending on the proportions, there are balance issues with featherweight vases: they feel top-heavy (at least to me), even though the overall mass is minimal.

(Note that most wooden hollowforms feel somewhat delicate to me anyway: the favorite "hollowform" in my collection is about 8"x8"...made out of polished granite. :eek: )

[Curt Fuller]

Lee, it's kinda like the same reason as to why Edmund Hillary climbed Everest. "Because it's there", and in both cases something can be done about it.

If you spy a HF chunk of wood that's - say 6" x 6" - you have a preconceived notion as to its heft. What I like about thin walled forms is that once picked up that preconception is blown away leaving the picker upper that much more impressed with the effort.

Nice one, Curt!
Like Andy says, it's just to prove you can. To most that don't do woodturning I guess it would never cross their mind to think of how thin the walls are. I've done some things with larger openings that are thinner but I just can't seem to use the sorby tool through a small 1" opening. With that curved shaft when it catches it starts banging around in there like crazy, tries to rip the tool out of your hand, and usually ends up reaming the opening and breaking chunks out of it and by the time you can hit the kill switch it's a mess. I'm about to invest or build something different.
Thanks for the nice comments though. That Russian Olive is some different wood.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Very nice Curt! I love the swirl effect in the wood. Great job.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Curt it looks great. I have some Russian Olive coming this fall when they take the tree down I hope. They are talking about it. Jeez that is some pretty wood. Nice job.

[Michael Stafford]

Looking good, Curt. Is this olive naturally oily like most olives? Did the oiliness make it hard to finish?

[Ernie Nyvall]

Well the outside sure as heck looks good Curt. Nice form.

Ernie

[Mark Cothren]

Beautiful wood, Curt! Nice little HF!!!

[Curt Fuller]

Looking good, Curt. Is this olive naturally oily like most olives? Did the oiliness make it hard to finish?

Thanks everyone.

Mike, russian olive isn't anything like the olivewood that grows those little black fruits that you stick on your fingers to eat. It's not oily at all. The growth rings are very pourous and the wood will soak up danish oil like a sponge. It has stringy bark much like juniper and is very lightweight when it drys.

[Jim Becker]

I like it!! Very nice form.


Ok, I'm a hollow-form newbie here, so be gentle: why exactly is there this obsession with thin walls on a piece that, by design, hides the inside? It's not like somebody is going to fill it up with water to find out how big the inside is?

I don't disagree with you from an aesthetics point of view...only another turner would tend to stick their fingers inside just to see how smooth it is or how thick. That said, there is very much a practical reason to at least have a relatively even wall thickness as it creates the most stable form from a standpoint of movement and cracking. What that means is that you don't need to get your walls down to 1/8" thick...1/4", 3/8", and even 1/2" on a larger piece will be just fine, etc. Just strive to get it close to even thickness throughout if you can. It takes practice...but is doable.

[Ernie Kuhn]

Curt,
Nice piece and gorgeous grain pattern. We've got lots of it around here (Eastern Washington) and a lot of folks are allergic to it when growing, puts a sweet smell into the desert air. Its more of a nuisance tree in these parts. About the only thing its good for is growing spikes. They are long enough and tough enough I bet a cave man probably put them in his club, or is that, "bonker"? Some of it really is gorgeous.
Ernie

[Keith Burns]

Curt, thyat is one fine looking HF. Like the form, the wood and the finish. This is just me but I think the collar would have looked better out of ebony or anothe dark wood. Always enjoy seeing you turnings:) :)