Spinny Thing Spins Again...Finally!

[Jim Becker]

Sometime late in the day today, after shooting the clear coats on a bookcase for the kitchen and a Shaker candle stand that's been waiting for a finish for a very long time, I kicked myself in the butt and got the lathe back in position so it could be used. It's been well over four months since I've had any time to turn and that's way too long. So...I turned.

The spalted norway maple piece on the left in the pictures below had been partially done months ago, so I remounted it on the vacuum chuck, trimmed off the shouldered tenon, cleaned up the foot, gave it a final sanding and waxed it up. This is an interesting piece that has a simple, functional shape with only a small ridge just below the rim for decoration. I originally intended to do some texturing on this piece, but decided to leave it as-is since it sat around to long.

The piece on the right, also of spalted norway maple is "new from scratch" today and since the blank was about three and a half years young, it was hard as a rock. I had to sharpen my Ellsworth gouge about every two minutes of cutting in order to keep chatter and to a minimum and reduce tear-out on the punky areas. This is also a simple functional shape and my goal was to keep an even wall thickness throughout.

Boy, that felt good to be back at the "spinny thing"!!! (Please pardon the shadows in the pictures...I wanted to shoot them quickly so I just plopped them down on the kitchen island under a halogen with no fill lighting) Both bowls are finished with just wax and buffed with the Beall system.

[Ted Shrader]

Jim -

With all the other fantastic turning samples posted lately, it is no wonder you wanted to get yours fired up too. Looks great.

Ted

[Anthony Yakonick]

Smoooooth I like the bead detail

[Jim Becker]

With all the other fantastic turning samples posted lately, it is no wonder you wanted to get yours fired up too.

Oy veh...you don't know how right you are about that! It was almost as bad as having your hands tied behind your back and to a chair with the most extraordinary piece of flourless chocolate cake sitting in front of you...just out of reach... :D (You may, of course, substitute some other diversion for the cake in that example... :rolleyes: )

[mike malone]

Oy veh...you don't know how right you are about that! It was almost as bad as having your hands tied behind your back and to a chair with the most extraordinary piece of flourless chocolate cake sitting in front of you...just out of reach... :D (You may, of course, substitute some other diversion for the cake in that example... :rolleyes: )

Nice looking stuff, Jim
Especially like the little bowl on the right...has a certain "je ne sait qois". Beautiful wood!
regards
mike

[Brad Schafer]

left bowl figuring is surreal. dang,


b

[Jim Becker]

left bowl figuring is surreal.

SWMBO says it's a map...it was a neat piece of wood that came from a tree I took down not long after we moved into this property. It was "pre-spalted" even while it was sporting leaves!

[Glenn Hodges]

Jim, that spalted bowl is super! I love the treatment of the lip, it sets this bowl apart from all others if was on a table with a number of bowls. No texturing was needed, in fact I think the texturing would have been a poor design choice for this bowl. It would have made the bowl to busy, and detracted the eye from the wonderful works of nature. Thanks for sharring it with us.

[Tom Sweeney]

Looks like you didn't get rusty at all. I love the wood - I have some like it - but the spalting isn't as nice as what you have here. It is hard as a rock also.

I love the "ridge" detailing & I agree that any more decoration would have been too much.

Nice work.

[Von Bickley]

Jim,

Great looking bowls. Thanks for sharing the pictures with us.

[Teresa Jones]

Jim,

Very, very inspiring!!

TJ

[Joe Tonich]

Jim,

Nice job on the bowls. I really like how you did the rim on the left one.

Joe

[Scott Greaves]

Hi Jim,

I like them both!

The one on the left is such a nice piece of wood! And you did it proud! The shape really accentuates the natural design in the wood, and the rim detail sets it off nicely.

But I like the shape on the one on the right! It's just a great curve!

Isn't it nice to be back at it again!

Scott.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Those are incredible. I'd probably trade you three mesquite blanks for one blank like that. Yikes!
KC

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

Nice bowls Jim! The Spalting on the one is like nothing I have ever seen. The definition of the black spalt line is perfect, and the contrast between the spalted and unspalted wood it absolutely beautiful. I also like the rim detail on the large bowl, it really adds a touch of class to the bowl. The other bowl is just as nice as the spalted work. I really like thicker bowls, I think it adds an element of "heft" to the work, and adds to the overall eye appeal. Thanks for sharing the pictures of your work............you really should spend more time at the "Spinny Thing"! :D

[Terry Quiram]

Jim

Those bowls are spectacular.

Terry

[Jim Becker]

Thank you to everyone for your over kind words...they are appreciated. Turning is truely a wonderful experience as the art develops right before your eyes. If you haven't tried it yet...do so. If you have...well, you're undoubtedly addicted already.

One other point...it's pretty kewel that some of the neatest turnings come from free wood that really isn't any good for anything else. This spalted stuff doesn't even burn well! (Which means there's a lot more to turn... :D )

[Dominic Greco]

..it's pretty kewel that some of the neatest turnings come from free wood that really isn't any good for anything else. This spalted stuff doesn't even burn well! (Which means there's a lot more to turn... :D )

I hear ya on that Jim! Some of the most beautiful bowls I've seen come from "road kill" wood

BTW, I didn't get a chance to see you work until today. But I wanted to tell you how much I liked the beaded rim on the bowl on the left. The spalting is so busy that it's hard to add a feature without it getting lost in the mix. The bead is just the right touch.

The spalted norway maple is beautiful stuff, isn't it? My wife thought the bowl I just made looked like a sunset in a "George O'Keefe" painting. Although like your wife, I thought "road map" described it better. And yes, it gets a lot harder with age. And people are amazed that I went through a Sorby 3/8" HSS Bowl Gouge in only 4 years!

And yes, I missed another BWT meeting last night. I really wanted to attend this one. Like I replied to Anthony's post, too many personal commitments, not enough time. Maybe I'll make it to November's meeting.

[Jim Becker]

And yes, I missed another BWT meeting last night. I really wanted to attend this one. Like I replied to Anthony's post, too many personal commitments, not enough time. Maybe I'll make it to November's meeting.

It was a very low-key meeting...just some show and tell and Joe Seltzer did a presentation of pictures from the AAW symposium in Passadena. Mark Krick did bring a HUGE honey dipper that is part of a sculpture destined for The Woodturning Center in memory of Palmer Sharpless. It was about 6 feet tall!

I will unfortunately miss the November BWT meeting as I have to be in Las Vegas for a company event. A pox on them for interfering with my woodworking!!! :rolleyes:

[Pete Harbin]

Wow Jim! Those bowls look great.
You already beat me to the comment (actually, your SWMBO), but that left bowl really does look like the bottom half of a globe.

Just so you guys know, I've been copying the pics of your work into an ideas folder to "persuade" SWMBO about how great a lathe would be. She may not buy in for a while since I just made a couple recent purchases...guess I'd better save my allowance and be good for a while :rolleyes:

Very nice work Jim.

Go Scorps!

Pete