my first turnings...

[Jeffrey Fusaro]

lauro preto with friction polish and renaissance wax finish - 6" dia. x 2" tall. this blank was cut very close to the pith. it was wet when turned, and it cracked in several places. i sealed the cracks with CA and finished. then, i dropped it on the lathe ways, immediately after finishing it.

:eek: d-oh!

cuss, rechuck and refinish. :mad:

now, i cover the ways with a towel everytime something comes out of the chuck.

cebil with renaissance wax finish - 6" dia. x 2" tall. i took a nice chunk out of the rim (visible near front), cracked the chuck recess and launched the bowl across the room in the process.

more cussing. :mad: i'm gettin good at it!

i retrieved the missing chunk from the shop vacuum and used CA to re-attach it. a few days later, i returned to finish the bowl.

osage orange and ebony finial with renaissance wax finiash (a.k.a. "bishop in a bowl" - looks like a chess piece to me) - 6" dia. x 2" tall. i used the lessons learned from the first two on this bowl. no mishaps, and i am quite happy with the end result. this one is getting sent to my sister as a birthday gift.

LOML liked the osage orange so much, she wants me to make "something nice" for us to keep. she said something about a yellow pen, too... hmmm.

pau ferro bottle stoppers with friction polish and renaissance wax finish. i bought a screw driver handle blank, then decided that i didn't need another screwdriver. so, i cut it into thirds and made bottle stoppers instead. i used CA to bond a "sacagawea dollar" into the top - didn't know what else to do with it.

in the mean time, i've been collecting pen blanks and all of the widgets needed for turning pens.

time to swithch gears...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jeffrey.........Excellent first turnings. Mine weren't half that good! Did you skip bonkers? :rolleyes: Osage orange pens can be extremely beautiful. I turned one that had a lot of chatoyance in it.....sparkled a lot.....You'd thought it was made of gold. The LOML and I agreed it was a Christmas present for one of our neighbors who always say...."Give me gold!".....

[Paul Engle]

Great looking items Jeffrey, launching stuff can be as exciting as a finished project:eek: . The forms and finishes look great, don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Great first turnings Jeffrey!

Having stuff fly off the lathe is always exciting and you learn where NOT to stand real fast!

All of your turnings look really good. Great finishes - specially like the stoppers!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Jeffery those are some mighty fine first turnings. I wish some of mine had been that good. Nice job. Keep'em coming.

[Neal Addy]

Really nice, Jeffery! Great work on all of them.

Don't sweat the dropped bowl. It won't be the last. The worst always occurs just as you are wrapping things up.

I remember spending 4 hour turning a a piece, an hour of sanding, 2 days applying coats of finish, waiting on cure time... only to lose it in the buffing process. Launched across the room, hit a wall, bounced off the concrete floor several times....

I used words I've never even heard before. :mad:

[Bob Hallowell]

Jeff,
Those look good I am fairly new too but you will find things start coming much easier as you go!

bob

[Bill Wyko]

Very nice work! Looks like you've been sucked into the vortex too.:D I look forward to your next pieces. Anyone recieving one of those for a gift should be very happy.

[Ernie Nyvall]

All looks real good Jeffrey.

[Corey Hallagan]

Wow, those look really good. Love them all especially that middle bowl. Nice work!

Corey

[Keith Burns]

Very nice "first" turning Jeffrey:) :) I appreciate the fact that you didn't give up and pesivered. Worth the effort:)

[John Hart]

Hmmm...that's strange. I responded to this thread last night and it ain't here today. Musta not hit submit or sumpin.:confused:

Anyway...this is not about me. It is about what a great bunch of work you've done here Jeffrey. Truly inspiring firsts. :)

[Ron Chamberlin]

Jeffrey
Excellent work on the bowls, especially in the interior transition curve between the side and the bottom. I find it all tooo easy to develop a groove there which is impossible to sand out. Keep goin!:D :D

[Jeffrey Fusaro]

hey, creekers--

thanks for looking, and thanks for the nice comments.

i appreciate the feedback!

[Jonathon Spafford]

Didn't mean not to skip over this thread... those are truly amazing firsts. Actually they don't look like firsts! You did a great job on those... you seem to learn fast (not only that you got an artistic eye)!