Spalted ? HF

[Roy Griggs]

I'm still working on very basic forms and skills...this one is square?? 4" x 4" BLO followed by friction wax...I don't own a bowl buffing system...yet. So, I don't really get that high shine...
I'm still working mostly with free wood as my talent doesn't rate wasting the good stuff on practice pieces like this.

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[Ken Fitzgerald]

Roy..........nice basic form!...........Don't knock free wood! The best wood is "Free WOOD!" It means you have more money to spend on more tools....then all you can afford is free wood but then you have .....well you get the idea! Keep working! Those skills are coming along!

[Jonathon Spafford]

Looks purdy good to me... really nice piece of wood!!! Great job!

[Rich Stewart]

Your free wood looks like my bought wood. Nice job.

[George Tokarev]

You can buff the wood or the finish. Some do both. I find spalted wood a poor choice for buffed surface gloss. The soft spots show worse, any pits from pecking out the white rot areas are accentuated, and it takes forever to try and equalize the soft white with the sound brown surface. That's why they get oiled and waxed to look lustrous, but not shiny. Good choice on your part, since it's likely to sit and be pretty rather than be handled and used.

Have to watch your compound colors buffing on spalted wood as well. Bit of Tripoli can really louse up a white delignified area. FWIW, have a shoe brush reserved for buffing the white wax residue out of the pores on wood with them, or the mini splits in spalted wood.

Your piece looks good, but the inside is unfinished? Slosh some oil inside. It's easy, and will equalize the visual a bit. If you have that ring burned around it, you can fake the hollowing by parting, hollowing, gluing and burning. Not that I would ever resort to such chicanery. :D

[Bernie Weishapl]

Roy for free wood it looks mighty fine to me. As Ken said free wood is the best wood. Nice job.

[Dave Carey]

Roy,
I like it - both the form and the wood. Also like that it has kind of a weather beaten appearance rather than the high gloss. The accent line is a good feature as well. Cheers.

[Jim Becker]

I like that piece, Roy. And I agree with Ken...free wood is one of the benefits of being a turner. You can use stuff than one wouldn't consider for even an instant for flat work! The only turning stock I even pay for is burl and even then, I've managed to get quite a bit for free, too.

[Michael Armstrong]

Sorry Roy to interrupt your thread but I would like to be able to view your work and for some reason I can't. When I try and see the images it takes me to a page that says I'm not logged in even though when I view your thread it says "Welcome Michael Armstrong" at the top. Anyone have any ideas what is wrong here? If I try and login on the page it just immediately goes back to it with the boxes blank.

Thanks
Michael

[Steve Schlumpf]

Roy, your turning skills are progressing nicely!

Like everyone else I like the spalted wood. The single burn line helps to separate the top 'lid' area and adds to the overall form.

As far as getting a shine without a buffer - it is possible but takes a lot of elbow grease. What I used to do before getting my buffing system: couple of coats of Watco to highlight the grain, 3 or more coats of a high gloss wipe-on poly, lightly sand between coats with a 400 or 600 grit just enough to remove the little bumps. On the last coat of poly - don't sand, just rub it down with a piece of brown paper bag. It has just enough of a surface to get rid of the remaining bumps and bring out the gloss. Lots of steps, takes time but it does work.

Looking forward to your next turning!

[Neal Addy]

Real nice form, Roy! Looks better than just practice to me. I like the shape.

[Pat Doble]

I really like the shape Roy. Not one I've seen or thought of - but I really like it. I'm going to have to try one out it once I get back to the lathe.