Made sumpin' round for a change....

[Dennis Peacock]

Well....thanks to Kevin Gerstenecker's advice and pointers on turning and sanding....I decided to try my hand at turning bowls once again. I have been highly discouraged due to not being able to get the surface smooth enough to call it a finished bowl. Kevin has been encouraging me to give it a try again....so I did.....

Kevin....I still need practice but I feel like I am learning more as I talk with you about turning. You have been a lot of help to me and I want to say <b>Thanks!!!</b>

This is a Black Walnut bowl. The wood was from a pile of throw aways give to me by Bobby Hatfield. <b>Thanks Bobby!!!</b> I still have more turning blanks that Bobby brought down with him one day and I am just now getting around to trying turning bowls once again.

Shoot....If I lived closer...I would love to take lessons from Bill Grumbine!!!!

Anyway....here are three shots of the bowl. It has NO Finish on it at this time. Yes, I know....it still has some dust on the sides and bottom of it....but hey....what the heck.......If John Miliunas can post his turning here...then so can I.....Right John? :D

[Terry Quiram]

Dennis

Great minds must think alike. I turned a piece of Walnut that Steve Clardy brought to the Hatfield shindig. I find all bowls difficult to sand especially on the inside. I get to the point of applying finish and find small scratches. I need better light where I sand. I have taken to wet sanding the last two coats of oil and this helps but is very time consuming. I need to watch an accomplished turner finish their pieces. Dennis, you and I just need better technique and practice, practice, practice. :D

Terry

[John Miliunas]

Dennis, you and I just need better technique and practice, practice, practice. :D

Terry

Sure, Terry....Go ahead. Leave me out of your little practice session. See if I care! :mad: Well, I *DO* care! And I *DO* need the practice. It did feel good to get that spinny thing going. Dennis, I think you're doing just fine with that. One thing I have found with real dry Walnut is more frequent trips to the grinder are worth it. The sharper you can keep that edge, the less sanding and the less scratches. If a LOT of sanding is needed, then you might just as well spend the extra time and do it with the mineral oil, which does a wonderful job of eliminating the scratches. Walnut is also another one of those woods where you dasn't "skip" grits. Go through each one methodically for best results.

Oh, and Dennis, my being able (allowed!) to post pics here is proof positive that *anyone* can! :cool:

[Terry Hatfield]

d,

U dun gud!!!!! Turned out really nice!!!!

One of these days I'm gonna figure out how to turn a bowl like that....one that is still in one piece that is.

t

[Tyler Howell]

Great Dennis,

Nice Job.

[Bud Duffy]

That is a real nice lookin bowl Dennis ,I have a real hard time on the inside i can never seem to compleatly get rid of the scratches drives me nuts! Bud

[Jim Becker]

'Nothin' like taking a spin in the shop! Nice job on the bowl, Dennis. Walnut turns beautifully and your project is no exception. More!

[Dennis Peacock]

Oh, and Dennis, my being able (allowed!) to post pics here is proof positive that *anyone* can! :cool:

John,

I was poking at you since you DID post a very NICE bowl in another thread. I thought you did a LOT better than what I did. The pic above that has the bowl sitting upright and is a side shot? That is NOT a gouge with a turning tool that I couldn't get out.....That used to be a large crack that was in the walnut that I coulnd't cut around....so I turned it WITH the bowl.... Needless to say....I couldn't hide it so I made is my "smiley bowl".... :D

Now...you just keep that spinny thing a runnin' and post me some more examples.

Oh and John.....you can take lessons along with me and Terry Q. any ol' time.....proud to have ya around. ;)

[Dennis Peacock]

'Nothin' like taking a spin in the shop! Nice job on the bowl, Dennis. Walnut turns beautifully and your project is no exception. More!

Jim....

I have one h377 of a time on my final passes with the tools to help reduce sanding time. Oh....sanding......THAT is another story that I won't bore you with......

Thanks for the encouragement. I need it as I try to learn and do better at turning. Guess I been workin' "flat" stuff too long. :)

[John Miliunas]

Oh and John.....you can take lessons along with me and Terry Q. any ol' time.....proud to have ya around. ;)

Thanks Dennis! I do enjoy the spinny thing, though I haven't done nearly enough of it recently. And that's one of the first bowls in a LONG time, which hasn't blowed up on me! Now, if *I* had a piece of Walnut like you were working with (big crack), it would be in the kindling pile right about now! Also, like you said, I do wish I lived closer to Bill (or Jim B.), as I sure could use some more instruction! Guess we'll just have to keep practicing.... :cool:

[Dennis Peacock]

Dennis

Great minds must think alike. I turned a piece of Walnut that Steve Clardy brought to the Hatfield shindig. I find all bowls difficult to sand especially on the inside. I get to the point of applying finish and find small scratches. I need better light where I sand. I have taken to wet sanding the last two coats of oil and this helps but is very time consuming. I need to watch an accomplished turner finish their pieces. Dennis, you and I just need better technique and practice, practice, practice. :D

Terry

Terry....I'm whichoo man.....Now...when are we going to get together and "practice, practice, practice"...? I guess I'm gonna hafta plan a trip up your way one of deez-dayz........ I do like turning walnut, but I like turing pecan even better. ;)

[Wolf Kiessling]

Were that my bowl, I'd have "enhanced" that big grin in the side of the bowl with some turquoise colored inlace. However, that's just me; probably most people would not do that. I like the bowl a lot.

Keep it going round and round

Wolf

[John Miliunas]

Were that my bowl, I'd have "enhanced" that big grin in the side of the bowl with some turquoise colored inlace.

Wolf

Hey Wolf, any good reference stuff for doing that (enhancements), as well as what/where do you get supplies for it? :cool:

[Wolf Kiessling]

Hey Wolf, any good reference stuff for doing that (enhancements), as well as what/where do you get supplies for it? :cool:

John, I can't think of any "reference" material but I don't really think it is necessary.

You can purchase inlace for sure at Craft Supplies and Woodcraft used to sell it, don't know if they do any more. I will tell you this though, if you decide to get some, I would recommend buying only the jars of nuggets or granules instead of the "kit". The kit only consists of a jar of granule material and some hardener and sells for about 30 bucks. The jars alone, which are the same size as the jars in the kits, sell individually for about 10 dollars. You don't need this expensive hardener, and two part epoxy will do. I use the Devon (?) from Wally World. Just squeeze it out, mix it up and add some of the inlace. It is available in several colors which can be used individually or mixed for some different effects. You can also get it in metallic.

Some folks use actual crushed turquoise, melted pewter or any number of things in their turnings. Sometimes, on natural edge bowls, where I have a crack in the bark, I will patch it with epoxy filled with coffee grounds. Works great. Occasionally I color the epoxy with india ink when I want a black effect, some folks use lamp black. You are only limited by your imagination. I love filling cracks, voids, whatever in turnings with stuff because, since I discovered this, I have NEVER AGAIN worried about a bowl checking or cracking. I will even use wood, if it is something I like, that is cracked prior to turning it. I just fill the cracks and then turn normally.

Some folks will tell you this is not the way to do turnings. I say, why not? What difference does it make. I also noticed when I have this stuff for sale at different shows, very often the stuff with the filled voids or cracks draws more attention than the unfilled things. My personal preference is the turquoise and most of my customers seem to prefer this also. A note of possible interest: A couple of weeks ago I took a commission and the customer specifically requested that I add cracks to the wood if it doesn't have natural ones and use the turquoise inlay. She like it so well, when she picked it up she ordered another one.

Wolf

[John Miliunas]

Hey, thanks so much for the info, Wolf! LOML really likes the stuff with the inlayed "shiny stuff", too. At the same time, she really prefers bowls with natural edges and such (so do I, actually) and many of those often have some type of inclusion ready and waiting to fill with some color. I'll look around and see if I can't find some of that neat material and give it a try. Heck, even the little bowl I posted earlier, has a nice divet in there to try it on! One more question, though: When exactly do you apply the stuff? After all is said and done and if so, before or after whatever finish you use? Or, do you stop the turning process, fill in and then turn it all even? As you can tell, I'm mighty confused over this process.... :rolleyes: :cool:

[John Weber]

Dennis,

Nice bowl, I love the color and shape, I guess the smile adds character...

John

[Wolf Kiessling]

Hey, thanks so much for the info, Wolf! LOML really likes the stuff with the inlayed "shiny stuff", too. At the same time, she really prefers bowls with natural edges and such (so do I, actually) and many of those often have some type of inclusion ready and waiting to fill with some color. I'll look around and see if I can't find some of that neat material and give it a try. Heck, even the little bowl I posted earlier, has a nice divet in there to try it on! One more question, though: When exactly do you apply the stuff? After all is said and done and if so, before or after whatever finish you use? Or, do you stop the turning process, fill in and then turn it all even? As you can tell, I'm mighty confused over this process.... :rolleyes: :cool:

Depends on the situation, John. I'll try to tell you how I generally do it. If I have a blank with some pretty bad cracks in it but I like the wood and want to turn it anyhow, I will fill the cracks before I get started. If cracks develop during the turning process, I just finish and then fill them. Same, of course, if they develop afterwards. Voids I usually don't fill especially if they penetrate the wall of the bowl. Sometimes I will brush india ink into them to enhance them. As I mentioned, it depends on the look that I want. I always do any inlay filling PRIOR to the finishing process. If you do it afterwards, as I have occasionally been forced to do because cracks developed late, generally you have to refinish.

One other think I want to tell you, when I use the epoxy/inlace mix to do any filling, I really slop it on and overfill whatever it is I'm filling and then sand it flush.

Wolf

[John Miliunas]

Thanks again, Wolf! Exactly the information I was looking for. Really, really appreciate your guidance on this! Gonna' have to give it a try. :cool: