HF #7, Hickory & My Gloat of All Gloats

[BILL DONAHUE]

First the gloat. My 18 yr old son, Chris, will be swimming for LSU this fall. Over ten years of daily swim practices and a lot of traveling to swim meets has paid off big.

The HF is hickory, 4 1/4" high x 6 1/4" wide, sanded to 4000 grit and beall buffed. Got the wood from "Got Wood?" at turningwood.net. Not really sure if it is hickory since I turned another piece labelled hickory, finished the same way and it looks very different - much browner and with more figure.

Still having a lot of problems with tool use, getting tool marks that I can't seem to eliminate. Any ideas are welcome. Tried one thing new on this one - beveled the inside of the lip on top towards the inside and I thought it looked good. Somewhere I read that life is too short to turn crappy wood and that's the way I feel about this one. There's not enough grain or figure to make it worth doing again. Is there a source with opinions on good wood to turn?

[curtis rosche]

this work looks nice. as foor the good wood?, apple, pear, cherry, padauk(my 2nd favorite), maple, mullberry(favorite, like turning butter), bacote (exspencive but nice), if you can get the big para-lam beams they turn easy but need some epoxy to fill some holes, cherry root(very interesting grain), walnut, thats as much as i know, maybe we should do a sticky post of woods and how they turn and finish?

[Matt Hutchinson]

That's the maplest looking hickory I have ever seen....but then again, if the grain is open it could just be the color. Hickory can vary greatly in color, can't it??

Hutch

P.S. Congrats on your son's accomplishment! That's awesome!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Bill - Congrats on your son! You must be very proud!

I like your hollow form! Very nice form! Not sure about the wood... doesn't look like any hickory I've seen - but it does look really pretty! Nice work!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Bill dye works well on plain jane grain. I have started using it and it sure makes a big difference. So far they have sold pretty well.

[Allen Neighbors]

You oughta be poppin' the buttons off your shirt! That's wonderful about your son!
And for the HF... I think it's beautiful. I love that light wood and subtle grain, because it requires examination to see it well, and that means it gets handled. :)
If you have trouble with the toolmarks, just keep practicing... and in the meanwhile, use the 80 grit gouge before sanding. :D
I think you did well. I also like the lip treatment.

[Chip Sutherland]

Plain wood is a perfect canvas for some embellishments: inlace, pyrography, dyes, carving, gilding, etc.

No such thing as crappy wood.

[David Newson]

As what been said in previous post no such thing as crappy wood, as even this can look good with any of the previous mentioned embellishments, its also good to try out new ideas before committing to an expensive bit of wood, even though it may not be good turning wood in terms of finish.

I think wood looks like it belongs to to Maple /Sycamore family at least that's what it looks like in the UK

[ross russo]

Bill Congrats to your son. Way cool sounds like he had some disciplined up bringing (Thats a congrats to you as a Dad.)

As for the HF, Beautiful!!! I am still trying to work my way into HF's (yes pun intended). It could be hickory. My wife and I had natural hickory flooring put in the house and it ranges from "maple" blonde to almost "black walnut" brown. And the grain structure has just as much variation as color.

[Ron Drew]

I personally like the look of subtle grain, and the single knot really stands out. Very nice piece Bill, good form and finish.

[Pete Jordan]

Congrats on your son!

I like the hollow form also!

[robert hainstock]

those tool marks that just seem to go on and on can be addressed by using Bill Grumbines shear scraping technique Your kovely HF is like a bowl on the outside, and those methods, (addressed in his video #1) should get you past the problem. They have certainly helped me with my latest work. :):)
Bob

[BILL DONAHUE]

I appreciate all the constructive comments. Curtis, that's a great idea to have a sticky post on good turning woods. Hutch, I agree that it looks like maple to me. I'll send pictures to "Got Wood", the sellers of the wood, and get their idea. Robert, I purchased both Bill Grumbine DVD's last year after his trip to Pensacola and I guess it's time to view them again. The idea of embellishments sounds good but I may have to wait till retirement to learn all that and with three kids, 18, 15 and 11, that could be a few years out.

[curtis rosche]

for extra designs, just start playing with a scrap peice, with a torch, dremel,

[Skip Spaulding]

Congrats to you and your son, sounds like you may be busy traveling instead of turning. I like the bowl, it will really show up on a dark background.

[Dennis Puskar]

No there isn't enough grain or figure but that black spot looks like a Beauty Mark. Nice shape,very good work.

Dennis