Don Robert
05-15-2008, 2:35 PM
Jim Underwood asked about peach recently so I thought I would post this. Our arborist brought me several pieces of peach wood the last time he was here. It was heavily cracked and had lots of insect holes. One small crotch piece looked enticing with a void where several branches merged, and I decided to try to make a HF or vase out of it. I wasn’t sure it would hold together but tried anyway. Fully expecting it to blow apart at some point, I kept turning. Got the outside shape that I wanted without it blowing, so I filled the cracks and CA’d the smaller ones that I couldn’t fill with turquoise and glue. Wrapped several layers of narrow strips of duct tape around the outside, both above the void and below it and started on the inside (haven’t seen anyone report on using duct tape to hold a shape while turning, but I can’t be the first to do it) . I accidentally turned it thinner than I originally planned, especially in the vicinity of the void. It didn’t blow, so I kept hollowing, using some CA glue from time to time. Ended up with about 1/16 wall on this piece with the “unnatural” natural edge (unnatural in the sense that the natural edge is around the void and does not form the “normal” lip of a NE - so I got it in the wrong place, what's the big deal?;)). Doesn’t hold much water like this, but my wife thinks it is artistic and really likes it – what else could you ask for? Approximately 4 1/2" tall by 4 1/2" wide In summary, I think peach is beautiful and turns great, Jim.