Mesquite Turnings

[Tony De Masi]

This is some mesquite that I got from Robert McGowen. NE is 6 X 4.5 X 2.
The bowl is from a crotch piece and measures 8 X 1.75. This is my first experience with mesquite and it has quickly become one of my two favorite woods to turn.

Please critique as you see fit.

Tony

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nice work on both bowls Tony! I like the size of the wings on the NE and the unique grain pattern on the bowl! What did you use as a finish?

[Paul Engle]

Very nice Tony, oh yea bbq time save the chips for the smoker !!!! hmmmmm ggooooddddd.

[Nancy Laird]

I think I'm on record as not being very fond of NE forms, but the grain is really nice. The bowl is spectacular!! I love the grain pattern, and the form is lovely.

[jeremy levine]

Really nice, post more pics of the bowl please.

[Robert McGowen]

The LOML likes the NE best and I think that the bowl from the crotch piece is really nice.
Of course, the wood is outstanding..... :rolleyes::):D

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great bowls out of some great wood. Well done.

[curtis rosche]

the bowls look great, how nice is that wood for turning? ive heard that it is hard

[George Conklin]

Nice pieces, Toni.

Were these turned green or dry? If green, did you notice much, if any, movement?

[Judy Kingery]

Tony, very nicely done! I like the grace of the curves on both, just everything is nice about them. Also appreciate what you said about Mesquite becoming a favorite, I really enjoy turning it.

George - Curtis, Mesquite - least what we have here - is kinda born dry. I mean it's very dry even when 'green,' so to speak. I've never had any movement on it during or after turning, even when freshly cut. (i.e. a couple of big broken branches off a live tree after a storm) You might enjoy it, I really like to turn it.

Ditto what Paul said, chips are great for the smoker or grill either one!

Jude

[Bruce Pennell]

Tony very nice job on both. You really have to love the look of mesquite.

George and Curtis mesquite does have a lot of silica in it. It can be very bad on the lungs, 4 months ago a friend of my wife was diagnosed with lung problems brought on by clean up around the ranch. She trimmed all her mesquites around the ranch house (looks like a park) but the silica got into her lungs and did a lot of damage. She will be on O2 the rest of her life. That was from just using a chain saw. It was easy at that point to buy my Trend Pro (ordered the next day). The silica does make you sharpen your tools more often. Mesquite is by far my favorite wood to turn, I love the light wood, dark wood, great grain, and stability. Green wood start to finish. Last week I tried a little experiment put a collar on a mesquite vase, end grain to face grain. I have felt maybe a thousandth of movement (the collar you can feel a rise with your fingernail), I know its a no-no, but I thought I'd give it a try, just to see what would happen. All in all mesquite is great to turn, a little hard on the tools, and your body so take the safe approach and wear some kind of filter.

The collared vase is 11" tall about 7 1/2 wide, mesquite, with 3 collars. Sappy black walnut (we think), purple heart, and osage orange.

[Richard Madison]

Beautiful work Tony. Especially the grain orientation in the crotch piece. Robert's mesquite is some fine stuff. Have a nice stash of it and am waiting to hear from my artistic muse.

Jude, the radial and tangential shrinkage are about the same, so there is little or no distortion in side grain pieces. But you knew that. In log form there tends to be some cracking at the pith. This can sometimes be filled with diluted epoxy (dyed black if you like), for end grain turnings.

Curtis, steel is hard. Wood is soft.

[Jim Underwood]

Hey Curtis,

If you ever get a chance to turn Mesquite get some. It's a nice turning, nice sanding, nice finishing wood. It's not much harder than Walnut or Cherry. It seems softer (or at least not as tough) as White Oak, and turns lots easier than Pecan/Hickory or Black Locust or even Osage (although I don't find Osage that hard)

Sharp tools make short work of all of those except the Locust in my book. The Black Locust I've turned beat hell out of me. (Part of that was poor technique with a bowl gouge, as I've learned since. I need to get some blanked out and try it again.)

[Judy Kingery]

Richard, yep, I am glad you added that, good information for him to have. I generally don't do end grain stuff, mostly, well if not all, side grain. It's fun wood to work. Thanks! Jude

[Bob Hallowell]

Toni looks great, I got a few pieces from Robert also. I have a salad bowl ready to return and a NE wainting to buff.

Bob

[Tony De Masi]

Morning all and thanks for the comments. Most of the questions have already been answered by others.

Steve, the finish is three coats of antique oil and then buffed.

Tony

[robert hainstock]

A west coast friend gave me some a whiile back, Some pen and a couple small bowl blanks. A pen turned out realy nice and proved to me at least what the others are saying about it being a great turning wood.
Those are two very nice bowls by the way. :):)
Bob

[Ben Gastfriend]

Gotta love that mesquite. I really like the winged NE.