Just thought I show this Apple graft-burl HF

[Leo Van Der Loo]

A friend of mine saw this apple burl on a pulled out apple tree by his neighbor, and cut it off to give it to me, than forgot all about it :rolleyes:.
About 3 months later while I was over at his place the burl light wend on :D, so there I had a nice Applewood burl that was all split on the top side :(.
But rather than throw it on the burn pile I decided to give it a shot and make a Hollow Form from it, boy did that piece ever twist and warp and split even more :D :eek: :D.
I had made a collar on it so I was able to put a hose-clamp on it so I could keep the split ends from flying apart, later I took the clamp off and wound the brass wire around it instead.
I wasn't able to get a nice and even wall thickness as the form was moving and twisting so I just hollowed it as thin as I could without getting the inside bigger than the outside ;), it is one of my fave's, and LOML likes it a lot also, last pic shows it dollied-up :).

Comments and suggestions appreciated :)

[Dennis Puskar]

Leo,

Looks very good with the arrangement but I would have given up long before.

Dennis

[Steve Schlumpf]

Leo - that is what I call Artful! Looks like it put up quite the battle but in the end - you won! Great looking piece! To say it has a lot of charactor is a major understatement! Reminds me of piece of old pottery - like something just discovered that had been hidden for a couple hundred years or so!

Thing I like the most about it is your use of the brass wire to hold the neck together. The color of the wire works well and the shape of the neck makes it look like it has been there for a very long time. Cool effect!

Nice work Leo, very nice! Thanks for posting!

[Jim Kountz]

Wow you're a braver man than me Leo! I would have been nervous about that but you pulled it off with flying colors. Great job!

[Paul Girouard]

Excellent Leo.

I like to see more process photos. What I really like to do is watch you turn for a few days to learn all the techniques you must employ to turn these gems.

Great job Leo!:cool:

[Bernie Weishapl]

Yep you are braver than I am Leo but you did a excellent job on it.

[robert hainstock]

What I admire most about you, is your never give up , don't let the wood gremlins win attitude. Way to go Leo. :D:D
Bob

[Ben Gastfriend]

That is ART! I love the collar, and all the holes and inclusions.

[Maylon Harvey]

Sure looks good Leo. The 2nd pic reminds me of a jack-o-latern. Just in time for Halloween

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Hi Dennis, thanks, I think if you don't push the envelope or go past the nice and easy, done it a hundred times kind of thing, you won't improve yourself or your skills, also I find it fun doing these things and that's why I go for one of a kind, and always different, just try it you might surprise yourself ;-))

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks Steve for your comment, it was fun turning, but a bit frustrating that I was unable to get an even and smooth interior, especially with all those openings in it.
But other than that it worked just fine and the end result is well worth the effort IMO.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Jim Thanks for your reply, Oh yes you have to be on your toes while doing this stuff, but that makes it fun, rather than boring, and turning should never be boring I think anyway.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Hi Paul thanks, maybe it is a born in aptitude combined with a lifelong trained mind to find working solutions to problems that helps me do the things I do.
I am sure that were we come from and what exposure we've had/have does influence our way of doing things and the shapes and colors we like, things we eat and drink etc.
So I think it would be pretty hard to learn in a few days the things one learns and experiences in a lifetime and uses, to do the things we do, and the way we apply those to everything we do, and in all things we do.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks Bernie, maybe more suborn than brave ;) :D, though carefull.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Hi Robert, thanks, you know it is in there, so you goto get it out, like they say you only have to take off what's not needed, that's all ;-))))

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks Ben, yes it worked :)

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks Maylon, but you had to remind me that summer's over didn't you :eek::D

[Paul Girouard]

So I think it would be pretty hard to learn in a few days the things one learns and experiences in a lifetime and uses, to do the things we do, and the way we apply those to everything we do, and in all things we do.



Oh, I know wouldn't learn everything by watching BUT I've found generally theres only a few KEY things a guy needs to learn for the "light bulb" to come on . The "AH HA" moment techniques kind of things. And most times those KEY things can almost be a "DUH , why did I think of that! " sort of technique.

I've done a lot of building , a lot of curved "flat" / case work but I've never watched or work with a "better turner" than myself. I've read books , Keith Rowley and , and the Aussie's fellows, can't think of his name right now. But I never watched another turner, with more time / experience behind a lathe than myself. And I'm not saying I'm experienced or a "good turner" I stumbled by on most things I've needed to turn , but I'm not very good at it yet. So there are stumbling points along the path.

I have a queen sized bed a designer wants me to build that needs some longer than my lathe's length spindles turned , long pommels , as well as pommels on the bed post , that's my next big lathe challenge.

As aways your work is interesting and in ways a challenge to look at doing similar work in the future.

Love the photo's , keep it up Leo! :cool:


I know just looking at the photo album you posted I gleaned a few ideas I can put to use.

[Bill Wyko]

Your turnings are always exquisite. This one is no exception. Great job. Funny that you said you use a hose clamp. I did the same thing on a Red Gum HF I'll be posting soon.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Bill the hose-clamp was much easier to use than let's say a plywood ring, the split wood did need to be tightened together and the clamp readily does this, However I have used rings to keep pieces from flexing or flying apart where the gap was too large for a clamp as the clamp would take the direct route and get into the tools cutting arc, looking to see your work, hope it works out to your liking.

[curtis rosche]

great peice. weird burl figure

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks Curtis, and yes you are right, the burls that form at a grafting spot are not like a regular burl as there are two separate kinds of wood growing together.

[curtis rosche]

what was grafted on? what did the burl look like from the outside?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Curtis they will graft a scion from the kind of apple tree they want onto a apple seedling, can be any kind of apple seedling, or like with the Carpathian walnut scion that is grafted onto a black walnut seedling, usually there's only some swelling at that point, but sometimes it becomes a big round burl, not a multi-point burl as we often see with all the spiky ends.
This burl looked a lot like it is now, but not round or even, and the pieces of trunk-wood were sticking out and off center to each other, you can still see that on the picture of what is now the bottom, I choose the other side as the top for the turning, as the burl was much better centered around the trunk on that side, HTH, clear as mud ?? ;-))