Palo Verde and a Creeker visit

[Kathy Marshall]

On Saturday I had a visit from Jerry Marcantel and he brought a load of wood! He brought some spalted palo verde, some spalted maple and burl, oak burl and a big chunk of redwood. We had a nice chat, he toured the mess that I turn in, we did a little show and tell and he also gave me one of his chuck plates. All and all it was a great visit and it was great to meet another Creeker!

Today it felt just a tad warm out, so I delayed going out to the shop. I finally decided I would just grab some finishing supplies and work on some stuff in the house. Well, I went out to the shop to get the supplies and my glance fell on the wagon load of wood from Jerry. Then I remembered that 1 of the pieces of palo verde was a small bowl blank with some spalting and would make a pretty quick job. Sooooo.... needless to say, I grabbed the little bowl blank and started turning.

It really felt quite a bit warmer than it had on Saturday (I was in the shop from about 11am to 7pm) and so about half way through the turning I glanced at the clock, which also has a thermometer. No wonder it felt warmer! (Ignore the hygrometer, it always reads around 50%).
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I finished up the bowl pretty quickly, then packed up and headed for the house and the A/C!
The palo verde was very dry and a little punky and so dealt with a bit of tear out, but having never turned pv before the tear out may be completely normal. I sprayed it down with the soap and water mixture, which I've found is a big help with punky wood and tear out.
It's about 5 x 2", finished with antique oil.
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Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.

[Roger Chandler]

Very nice work Kathy. Is the lighter wood heartwood or sapwood on the palo verde? [I'm not familiar with that wood, so hope it does not sound like a dumb question]

AT 110 degrees, you might have felt tired because of dehydration............have to watch that this time of year! Take care of yourself!

[ray hampton]

nice bowls, what shade of green are this wood after it are dry ?

[John Keeton]

Great character in that wood! Looks like the pith, or most of it, was retained as it is showing a couple of small cracks, and I presume all the color variation is due to spalting??

[John Kent]

Glad you had the chance to turn something new, keeps things interesting. Good job on bowl and some really nice wood on this one! Stay cool!!

[Tim Rinehart]

Beautifully done and killer piece of wood. I really like this bowl, it has so much character!

[Kathy Marshall]

Very nice work Kathy. Is the lighter wood heartwood or sapwood on the palo verde? [I'm not familiar with that wood, so hope it does not sound like a dumb question]

AT 110 degrees, you might have felt tired because of dehydration............have to watch that this time of year! Take care of yourself!

Thanks Roger, from what I've seen, clear palo verde is pretty bland wood (not much color) but Jason Clark turns quite a bit of it and alot of his has a neat grayish color. I almost left this one natural with just a clear top coat, but I wanted to pop the spalting. All of the dark areas are due to the spalting.

nice bowls, what shade of green are this wood after it are dry ?

Thanks Ray, the wood itself isn't green, it gets it's name from the green bark which can act like leaves and allow photosynthesis.

Great character in that wood! Looks like the pith, or most of it, was retained as it is showing a couple of small cracks, and I presume all the color variation is due to spalting??

Thanks John, yep, most of the pith was still there and the piece was dry and had some other cracks here and there along with a few worm holes, so I didn't bother to turn down the sides to get rid of the cracks (wouldn't have left much of a bowl), and yes the color is due to the spalting.

Glad you had the chance to turn something new, keeps things interesting. Good job on bowl and some really nice wood on this one! Stay cool!!

Thanks John!

Beautifully done and killer piece of wood. I really like this bowl, it has so much character!

Thanks Tim, I think this one might make a perfect little M&M bowl for my desk at work .

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beautiful piece Kathy and the wood is just awesome.

[Scott Hackler]

Nice bowl Kathy. That wood is very interesting. I don't think I have ever seen that variety before.

[Sid Matheny]

Wonderful bowl Kathy but there is no way I could take that kind of heat and keep working. You must be a tough gal! My hat is off to you.


Sid

[Jim Adkins]

Very nice looking bowl Kathy, that spalting is terrific and you did a great job turning it
in 115 D. heat. I can believe 100 D. here but would probably fold if faced with your temps!
Good job!

[Barry Richardson]

Very cool Kathy! Now I gotta get some Palo Verde and try and make it spalt. Probably hopeless here in the summer time, too hot and dry. Maybe next winter. Here is another example of Palo Verde. I like the wood, not much grain action, but a very unique color. I made this about 3 years ago, and it has still retained the nice yellow color. Hey, It's the Arizona state tree, it's gotta be good!




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[ray hampton]

Very cool Kathy! Now I gotta get some Palo Verde and try and make it spalt. Probably hopeless here in the summer time, too hot and dry. Maybe next winter. Here is another example of Palo Verde. I like the wood, not much grain action, but a very unique color. I made this about 3 years ago, and it has still retained the nice yellow color. Hey, It's the Arizona state tree, it's gotta be good!




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you see yellow but I see the green in the wood y

[Steve Schlumpf]

Always great to hear of Creeker visits! Bet you two had fun! Congrats on all the wood and especially Jerry's Chuck Plate! I use mine exclusively now to hold blanks when roughing! Seriously - give it a try and you will love it!

Beautiful bowl! Great looking wood but I have no idea how you could stand to work in 110* degrees! I know it has to do with what you get used too... but 110*? That's just wrong! Be safe!!