More fun with spheres. . .

[Dave Mount]

I never turned anything but woods native to the U.S. until a little over a month ago. Now I'm going down a rathole with "exotic" woods. . .

First pic is cocobolo, bubinga, and padauk, all circa 2" in diameter. The two on the sides don't look round, that's a camera fisheye thing. The padauk looks like there's a gouge mark or something right on the tangent to the grain; that's not a flaw, that's a weird optical feature of the wood, that happens right where the fibers are on perfect tangent. It runs all the way around the sphere.

Next is a piece of "golden chain", a flowering shrubby tree apparently common in Europe, in the Laburnum genus. Turns wonderfully and takes a great polish. This piece I got via a friend was a 2.75"-ish piece dried in the round, so there's a big drying crack on the opposite side that I filled with epoxy and ground coffee. Was a rotten knot in the area shown, stabilized with epoxy and CA. Sapwood/heartwood contrast is nice. About 2.5" diameter.

Next pic is three ~3" spheres turned from unseasoned wood I just received; I cut off a piece of each and rough turned spheres to be waxed, dried, then turned round again. Chakte viga, granadillo (aka macacauba or orange agate), and katalox. These are just rough off the gouge, unsanded and unfinished, but the wood is striking nonetheless. Can hardly wait until they are dry enough to finish.

Funny thing happened when I went to reseal the cut ends of the 3x3 blanks; the chakte viga started bleeding a wild magenta color into the water-base Anchorseal. Granadillo on the left, chakte viga on the right.

Best,

Dave

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[Robert Hayward]

Nice job! I find the spheres fun to make.

[John K Jordan]

I never turned anything but woods native to the U.S. until a little over a month ago. Now I'm going down a rathole with "exotic" woods. . .
...]

Beautiful!

A bowl of spheres of various sizes makes an incredibly attractive display piece. But maybe keep them away from toddlers and rowdy 6-year-olds!
Curious, what tools do you use? I generally turn spheres with a Hunter tool followed by a spindle detail gouge. A friend here uses a 1/2" round skew chisel.

For even more fun, try turning eggs from exotics. The challenging part is making them look like eggs - I've seen so many made by people who probably haven't handled a lot of eggs.

I've been on an "exotic obsession" for years now. Caution, it doesn't go away. At last count I had over 125 species in my shop...
Domestic woods with extensive spalting look great too.

(Yikes, FedEx just brought a box of prob at least 50 lbs of exotic blanks a friend sent, some I've never seen before and don't know what they are. I better get out the books and microscope and then turn on the lathe!)


JKJ

[Richard Coers]

Just a warning though. There are two kinds of people who work Cocobolo, those that are allergic and those who will be allergic. It's a strong sensitizer.

[John K Jordan]

Just a warning though. There are two kinds of people who work Cocobolo, those that are allergic and those who will be allergic. It's a strong sensitizer.

Somewhat true, that. But there is a third kind of person - one who is fastidious about wearing PPE, especially using a good respirator, keeping dust off the skin, dust collection, and cleaning up after working with Cocobolo and other woods. Wood can't sensitize without contact.

But don't forget that there are other woods almost as toxic or worse. This article might be educational: https://www.wood-database.com/wood-a...-and-toxicity/