Thanks again to all that chimed in on the conversation, was nice to have something to read about! Sounds like outdoor activities are consuming a lot of folks' time. I've learned to never ask John Jordan what he's doing because the answer will exhaust me just reading it (and thanks so much for your kind offer John, but 5 horses is quite enough).
Paul, those goblets are cool; I've seen something similar done in paper with a duplicate profiles in black paper opposing each other over a white background, but never turned in the round. I realize you showed the actual profiles to show how you did it, but I think the image you posted is really neat with the pictures and the goblets and the sinuous gap between them. If you had pictures without the layout lines, it would be cool to somehow display the goblets with the pictures.
John, curious about your apple logs. I love turning apple but every time I've gotten a big apple log it's been a disappointment in that (at least in our area) the big ones are full of grain separations and other structural issues that cause a lot of serious cracking during drying, as well as bugs, rot, and other issues. I usually end up pitching about a third of my apple roughs after drying, patching up a third with epoxy and/or CA, and a third or so survive intact, though I am rarely able to get bowls as big as I am imagining when I see the log from the outside. Have you had better luck? I persist with apple because it is often so striking. Pic below is one of the apple bowls that survived to completion. Had a couple small pith checks that I left in to keep more depth in the bowl. But I love the weaving lines across the endgrain, reminiscent of ziricote. It's about 10".
Scott, you are right about the potential for making the cutoffs from the ebony chunk into knife scales and pen blanks. I was thinking maybe small endgrain knobs too. I sometimes get tied up trying to balance getting the "best" out of a blank versus getting the "most" out of a blank. I haven't ever made pens, but I have a good friend that does.
David, I don't know if I have it in me to go that bold (bright colored fill in the ebony crack), but you might push me over the edge. A couple years ago I bought a palette of powdered mica for just that purpose and I haven't worked up the courage to use it. But a bright blue powdered mica fill. . .that might be cool. Actually, since the blank is a little over 6" long, I could cut the blank in half lengthwise, then cut the half with the split in half again, and try two different fills.
Best,
Dave
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Originally Posted by Jim Tobias
