Firewood Practice

[Dean Matthews]

My dad needs a hobby BIG TIME... he was visiting so I gave him a shot at using a roughing gouge on a piece of firewood (We have been cutting trees down like crazy in my yard).

After we got it to round I turned it down to this rough goblet just to show him what you can do with a little lathe like mine:










I think one of my neighbors said these trees are all Blackjack Oaks? I know they are oak at least. Unfortunately for the yard a lot of them need to go because they are about to fall on my house. At least I get plenty of wood to play with.

[Russ Peters]

So is he hooked?

[Dean Matthews]

So is he hooked?

You never can tell with him...

He was surprised at how easy it was. I think he was expecting it to be rocket surgery or something. The hard part about turning (to me anyway) is just getting all the basic stuff together. You cannot really just go get a lathe and a gouge... you need the lathe, gouges, parting tools, grinder, grinder jig, etc... Kind of a lot involved.

Knowing him though he will go out and spend the cash on a Mustard Monster. =( And all I have is this itty bitty jet.

But yeah... I think he liked it. Had to point out to him that wet wood is WAY easier to deal with than dry. And the piece we were playing with had just been GROWING in the back yard not 2 hours prior. =)

btw... LOVE my new chainsaw. =)

[Jim Becker]

Dean, it's NOT firewood. Firewood no longer exists. It's now "bowls on the hoof"....

(Nice work)

[James Ashburn]

Great goblet! I have never seen blackjack oak look like that. We have a lot of it here in the DFW area. I use it a lot in my grill and smoker. It burns really hot and lasts longer in a fire than other oaks. If I recall correctly it has more energy available for a fire than most other woods in North America including other oaks. If that is what it looks like turned then I'll have to put some on my lathe.

[Richard Madison]

Dean,
That's a dandy little goblet. Are you going to dry it and then finish turn? You have probably already researched how to store some of that oak long term, right? It does like to crack, split, check, etc.

[Dean Matthews]

Dean,
That's a dandy little goblet. Are you going to dry it and then finish turn? You have probably already researched how to store some of that oak long term, right? It does like to crack, split, check, etc.

That is about as finished as it is going to get... I would not even want to think about the logistics involved in trying to remount and finish turn that thing. =)