This is my second successful cup. You may remember my first attempt splintered at high speed.
This piece came from a friend’s firewood pile, it was wet, black and slimy.

I used a suggestion from a fellow member posted in my last project and rough turned it and then microwaved for short periods over the next week. When it was dry, I turned it down to almost final dimensions and then infused it with epoxy on the lathe. (It really was a little too far gone, some real soft/missing spots)

Then I epoxied in the stainless insert and used a jam chuck on the tailstock side to steady it, set it on low speed and applied 6 coats of Waterlox over the next week.

Parted it off and used the Beall buffs to shine it up a bit.

There are a few small defects, but overall it’s a keeper.

You may remember the earlier catastrophic failure.
If at first you don’t succeed, curse a blue streak, beat the lathe with a hammer, and surf the internet until you find a picture of one that you can pass off as your own.

Just kidding…........at least about the last part.

Bloodwood, Purpleheart, Walnut and Quilted Maple.

(1) I have learned that I get really mad when this happens.

(2) Purpleheart and Bloodwood are expensive firewood.

(3) There is no gain in BTUs to offset said expense.

Pulled this piece out of my friend’s firewood pile.
Unknown species, looks similar to maple, but isn’t.
Lucked out, was all black and slimy when I grabbed it, I was just looking for a practice piece.
The spalting looks pretty cool, though.
Do I need to put this in a plastic bag/soak it or something to keep it from checking/splitting???

Perry (my 7 year old son) and I made this replacement handle for an old chisel he found without a handle in the junkyard….......(garage)
We laminated scraps of white oak and mahogany. The brass ferrule is made from an old piece of 3/4” brass pipe.
We turned the wood to rough shape, hammered the pipe on the end, and then spun the lathe at 1700 rpm
while we shaped the brass and wood together with a metal file. Turned the speed up to 3000 rpm, a little sandpaper, and it didn’t turn out too bad.
We had a good time. Better than video games.

Hi, everyone,

New here, looks like lots of good company.
I’m a former…....and sometimes current trim carpenter.
I’m still in the construction industry and pick up all kinds of job site scrap from dumpsters, etc.
Did I mention…......I’m cheap?
Most of my projects come from scavenged material.

Anyway I made this tool tote from scraps of Brazilian Cherry flooring, planed to 5/8 to get rid of the grooves on the bottom and some small pieces of maple and mahogany leftover from something somewhere. I lose track. It’s loosely based on something somone with far more talent had showcased in ”The Toolbox Book”

It’s handy for keeping all of the most used tools at hand, and organized.