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I have been lurking on LJ for YEARS and finally decided to join and post a few projects.

I have a colleague that was making over a large section of his property out in the French country-side and he needed a dying cherry tree taken down. It was a big old tree with what looked like lots of good hard wood in the trunk base, so I gave him a hand. I thought I could tun the wood into some nice bowels, mallet heads, honey dippers, etc… and he agreed to let me have some of the wood that was destined for his fire place. Holy Crap it was work - not at all helped by his tiny electric chainsaw…

I have never gone from tree to bowl before and I wanted to see if I could do it well. Usually, I either glue up hardwood scraps or buy a rough elm or maple blank from my hardwood dealer (With the coin I drop at his place, he is most assuredly a DEALER! His crack just has figured grain and tight growth rings…) Anyway, I might should have picked a tree with softer wood for my first time, but how many turners can say that they cut down a old cherry tree in France and made cool stuff with it?!

More of the story of the two bowls at:

http://drivenoutside.com/blog/?p=4708 and http://drivenoutside.com/blog/?p=4782

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· Registered
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652 Posts
Looks nice, I've been wanting to get into turning and i noticted on craigslist with a few people who have cherry and walnut trees they want taken down, would be nice to go get free wood to learn on.
 

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7 Posts
Start with something softer/ both cherry and walnut are really hard and it will take any fun out of the project. Turn down some popular or elm to get the feel of your chisels, to learn how to move, figure out your larthe speed and to know when and how to sharpen your chisels. my $0.02 worth
 
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