| Project by FrankoManini | posted 407 days ago | 575 views | 0 times favorited | 4 comments |  |
 |
A fellow LumberJock and buddy of mine and I salvaged some enormous pieces of European Beech from the sidewalk in front of the old Telus Buildig in Victoira. We were nearly popping our spines lifting some 5 foot sections of trunk into my truck. Later that night we bucked them into managable lenths, sawed them down the middle vertically, and sealed the ends. I’m just getting around to rough turning them now.
The blank you see on the lathe is about 15” in diameter, and weighs nearly 40 pounds. There was a fair number of bark inclusions in this wood, which is great of the look I am trying to create, but challenging (for me anyway) to turn. In the last picture, you can see the outside shape.
Turning these rough was the easy part. As they dry they will become harder and the bark inclusions will become more stressed. I expect to lose a few to cracking, but hey, nothing is perfect.
-- - If my wife asks, I got ALL of my tools on sale.
4 comments so far
jeffthewoodwacker
home | projects | blog
486 posts in 696 days
posted 407 days ago
If you are turning the green wood part way and then putting the piece aside to dry you can seal the partially turned bowl with latex paint – this will slow down cracking. I have also sealed with wax emulsion products. The key is to leave an equal diameter around the bowl in order to allow equal drying of the wood. For bark inclusions I usually seal these up with CA glue. Your bowl looks great so far can’t wait to see the final project.
-- Those that say it can't be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
Roper
home | projects | blog
756 posts in 605 days
posted 407 days ago
very nice work. turning green bowls is alot of fun.i wouldn’t worry about the inclusion just make sure your tool is nice and sharp. have fun.
-- Roper - Master of sawdust-
Devin
home | projects | blog
89 posts in 420 days
posted 406 days ago
Can’t wait to see how these look after the final turning.
-- If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over? - John Wooden
jockmike2
home | projects | blog
7297 posts in 1139 days
posted 404 days ago
Turning those biguns is fun huh? I love it.. I am varishing a 14 1/2 in” cherry platter I just finished. I got some big maple and walnut too. I have to turn off the end of my Delta Lathe, it has a 14 in clearance but not with raw wood. Nice start on a nice big bowl.
-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com