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What became of that big ole log — follow up to my first wet-turned box elder bowl

Project by Douglas Bordner posted 839 days ago 902 views 0 times favorited 23 comments Add to Favorites Watch

In a previously posted project and forum call to experienced bowl-turners, I referenced finding some red-stained box elder logs at my sister-in-law’s outdoor wedding in Chicago. I prevailed on the woman that we carpooled with and several log sections hitched a ride back to Omaha. I gave wet-turning a go, and the German in me just could not live with allowing nature’s plan to free-form warp. From now on out I will either season the logs (three halves are split and stickered with latex painted ends in the garage for the next go) or wet turn to way over-sized proportions before allowing the drying process to commence. I don’t have cole jaws for my mini-lathe, and the dovetail recess I made was warped out of round, so I super-glued a dowel tenon to the middle of the rough turned bowl and re-turned the outside of the bowl, including a new recess. I knocked out the dowel and re-turned the inside. With not great tools and even poorer sharpening skills, it seems that I had a fair amount of sanding to do to get things to the final juncture. This mini-bowl, is the end result. But I will try, try again down the road. Finish is Myland’s cellulose sanding sealer, with a final application of Myland’s High Build Friction Polish.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.


23 comments so far

View Douglas Bordner's profile

Douglas Bordner

3415 posts in 942 days


posted 839 days ago

Here is what the wet bowl looked like.

tightbowl

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

View cajunpen's profile

cajunpen

5970 posts in 944 days


posted 839 days ago

Douglas that is how you learn – try, then try again. Perfect size bowl for a small salad :-)). The wood is beautiful and the bowl look good.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

View Don's profile

Don

2590 posts in 1055 days


posted 839 days ago

Douglas, I’ve only turned wet once. It was fun, but the result never saw the light of day.

Your small bowl is very nice; quite delicate looking and a beautiful color.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

View MsDebbieP's profile

MsDebbieP

14090 posts in 1039 days


posted 839 days ago

end result: Beautiful!!!

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

View Thos. Angle's profile

Thos. Angle

4015 posts in 841 days


posted 839 days ago

Douglas, what I know about wet turning youcould put in your ear and have room left over for your hat. The bowl looks neat and trim and the color is very unique. i don’t think you hurt yourself here.

-- Thos. Angle

View Karson's profile

Karson

25271 posts in 1279 days


posted 839 days ago

Great Bowl, Handy for some dainty rose petals.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

View Thos. Angle's profile

Thos. Angle

4015 posts in 841 days


posted 839 days ago

just trying to fis something, sorry

-- Thos. Angle

View Douglas Bordner's profile

Douglas Bordner

3415 posts in 942 days


posted 839 days ago

Thanks folks.

Karson, that is a very poetic sentiment! Now I’ll have to give it to the wife and I have the perfect presentation.

I held it up to the light to see if it would transilluminate (you can see the light through the bottom). But specifically you can see all the way through that little knot. Tiny little hole there. Perfect for the dry measure of rose petals!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

View oscorner's profile

oscorner

4572 posts in 1189 days


posted 839 days ago

I salute you, Douglas! Great job on your first try at turning green wood. You’ll find that it always looks fuzzy when turned green, too. I’ve turned a lot of things, but haven’t made a saucer or bowl. :^( Keep up the great work and work on those sharpening skills. They are very important in turning. You may want to look into the Scary Sharp way of sharpening…it uses different grades of sandpaper, instead of stones that are glued with adhesive(spray) onto a piece of acrylic or other smooth flat surface. It works well. In the furture…save some of your shavings and/or dust from sanding…this way you can fill that hole with a little Titebond and saw dust, then just sand it flush after it dries, thus eliminating the hole while matching the color of the original wood by using it’s own dust/shavings.

-- Jesus is Lord!

View Bob Babcock's profile

Bob Babcock

1808 posts in 964 days


posted 839 days ago

Very nice Doug. I’d like that on my desk to hold stuff.

One of these days I’ll actually try my hand. I like the idea of turning green wood.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

View Douglas Bordner's profile

Douglas Bordner

3415 posts in 942 days


posted 839 days ago

Thanks Oscorner! I do the scary-sharp on my plane irons, and have one side of auto safety glass lined with P 80, backside ramps through the grits up to P3000 with Japanese auto body paper. I never considered honing the skews, gouges and scrapers. I’ve been on the net looking at Alan Lacer’s posted material. If I ever get seriously dedicated to bowl work I’ll consider getting a good grinder and a Wolverine or Oneway jig. The thing that really gets my goat, I have a super Ashley Iles 3/4˝ oval skew that I have butchered up trying to sharpen. Maybe I need to try and sell some pens or other projects to foot the bill. So many tools, so little money.

Since Dan Walters has shown up, I had the thought that maybe we should have a LJ consortium-store on eBay. I can’t see any of us buying from each other, perhaps it’s time we showcase our things to the unsuspecting public. Just a thought. I might have to swing over to the coffee lounge and post this.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

View mot's profile

mot

4901 posts in 915 days


posted 839 days ago

Doug, just awesome! I’d love to get my hands on some box elder.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

View Greg Mitchell's profile

Greg Mitchell

1383 posts in 947 days


posted 838 days ago

Great job on the bowl. The color of box elder is incrediable.

-- Greg Mitchell--Lowell, AR--gdamitchell@sbcglobal.net

View TheGravedigger's profile

TheGravedigger

211 posts in 902 days


posted 838 days ago

Excellent proportions, and little knotholes like that can add a lot of character to a bowl. Good job!

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle

View DAN 's profile

DAN

6396 posts in 861 days


posted 838 days ago

beautiful piece.
love the wood.
great design.

-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever

View jockmike2's profile

jockmike2

7222 posts in 1125 days


posted 838 days ago

Great looking bowl Doug. I think you did a great job. I through away 2 for every good looking bowl I make. Keep up the good work. jockmike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

View surplusdealdude's profile

surplusdealdude

45 posts in 889 days


posted 838 days ago

I think it looks great!.

-- surplusdealdude

View BillinDetroit's profile

BillinDetroit

26 posts in 855 days


posted 838 days ago

Doug, one of the first things I did when I started turning was to buy another turners work. I chalked it up to ‘priming the pump’. Sold $220+ worth of pens to a single customer last week and often go beyond $100 per ticket. That won’t make me rich … but it gooses the steady trickle of onesies / twosies and keeps the credit card payments up so I can buy more ‘stuff’. ;-)

My bowls are at http://nmwoodworks.com/cube/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=9&ccSIDb4c410adddf67168ce2ac0e2807326f8=efd583850f075807accc5d83494b0878
(mind the wrap)

You can look without buying. ;-)

-- http://nmwoodworks.com (pens & bowls, mostly)

View Douglas Bordner's profile

Douglas Bordner

3415 posts in 942 days


posted 838 days ago

Fellas, having just walked away from an unscheduled 11 hour day at work, and coming home to a raft of supportive comments like this is a treat. Thanks so much. I had only read about boxelder in FWW, and seen this bowl on FWW.com.
Glorious stuff.

Bill I have never seen CubeCart. Tell us more, and BTW great variety of beautiful bowls you have there, hope more LJs show up to visit.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

View Dorje's profile

Dorje

1768 posts in 875 days


posted 838 days ago

Douglas – I really like the way this turned out and it was fun following this from the beginning! The form, figure, and color are all really interesting and pleasing to look at! Overall, this piece (in some way) is reminiscent of abalone.

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

View Karson's profile

Karson

25271 posts in 1279 days


posted 837 days ago

Douglas can you enter this item . I thought the picture might be box elder wood. Maybe you can help with the identification.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

View Dick, & Barb Cain's profile

Dick, & Barb Cain

6991 posts in 1178 days


posted 811 days ago

Doug, I just noticed this bowl of yours, & I thought it was one that i made. It looks almost identical, except mine is maple. I’ll have to post a pic. of mine.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

View DAN 's profile

DAN

6396 posts in 861 days


posted 762 days ago

Douglas
this is one sweet bowl.
looking forward to seeing more of your work. push some buttons for your digital camera !!

Regards
DAN

-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever

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