Chestnut stopper

I scored one of these logs on my Father-in-Laws firewood pile. I’m not sure where he came across this, but it’s fairly local – in as much as he’s a “hobbiest tree taker downer.”

My first time turning this wood, I thought it might end up looking like Oak when I was done… despite the log being a bit tanner with, well not chatoyance per-se, but something of a “satin” finish even in raw lumber form.

This turned easily enough, but it wouldn’t turn smoothly, so a fair amount of sanding was called for. Even 400 grit left scratch marks, so I had to turn off the lathe, and go back and sand with the grain by hand from 150 up to 600. THEN I could take it from 600 to 1000 to give it a nice glass smooth finish. Even with all the extra time finishing, it was nice to head out to the shop (at dinner time) and within half an hour go from log to finished project. A far cry from all the false starts yesterday!

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Van Gogh -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/