# turnings



## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*from ficus log to turned bowl preform*

This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!



I could fit a 10-7/8" circle on each log in the Y area, which I wanted to try turning for the twists in grain and color.



I had to give up for the night, and I'm tired of everything I look at splitting and checking, so I'm just coating every cut face from now on. I have a bunch of planks that had no checks, and which I sealed on the ends, and they split completely in half, right down their middles. What a pain.



10-7/8" diameter circle:



I sawed the ends off the log, and the corners, to start the circular shape, then screwed it to a board so I could prop it against my recently-made, and taller baltic birch fence. I didn't want the log spinning on me. The board would ride on its edge on the table and up against the fence. Now I had a flat on both sides.



Here's the back of the temp plywood rig. The deck screws go into the center of the side that will be the inside of the bowl, so they'll be turned away eventually. This plywood rides up against the fence, and the bowl blank on the other side has its widest edge sitting flush with the table top:



With the flat, I was able to saw it into a decent circle. Here it is with the other pieces I got out of the same log:



And a big bowl blank emerges:







And until I can turn it, I've sealed it entirely:



Meanwhile… I wanted to see what I could do with this little chunk:



This wasn't the shape I was going for, because I'm still learning how to control my tools. This just sort of emerged after a few slips and fixes:



And AS EVER, some checks. Unbelievable. They're just unavoidable for me. Actually, the end of the log was checked, and I think this piece came from down there. I don't know if ficus is even stable enough to fill.



Another problem with ficus is what I believe to be mold. It's a crappy wood for woodworking, but I do have a whole tree of it, and it is good scrap for learning how to resaw and turn things without ruining the good wood.





This is how I had it chucked, if you were wondering:



Had to stop for the night, so more sealing:



Yesterday I was able to turn a groove in the bottom so I could slip the jaws of my chuck into it and flip it around to turn the inside of the bowl. Here's that groove:



This was the first time I was able to easily turn the inside of the bowl, through a combination of the right tools, the right angles and roll of those tools, and proper pressure, cut depth, etc. It felt good to see some improvement in my skills finally.





I turned it very thick so it will hold shape better over the next few months as it dries. Honestly, I'm not sure it'll even hold up, but we'll see. Once it's dry, I'll chuck it again and turn it to its final, thinner, deeper shape.

I've decided to pick up a free shelving unit whenever I can from craigslist (an online classifieds that has a popular branch here in LA) and put it in my office at work. I can bring my turnings in to sit on the shelves there, acting as decorations and conversation pieces all in one. Then as each dries, I can bring it home and finish turning it, and apply a final finish to it. At any rate, this bowl won't be back in the spotlight for awhile. Wish it luck.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


Gary,

Nice Work!

At this stage, I usually put shavings in the bowl, wrap the bowl with several layers of newspaper and then place the bowl in a paper bag packed with the shavings from the turning. This seems to slow the drying process an helps reduce the amount of checking. Just a thought.

Lew


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## Innovator (Jan 20, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


Good step by step slideshow of the projevt.

A couple of tips I picked up that might be helpful:


When turning a bowl and I cant finish it and it sits on the lathe instead of putting sealer I have put a plastic bag over the piece with a little water in the bag.
If you see some checks put CA in it quickly to help the spreading of the check.
When I have rough turned the bowl I also seal the entire piece not just the endgrain, I have had better results with it this way.

Once again good tutorial, once you turn the final piece hopefully you will add it here.
Rob


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


Also keep in mind that lumber from limbs (aka not trunk) have a tremendous amount of pressure in them as they are thinner, and do not run vertically (in nature) thus having to "fight back" with gravity to keep them from growing downwards (as they have "weights" in the form of smaller limbs, leaves, buds, flowers,fruits, etc on them) - this creates lots of stress in the live wood just waiting to get released. so much, that as you discovered, even sealer can only go so far against mother nature.


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## FirehouseWoodworking (Jun 9, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


Very nice work, Gary.

I really enjoy your blog postings. You take us through each project step-by-step. And even your comments are weighted with an appropriate amount of good humor, despite nature's setbacks!

Keep plugging along! And keep the blogs coming!

Dave


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## whitedog (Dec 7, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


i also enjoy all of your blogs … i get to learn with you. you are able to explain and show pictures and videos that help a lot. 
thanks


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


Why don't you just turn it down thin like the end grain hollow form guys do? They claim it just moves and doesn't check.


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## wyeth (Jul 24, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


I recently heard an experienced commercial turner explain that he puts green turned finished bowls in 2 large chest freezers for a few weeks. The ice crystals break the cell walls in the wood causing millions of microscopic cracks that cant be seen and dont weaken the wood but allow even drying out after later thawing. This gives him a much lower failure rate.
More commonly used is the microwave method but that has size limitations and has to be done in lots of short bursts of 30 to 60 seconds weighing each time until the weight ceases to drop indicating completed drying. This can also stink out the kitchen and if you try to do longer burns as I once did the inner wood turns to charcoal and fire alarms are triggered!


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


lew - I've heard that a few times now. Must be something to it. I'll have to give it a whirl on one of these things soon. Thanks.

Rob - thanks for the tips. I've been trying to think of what to do outside of sealing the whole bowl for awhile, because this ficus seems to mold over immediately when sealed. I have a few species of ficus now, and when I end-seal the little logs, they coat over in green spots, and eventually become completely coated in puffy black on the ends, which seems to be mold. This also happens with paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia). The rest of my supply seems to be holding up well enough in this regard.

Purp - true enough. However, beggars can't be choosers. Here in LA, I take what I can get! Mostly limbs so far, unfortunately. Who knows, though… maybe I'll figure out ways around it one day, after years of experience, and then we'll all be talking about the Fixler method of avoiding checks in limbwood 

Dave - thanks for the kind words. I'm big on showing off my mistakes. It helps push me to make fewer of them, because of course really I don't want to show failures, and I think it helps embolden the novices (there can't be too many below my level!), and shows them at least that it's okay to make mistakes. They're still the best way to learn. I don't mind too much rushing headlong into something, especially when I have plenty of extra wood. I juggle a bit, too, and I had to drop probably tens of thousands of balls before I could juggle pretty well, especially when I tried to learn the 5-ball cascade. There's a saying I learned from my art pals back in art school - not sure who first said it, as it's been attributed to everyone from Walt Disney to Glenn Vilppu (great figure artist) - but it was basically this: "Everyone has 10,000 bad drawings in them. Once you've drawn all of them, you can begin to draw the good ones." Another saying I love, and I'm pretty sure it was Thomas Edison in reply to someone asking him about his genius was this one: "Genius? Nothing! Sticking to it is the genius! I've failed my way to success."

Paul - thank you! I'm glad the posts are appreciated.

Topamax - I'm going to be doing a lot of that, too, but meanwhile, I want to turn a few things that don't move, which entails turning thick, leaving to dry for months, then turning to final size to remove the subtle warping that still occurs in thicker pieces as they dry. Heavy wood movement can occur in thinner pieces, and in some cases, I'll want that, as it makes for really unique, interesting, and often beautiful pieces with warps and wrinkles all through them. I want to know both techniques, each of which is riddled with sub-techniques, of course. If you remember this weird bowl, I never got shots of it before I gave it away to some guy at work who curiously fell in love with it, but by the time he got it it was very dry, and had warped considerably. It was like a wiggly potato chip, but very hard. I guess you could say like a crispy potato chip. The edge of the bowl made about 2 sine waves around the outside.

David - Interesting! You know, I put a very small piece of Hollywood Juniper (Juniperus chinensis) - seen in this post - in my microwave, just out of curiosity, as I'd not heard of this as a technique at that point. It was maybe 2" long, and not quite 1" thick. After only 5-8 seconds, it was hissing like crazy, and blasting a white vapor out of itself. All the microwaves I've had seem to operate on high, or super-high, because I always have to back off directions by half, or 2/3ds. When you say 30-60 seconds, I cringe, knowing it would be 10 in my microwave. Anyway, the microwave still - months later - stinks like burned juniper. Parts of the little piece were blackened, I guess where the steam was venting out. Juniper is positively loaded with resin, and it just never splits. I've had pieces cut and unsealed now for just about a full year, and none of them have developed checks. I think if you look closely, you'll see a tiny hairline crack near the pith on a couple of them. It's the least splitty wood in my collection, and I'm guessing it's because of the resin filling it up. I was considering using my gas stove in the kitchen to pitch-set a bunch of my small pieces, but then I read that the compounds that come out are highly flammable, and it's just asking for a small explosion or fire in my stove. I'm always frustrated when my seemingly brilliant plans fall through


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## wyeth (Jul 24, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


Yes Gary,
I think it depends a lot on the thickness and type of wood as well as the strength of the microwave that determines the time for each treatment. I tried it a few times on several bowls - all only about 7 or 8 cms diameter. If you have thick resinous green wood the steam pressure must be really high in the deepest parts of the wood and you would need to set the microwave as low as possible and start with short bursts. As the moisture decreases you could slowly increase the time. My microwave has 5 strength settings the lowest being one below defrost.I suspect microwaving works best on thin walled turnings. Anyway I also agree that smell can be a turn-off for some wood types.Many turners do however find a way to use microwave as a good way of speeding up drying but they still get warping , just not so often checking.
The freezing method apparently is more successful at limiting warping.
By the way I must say i really like your enthusiasm about everything you try out. You remind my of myself at a very much younger age.I first stumbled across your blog about salvaging eucalyptus branches in the dark hours.
Here of course we live in forests of gum trees. I have about 10 acres of virgin eucalyptus and other Australian natives on my 18 acres.


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## MsDebbieP (Jan 4, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *from ficus log to turned bowl preform*
> 
> This past Sunday I decided to saw a Y-shaped Ficus log in half and get some bowl blanks out of it. I couldn't fit the 14" section under my band saw's 12" vertical clearance, so I just cut the first half, up to the Y split. Then I spent about 20-30 minutes sawing through the Y with my 24" carpenter saw. Good workout!
> 
> ...


this is a great blog and comments. Lots of information here.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*turnings - some failures as prelude to some successes*

Earlier this week I ended up with some scrap baltic birch ply, and cut it into squares with the band saw. I sanded the faces a bit and glued them all together overnight with Titebond III and a Bessey K-Body clamp:



A little turning later:



And I was starting to get a wine glass shape:



That's probably where I should have stopped. I knew that going thin-stem with the plywood in this orientation was asking for trouble, but I just kept going anyway, mad with power:



I knew, as well, that I should have turned the inside of the cup before doing the stem, but I got myself confused. I was still turning between centers, and felt that switching to a chuck would make turning the stem too difficult, and also that once the inside of the cup was gone, turning between centers wouldn't be possible. I think both of these conjectures was wrong, but it took some learning the hard way to get here.

I switched to a chuck, and then threw together this makeshift support structure, which actually did work. The brackets were slippery enough that the piece rattled around between them without really getting any marks on it.





Here it is in action:

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377

It was actually wrapping blue tape around the stem to help support it that caused it to break at its weakest ply:



It was a clean break, and fits back together perfectly:



I'm going to glue it back together, then drill a hole straight through the cup and into the base, through the center of the stem (carefully!), then insert a thin dowel through the stem and glue it in tightly. That'll shore it up against finishing up the turning, which I still want to do.

Just for fun, I failed a bit more on turning this small slice of ficus into a plate. I had made a groove in the back for the chuck jaws, then accidentally turned into it once it was chucked. I knew it was going to be risky, because it was very thin, and I'm very inexperienced still, but I'd hoped for the best. It's times like these I wish I had x-ray vision.



In retrospect, it was a pretty deep groove. I had to turn a bit deeper than I wanted there, as that side of the wood was angled significantly. Until I got that deep, the groove stuck out one side of the bark, and the jaws wouldn't be able to hang on. An alternative would have been to flatten that face with a sander, plane, or with another careful resawing, then to glue on a block the chuck could hold, but I'm unsure about gluing onto wet wood yet, and this was just a small scrap of a junky wood, and not worth it to me to go through all of that. At least I was getting some pretty good control on making the face of the plate. It gave me hope for future, successful turnings.

In other news, I gave sharpening my tools on my WorkSharp 3000 a try finally. I haven't had a good home for it, so setting it up always requires dragging it out and clearing a space for it. Being lazy, this means it's been sitting under a table, collecting dust. I definitely need to find a permanent place for it now. With the slotted wheel, which lets you see the edge straight on as you're sharpening it - it was very easy and fast to bring my bowl and spindle gouges back from just rubbing against the surfaces to smoothly creating shavings again.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *turnings - some failures as prelude to some successes*
> 
> Earlier this week I ended up with some scrap baltic birch ply, and cut it into squares with the band saw. I sanded the faces a bit and glued them all together overnight with Titebond III and a Bessey K-Body clamp:
> 
> ...


Interesting lessons, Gary.

In retrospect, it may be easier to turn the goblet's inside first. That would provide more support for the end type turning. Then use the tail stock to support the work while turning the outside shape.

Lew


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *turnings - some failures as prelude to some successes*
> 
> Earlier this week I ended up with some scrap baltic birch ply, and cut it into squares with the band saw. I sanded the faces a bit and glued them all together overnight with Titebond III and a Bessey K-Body clamp:
> 
> ...


Agreed, Lew. I have some things to post soon, maybe tonight, where I did that, and it worked out great!


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *turnings - some failures as prelude to some successes*
> 
> Earlier this week I ended up with some scrap baltic birch ply, and cut it into squares with the band saw. I sanded the faces a bit and glued them all together overnight with Titebond III and a Bessey K-Body clamp:
> 
> ...


Interesting post and concept….I don't think I have ever tried a softwood or any engineered woods on my lathe….Part of the reasoning is just what happened to you….It could also be very dangerous if that piece had launched at you….(do you have your speed down - maybe around 300-500 I'd say?) ..

Thanks for sharing some of the things that go wrong too…nice to discuss them so that we can learn from someone elses experience and thus save us from repeating the same errors.

Also, by the way, what kind of glue did you use? and how did you chuck the piece?

And thanks for sharing about the worksharp…I have looked at them…but still continue to hand sharpen my tools….takes a long time if I use em hard…


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *turnings - some failures as prelude to some successes*
> 
> Earlier this week I ended up with some scrap baltic birch ply, and cut it into squares with the band saw. I sanded the faces a bit and glued them all together overnight with Titebond III and a Bessey K-Body clamp:
> 
> ...


Reggie - I'm curious to try all things. Plywood turnings can be really pretty, and I've seen some that use multicolor laminates to make colorful stripes through the pieces. You can buy plywood pre-colored like this from some places. The glue was Titebond III. The piece was first put between centers while I turned it to a cylinder. Then I chucked one end of the piece in my one-way chuck with the other end supported by the tailstock. You can see these setups in some of the pics.

Hope I end up helping out some! I'm still quite an amateur, however.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*European Olive champagne glass*

Not a drinker, but I still appreciate the form of champagne glasses. I had a chunk of completely unsplit European olive from my pile of blanks, about the right length and diameter when turned to cylindrical to let me try my hand at something beyond plates and bowls, even though I've far from mastered them yet.

I put the block between centers, turned it cylindrical, then swapped the head center for my Oneway Talon chuck, and used the tail center to support it a bit as I carved the outside of the flute, down to the stem, but not narrowing it down anywhere near the final thin diameter. Once I had an okay shape outside, I removed the tailstock and carefully turned the inside with a mix of Sorby tools: 1/4-inch bowl gouge, 1/2-inch Spindlemaster, and as it got deeper, the internal shear scraper. Then I went back and did the stem and base, still unsupported.



I got the wall pretty uniform in thickness, and it's pretty smooth. The outside is perfectly smooth, but the inside has very faintly-felt ridges. Still have to learn better how to feel those away with the tools.





At this point I was excited to try BLO on this thing and wiped on several coats. I decided I wasn't too thrilled with it. It really mutes the contrasts instead of making them stand out. Also, I picked up wipe-on poly, but it's water based, and later I realized I should really use an oil-based topcoat over BLO. I guess I'll have to go out and get some of that, too.

You can see some light coming through the thin wall of the cup inside.



I'm leaving the chunky base on it so I can chuck it back up later to do more sanding and finishing work, then I'll part it off to leave a thin base.



It's been 3 days since I turned and coated it, so I've got at least another 3 or 4 before it's pretty dry and ready for the next steps.



The base and cup have both warped into a rounded isosceles triangles sitting on my desk this week (no pictures since the turning day yet), so I won't be doing any more turning on this piece. The walls of the cup are about 3/32" - not enough left to try to re-round the shape. I'm fine with that, and like the odd look to it, but it'll be fun in the future to also turn some perfect things that stay more or less perfectly round. I'll have to wait for the olive to dry entirely before I can do that.

I'll follow up on this with pics of the warped shapes and final finish when I get there next week sometime.

The important thing is that 3 days later, I still have not one check anywhere in the entire piece. No splits! This is Euro olive we're talking about. It splits when you look at it funny. I think it has a lot to do with where in the log the turning blank comes from. I went through a week ago and sorted all my Euro olive bottle-stopper blanks into 3 piles of 'no checks at all,' 'very few, light checks,' and 'heavily checked down entire length, some nearly split in half.' The piles were surprisingly even - about the same number per pile - but I noticed something later. All the ones that split lightly were a pretty mix of sap and heart woods, with the division kind of cutting through the middles of the pieces. All the completely unsplit pieces seemed to be without one, though I forget which. They were either all heart, or all sap, and I kind of think it was all-heart. I'll have to check later and get some pics, and do a blog post on just that, as I think it's interesting info.

I think the BLO is also helping this thing to not lose moisture too fast as it dries.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *European Olive champagne glass*
> 
> Not a drinker, but I still appreciate the form of champagne glasses. I had a chunk of completely unsplit European olive from my pile of blanks, about the right length and diameter when turned to cylindrical to let me try my hand at something beyond plates and bowls, even though I've far from mastered them yet.
> 
> ...


looks great Gary fun turning


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## spanky46 (Feb 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *European Olive champagne glass*
> 
> Not a drinker, but I still appreciate the form of champagne glasses. I had a chunk of completely unsplit European olive from my pile of blanks, about the right length and diameter when turned to cylindrical to let me try my hand at something beyond plates and bowls, even though I've far from mastered them yet.
> 
> ...


Good job Gary!


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *European Olive champagne glass*
> 
> Not a drinker, but I still appreciate the form of champagne glasses. I had a chunk of completely unsplit European olive from my pile of blanks, about the right length and diameter when turned to cylindrical to let me try my hand at something beyond plates and bowls, even though I've far from mastered them yet.
> 
> ...


Very nice. A goblet is definitely on my todo list!


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *European Olive champagne glass*
> 
> Not a drinker, but I still appreciate the form of champagne glasses. I had a chunk of completely unsplit European olive from my pile of blanks, about the right length and diameter when turned to cylindrical to let me try my hand at something beyond plates and bowls, even though I've far from mastered them yet.
> 
> ...


Great to see you in action.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *European Olive champagne glass*
> 
> Not a drinker, but I still appreciate the form of champagne glasses. I had a chunk of completely unsplit European olive from my pile of blanks, about the right length and diameter when turned to cylindrical to let me try my hand at something beyond plates and bowls, even though I've far from mastered them yet.
> 
> ...


Thanks, everyone! You're inspiring me to keep going, and to get better.


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## Innovator (Jan 20, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *European Olive champagne glass*
> 
> Not a drinker, but I still appreciate the form of champagne glasses. I had a chunk of completely unsplit European olive from my pile of blanks, about the right length and diameter when turned to cylindrical to let me try my hand at something beyond plates and bowls, even though I've far from mastered them yet.
> 
> ...


Nice job Gary, its a fun project.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*

This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better 

Here's the log I used, and what it looks like inside after a fresh cut. It is extremely wet:





I think it's about a 6" diameter branch. Here's how it looked freshly split on the band saw:



And less than 15 minutes later:





This was the wettest green wood I've yet turned, and rivulets of water were running down my face shield. I could watch the wood change color as I turned, as water was being forced from the inside to the out along the grain. When I stopped the lathe, there were water stains on each side where it was soaked on the outer layer, but much drier inside. When done, I let it spin on high speed for a bit, just to help force a bit more water out. Tonight, Sunday, 4 days later, it's pretty dry. I'm sure it's not 6%MC, but it feels like a regular, dry bowl to the touch.

At work on Wednesday, after turning it only a few hours earlier, the piths cracked on each side just a bit - hairline cracks - but by nightfall, the bowl had warped a bit to the tune of about 3/16" difference across perpendicular diameters tightly pressing the checks back together. This bumped the piths up a bit.



There are some light tool marks, but I will be chucking it back in the lathe now that it's mostly dry, and sanding those away. Also, note that the rim is a little bit wider on one side. I think this is due to the wood's softness. Tightening the Oneway Talon chuck very hard probably bent the bowl just slightly to the side. In the future, I will probably give a pass to the outside of the bowl after flipping around to the chuck, and before hollowing, just to ensure concentricity between outside and inside.



The wood is a little bit 'fuzzy' in nature, and you can see some of the fuzzy tearout on the bottom of the bowl here. This was caused by the side of the parting tool scraping against it as I turned the tenon:



The end grain pulls in a bit along the grain lines, leaving recessed outlines of the grain. You can just make out the check that pushed back together at the pith:



I have a bit of a cambial bark inclusion on one end:



The pith sections pushed up as the bowl warped in a bit around it. You can see it in the front and back rims here:





The wood turns incredibly easily, and I could get a sense at least of why it's touted as such a good carving wood. It looks a little like the Ficus I've been playing with lately, but dries much more white. It's about as pale as maple, and very lightweight, possibly lighter than basswood, but still sturdy. It smells remarkably like potatoes. Peel a bunch of potatoes and smell the wet pile of skins. That mix of starchy potato and dirt smell is basically exactly it. Rather enjoyable.

When I first began turning, while it was still square on one side, I would get catches of my large roughing gouge tool, but instead of the lathe reacting, huge chips of the wood would go flying over my shoulder. It almost seems like dry-rotten wood, except that it still has good, useful, vibrant strength to it, too. It's an interesting middle ground. I'm getting pretty eager to try my hand at carving something in it. Naturally, if I do, I will take and post pictures of the effort.

Too, I will post the finished product, whenever I get around to finishing and sealing this thing up.


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*
> 
> This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better
> 
> ...


Nice Blog Gary


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*
> 
> This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better
> 
> ...


It looks like you are really enjoying both the wood and your lathe. I suppose it is too late to let you know that this is a slippery slope that you are on!! 

Have fun and keep on turnin'.


----------



## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*
> 
> This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better
> 
> ...


Great set of pix, Gary!

Turning green wood sure is fun but as the wood dries, there are always changes. I read a blog sometime back by Trifern about how he keeps the warping and shrinking to a minimum. Maybe it will give you some ideas.

Nice Work.

Lew


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## MikeGager (Jun 15, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*
> 
> This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better
> 
> ...


you should turn some end grain and see what it looks like


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## Innovator (Jan 20, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*
> 
> This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better
> 
> ...


Bowl looks great, nice job.


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## bowyer (Feb 6, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*
> 
> This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better
> 
> ...


Nice blog, pics are right on with their description. Sounds like the fun has started for you.Enjoy your wood and lathe

Rick


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*
> 
> This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better
> 
> ...


Scott - Yep, too late! 

Lew - I did a natural edge bowl I think the same day as this, and immediately threw a bunch of its shavings in a plastic bag, dropped in the bowl, and packed in the rest of the bag and bowl with more shavings to cover it entirely. I know this technique is mentioned often to help stop splitting. Maybe it'll help it keep its shape, too. Of course, that one was turned much more thickly, to reveal more of the bark edge, but still, it will be interesting to see. I love those scientific results.

Mike - Definitely. I have so much of this stuff, I will be trying just about everything there is to try in it at some point. I'll post everything I do, like always.

Jim, Innovator, and Rick, thanks for the kind words of support!


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## Broda (Oct 7, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*
> 
> This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better
> 
> ...


looks good, and only 15 mins!

If you are having trouble with the tearout while cutting the tenon try taking a very thin cut the the "long end" of the skew the same way you would if you were using the parting tool. If you make sure the bevel is rubbing on the side you should get a better finish


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A bowl from that fallen Jacaranda wood*
> 
> This past Wednesday, all in the span of an hour lunch break, I ran home, cut a chunk off the end of one of the Jacaranda logs from my recent haul, resealed the main log with Anchorseal and washed out the brush. Sliced the chunk in half through the pith, and turned one into a thin-walled, simple bowl, took a quick shower, and brought the resultant piece back to show off at work. Amazing what can happen in one hour! The turning itself took less than 15 minutes! I'm getting faster, if not better
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tip, Broda!


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*too thin a champagne glass turning*

After knocking out a Jacaranda bowl in one lunch break, I was a little fired up that night to do more, so I got a stick of Jacaranda from the pile and cut it into some small pieces for making tiny champagne glasses.





My attempt here was to go very thin-wall. I didn't bother with process pics (it gets a little tedious sometimes  You can see light shining through the walls into the interior of the glass:



Unfortunately, I went a little too thin in the middle. Note how much extra light is coming in around the widest part of the bowl:



Also note in the previous images how wet the outer edges of the wood are down at the base. The whole thing was like that, but centrifugal force is pushing the water in the tree to the outsides, and sprinkling me with it as I turn.

The shape of the glass came out very nicely. I turned the outside of the glass bowl first, then the inside, then went back for the stem. Still, I didn't feel completely secure when doing the inside. I used my internal scraping tool mostly, as the other tools in my collection don't handle deep, narrow passages like this without so much chattering it would seem they'll shatter the piece. I've seen a few tools that will work better, but I especially just need smaller tools. Much of what I have at the moment is geared for larger work.



My thumb fits nicely 



I gave up on this one, as the thin middle was so thin, it was sort of cracking. Fibers were sticking through in both directions, and while it was still wet, I could push on the rim and make the top half of the bowl move away from the bottom half, before it would spring back. Now that it's dry, it won't do that, but it feels absolutely paper-like and fragile. It would be really hard to finish well. I tried, though.

I rubbed on a mixture of denatured alcohol and brown aniline dye. It came out looking dark brown. Nothing special. Later, I wiped on some water-based wipe-on poly, and it looked 'better,' but it's still just not worth anything. I parted it off into a proper glass, and it must weigh less than a mailed letter. I feel a stiff breeze could blow it skyward.

I'll probably make some more of these, and just go more carefully and leave things thicker. There's something neat about a wood glass that's feathery light, as long as it's just thick enough to be sturdy.


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## spanky46 (Feb 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *too thin a champagne glass turning*
> 
> After knocking out a Jacaranda bowl in one lunch break, I was a little fired up that night to do more, so I got a stick of Jacaranda from the pile and cut it into some small pieces for making tiny champagne glasses.
> 
> ...


Nice Gary! You have caught the turning bug for sure! No cure, terminal!


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *too thin a champagne glass turning*
> 
> After knocking out a Jacaranda bowl in one lunch break, I was a little fired up that night to do more, so I got a stick of Jacaranda from the pile and cut it into some small pieces for making tiny champagne glasses.
> 
> ...


Gary, it does look like you are enjoying yourself. But I have to agree with Spanky about the "disease" that you have caught. Rather than having a nice relaxing lunch in a 5 star restaurant you elect to come home and turn.  Sounds like a good way to recharge your battery to me and get ready for another grueling afternoon at work!!


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *too thin a champagne glass turning*
> 
> After knocking out a Jacaranda bowl in one lunch break, I was a little fired up that night to do more, so I got a stick of Jacaranda from the pile and cut it into some small pieces for making tiny champagne glasses.
> 
> ...


NICE. this would be a sweet candle holder with the light breaking through the woodgrain…


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *too thin a champagne glass turning*
> 
> After knocking out a Jacaranda bowl in one lunch break, I was a little fired up that night to do more, so I got a stick of Jacaranda from the pile and cut it into some small pieces for making tiny champagne glasses.
> 
> ...


Gary,

Really Neat!!

What tool are you using to hollow the inside?

Lew


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

gfixler said:


> *too thin a champagne glass turning*
> 
> After knocking out a Jacaranda bowl in one lunch break, I was a little fired up that night to do more, so I got a stick of Jacaranda from the pile and cut it into some small pieces for making tiny champagne glasses.
> 
> ...


Gary: a great job. Nice practice piece. So let us see it with all of the dyes also.


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## DaleM (Feb 18, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *too thin a champagne glass turning*
> 
> After knocking out a Jacaranda bowl in one lunch break, I was a little fired up that night to do more, so I got a stick of Jacaranda from the pile and cut it into some small pieces for making tiny champagne glasses.
> 
> ...


What's the problem? I thought you were supposed to be able to see through a champagne glass. Looking at the first pic with you holding the log/stick I wouldn't have thought you could even get a turning that size out of it. It looks like you're jumping right into a lot of different turnings with I'm sure a lot of great things to come out of it after a little practice.


----------



## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *too thin a champagne glass turning*
> 
> After knocking out a Jacaranda bowl in one lunch break, I was a little fired up that night to do more, so I got a stick of Jacaranda from the pile and cut it into some small pieces for making tiny champagne glasses.
> 
> ...


Spanky and Scott - Yes, it's true. I find I'm running home at lunch times and after work each day anymore to jump into some more turning.

Lev - Good idea! I should play with the theme of candlelight and holders when I get better. Thanks! I have been wanting to try out some small lampshade turnings, especially with something like some end grain segmented setups. Surprisingly, light looks really pretty when shone through thin Douglas fir end grain. I had some very thin cutoffs from something I was building and learned this.

Lew - I've been trying everything, and I'm still not really settled on anything. I have some tools I'm looking forward to getting to improve this, based on what I've learned. I love how I had no clue whatsoever when I started as to what tools I'd need, and actually had to get a guy at Rockler to come over and point to what he thought would be the best 1 or 2 starter tools for me, the clueless. Now, with a few weeks of turning under my belt, I'm saying things like "this bevel should really be more like this, and I want a flat here for better control against the rest," and I've even considered bending, grinding, and honing my own tools out of tool steel, because I'm starting to 'get' what's needed, and what I think I'll prefer. That said, I tend to start with a 1/2" Sorby bowl gouge, turning from the center out in small layers. As I get deeper, at least for now, I switch to a Sorby internal scraper, the kind that has a circular insert screwed into the end. When the square bar is set flat on the tool rest, the bit is tilted down 45°. This actually causes a bit of chatter, and I'd prefer something with a small circular insert held flat when the bottom is flat on the tool rest. There are some internal tools with pivoting heads that look like real winners that I'm hoping to add to my arsenal soon. I should do a post one day when I get better as to how I view turning. I've had to compile from a lot of videos I've found online to figure out what works best for me. Maybe I can do a nice summing up of all of that.

Karson - Alright, I'll get some snaps of the parted piece with the dark brown dye and one slipshod coat of wipe-on poly, which I never bothered sanding. It doesn't actually look too bad, but it's definitely not any kind of masterpiece.

Dale - Haha! True. I wish I had the skills to reliably and quickly (and confidently) turn paper-thin turnings at my leisure. As to the small stuff, yes, there's beauty to be found even in twigs! A perfect example of this is the work of Mike Rowe. He's a miniature turning genius.


----------



## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*

I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.

Jacaranda is a cheap wood, and I have a truckload of it for free, which makes for great practice wood (and it smells great while turning it, like french fries!). I'm working on getting good enough to deserve expensive, beautiful woods, before a tree full of it happens to fall down somewhere around here (crosses fingers)

The first is the standard natural-edge 'winged' bowl:









Jacaranda bark is pretty weak, and I'm still learning, so it's hard to keep the bark on, especially on the wings:





The tenon on the bottom will be removed when I'm done:



I'm curious about how this wood will take to dyes, stains, and various clear finishes:



I really love the cambium in this wood. I wish the whole wood had such deep coloration:



For the second bowl - turned a few days later - I wanted to try a natural edge bowl with a pedestal. I didn't turn the stem thin yet, because this softer wood wobbles too much if you go thin with so much weight on the other side. That will be nearly the last operation I perform on this. Too, the freshly-cut wood was completely saturated with water, and after it dries a lot more it will be tremendously lighter. This is the first green wood I've turned that continuously sprayed me with a fine mist of water as I worked it. It seems to start sprinkling at around 1500RPMs.



I'm planning to angle the bowl's walls in a lot more toward the bottom, and round into a thin stem, then flute back out to a flat base about this wide, or a bit less:



I've got some tool marks to get rid of. I think the bowl was wobbling a bit on me, or I was rushing:





I mentioned one of the bowls checked a bit. Here it is, sigh…



Closeup of the check (there are actually a few, but the others haven't opened up):



There are lots of little chips in the bark, but I don't think they could be helped. You can easily flick pieces away with a finger. I've heard wood felled in winter holds its bark a lot better. This fell in the dead of summer. I'm not sure Jacaranda really gets much more solid than it is in my inventory, however.



I have at least one gouge inside to get rid of when I refine the shape. Also, note the check that went clean through to the inside. I'm going to try flowing some CA glue into the crack, see what that does.



I've been turning a lot lately, and learning a lot lately, too. More posts soon!


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


gary ,
your posts are inspiring .
thanks for sharing 
all the learning with us !

keep on keepin' on .


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## MauBow (Dec 18, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Gary, I know there only practice bowls, but if you pack the checks with coffee grounds and then add CA glue 
it may save the bowls…Can add some interesting lines to a plain wood too! Looking Good!


----------



## spanky46 (Feb 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Sure looks like your gettin it! Good work Gary!


----------



## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Gary,

Nice looking test pieces. I must try one of these!

Lew


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## Innovator (Jan 20, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Gary, nice work, I am a big fan of a natural edge bowl. One thing about the bark staying on is I have found that trees cut down in the winter tend to retain their bark better than ones cut down in warmer weather.


----------



## mtnwild (Sep 28, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


I was taught years ago that trees cut while dormant will keep their bark after drying, and trees cut while growing will lose their bark after drying. Don't know if every tree species has the same characteristic, but I've always found it to be a good lesson.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Good work Gary, looks like you are nearly ready to "good wood". I'm praying a bunch of it to falls all around you soon!! )


----------



## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


david, spanky, lew, and Topamax - thanks!

MauBow - Well, I don't drink coffee, but I think I will use your suggestion a different way. I can chuck some Jacaranda and turn it while sanding it to make a nice big pile of Jacaranda powder. Then I can use that the way you mention using the coffee grounds. I think that would work, as all the fibers would be the same. Thanks!

Innovator * Jack - I've heard that about the summer/winter thing, but unfortunately I don't have any control over it, as I don't fell trees in the city here. I just pick up the pieces when I find one that's fallen over by itself. It being mid-August means anything I find will have been felled, or will have fallen in the summer. Something to look forward to this winter, though with the earlier sunsets, it'll be harder to see it while out cruising around!


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Super job Gary
Thanks for sharing


----------



## trifern (Feb 1, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Nice blog Gary. A good rule of thumb for rough turning is to leave the wall tickness 10% of the diameter.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Thanks, Jim!

trifern - That's a good one I had not heard. Thanks! I'll have to get a little better at eyeballing 10% now


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## scrappy (Jan 3, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Gary, I really enjoy real "kearning" posts, as I am learning along with you. You are ahead of me so I watch what you have done and the responses from others and try to incorperate that when I work.

Thank you for all of your information that you share.

Scrappy


----------



## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *two natural-edge jacaranda bowls*
> 
> I didn't take process shots, but I rough-turned these two over the last week or so from the halves of a single jacaranda log resawed in half. Each was bagged immediately in its own shavings to slow drying and resist checking, though one has checked a bit anyway. Once they've dried enough to stop moving, I'll chuck them up again and turn them back to round, and refine their shapes. I still consider myself in early training-mode, and as such, these are just more training pieces.
> 
> ...


Glad I'm able to help out in some small way, Scrappy!


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*~9" wide face grain Jacaranda bowl rough*

In my last post, I showed some Jacaranda log halves I'd cut up and sealed in preparation for turning them into bowls. Here's the first one I turned. It's a very simple bowl. I concentrated a lot here on just practicing techniques, getting a very flat, slightly rounded slope to the inside bottom, and not suffering any catches or gouges. I didn't want to leave any tool marks this time.



This is a rough turning, and has been drying now for 10 days. For the first week it was buried in its own shavings in a plastic grocery bag with the top left wide open.



Jacaranda turnings seem to develop feathery, flame-like patterns in the face grain areas:





You can see here how very wet this wood is. It's all like the wet spot here when you start turning it, and you get pelted with a sprinkling of water anywhere above about 1k RPM. Note how it's dried out considerably on the bottom, and how the water all pools up and is ejected out of the end grain:





Leaving the bowl on the lathe for awhile, just spinning at higher RPMs when done turning is one way to remove a lot of the water from the bowl, though I'm not sure of any adverse effects. I doubt there are any of much significance.

I left some inner and outer bark on one side, because I thought it looked nice:





The tenon will be turned away in the final stages:



Any thoughts as to what the grain reminds you of? Here are two views from opposite sides into the bowl:





As it's had a chance to dry for 10 days now, I can remark a bit on how it's changed. First, it's warped only very slightly. It won't take much to turn it back to true. Second, the bark inclusions - especially the outer bark areas have all pulled into the bowl tremendously, and are now probably 3/16" deep depressions that almost look like ergonomic finger grip recesses on a pair of pruning shears. Third, I didn't notice any form of checking, which is fantastic. I will likely turn a few more like this, and these are prime candidates for testing out some dying techniques. I'm especially keen - still - to learn a bit more about trifern's method, through actual application of the techniques. I won't be any good thinking about it. Have to get out there and try/fail until I get it.

Here's a final top-down view. I will be thinning it up quite a bit when it's dry (or close enough), and refining the curves, and the wall thickness uniformity.


----------



## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *~9" wide face grain Jacaranda bowl rough*
> 
> In my last post, I showed some Jacaranda log halves I'd cut up and sealed in preparation for turning them into bowls. Here's the first one I turned. It's a very simple bowl. I concentrated a lot here on just practicing techniques, getting a very flat, slightly rounded slope to the inside bottom, and not suffering any catches or gouges. I didn't want to leave any tool marks this time.
> 
> ...


Great information, Gary.

The grain is sort of like maple but has more "character".

Lew


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## rons (Mar 23, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *~9" wide face grain Jacaranda bowl rough*
> 
> In my last post, I showed some Jacaranda log halves I'd cut up and sealed in preparation for turning them into bowls. Here's the first one I turned. It's a very simple bowl. I concentrated a lot here on just practicing techniques, getting a very flat, slightly rounded slope to the inside bottom, and not suffering any catches or gouges. I didn't want to leave any tool marks this time.
> 
> ...


gary , I really like the grain of that wood. thanks for the post, I enjoy them all. ron


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *~9" wide face grain Jacaranda bowl rough*
> 
> In my last post, I showed some Jacaranda log halves I'd cut up and sealed in preparation for turning them into bowls. Here's the first one I turned. It's a very simple bowl. I concentrated a lot here on just practicing techniques, getting a very flat, slightly rounded slope to the inside bottom, and not suffering any catches or gouges. I didn't want to leave any tool marks this time.
> 
> ...


I can't wait to get my lathe set up!! Go get 'em Gary. Looks like you are getting it down pat)


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## scrappy (Jan 3, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *~9" wide face grain Jacaranda bowl rough*
> 
> In my last post, I showed some Jacaranda log halves I'd cut up and sealed in preparation for turning them into bowls. Here's the first one I turned. It's a very simple bowl. I concentrated a lot here on just practicing techniques, getting a very flat, slightly rounded slope to the inside bottom, and not suffering any catches or gouges. I didn't want to leave any tool marks this time.
> 
> ...


Great log Gary. Thanks for all the info. Keep the blogs comeing. Very informative and entertaining.

Scrappy


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *~9" wide face grain Jacaranda bowl rough*
> 
> In my last post, I showed some Jacaranda log halves I'd cut up and sealed in preparation for turning them into bowls. Here's the first one I turned. It's a very simple bowl. I concentrated a lot here on just practicing techniques, getting a very flat, slightly rounded slope to the inside bottom, and not suffering any catches or gouges. I didn't want to leave any tool marks this time.
> 
> ...


thanks gary ,
it is great for me 
to learn allong with you ,
i don't have a lathe yet ,
but im storing all this stuff for later .
thanks for the open and informative 
instructions .


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *~9" wide face grain Jacaranda bowl rough*
> 
> In my last post, I showed some Jacaranda log halves I'd cut up and sealed in preparation for turning them into bowls. Here's the first one I turned. It's a very simple bowl. I concentrated a lot here on just practicing techniques, getting a very flat, slightly rounded slope to the inside bottom, and not suffering any catches or gouges. I didn't want to leave any tool marks this time.
> 
> ...


Thanks Gary


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*red oak "70's ashtray" - square edge bowl turning*

I found a nice 5' piece of red oak at Home Depot that was a bit odd in hue, having more depth to its grain than what I usually see there. I had visions of turning some square plates, so I snagged it:





I really slacked off on pics of this turning. This is the only one:



In it, I've cut the end from the plank to square it up and remove the chipped edges. Then I cut 2 pieces off as long as the plank was wide (7-1/4"). Then I cut some squares of birch from a length of scrap and carefully aligned them, center-to-center, gluing them to the red oak panels with Titebond II glue. I used a piece of birch to clamp them and did them one at a time as it only needed a half hour to be ready for unclamping. More than a full day later, they were ready. I've only turned one so far, but I made another time-lapse out of all of he separate processes:






There's still more work. The finish applied above is Zinsser SealCoat, which is dewaxed shellac in a 2lbs cut. I only did that to see how it would look. I'd not yet ever shellacked oak. It still needs to be buffed up and topcoated, the bottom sanded up a lot to round the bowl a bit more and lift it up off the ground, and the bottom block needs to first be cut and chiseled away. I'm considering cutting large semicircles out of the edges with the band saw to give more of an impression of arched legs, like The Encounter restaurant building at LAX, and to better show off the suspended bowl bottom. I supposed I've tired a bit of the square shape in the 10 days since turning it.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *red oak "70's ashtray" - square edge bowl turning*
> 
> I found a nice 5' piece of red oak at Home Depot that was a bit odd in hue, having more depth to its grain than what I usually see there. I had visions of turning some square plates, so I snagged it:
> 
> ...


Those time-lapse videos are amazing! That really makes me want to get a lathe.


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## BeachedBones (Jan 31, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *red oak "70's ashtray" - square edge bowl turning*
> 
> I found a nice 5' piece of red oak at Home Depot that was a bit odd in hue, having more depth to its grain than what I usually see there. I had visions of turning some square plates, so I snagged it:
> 
> ...


nice project, I love the time-lapse.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *red oak "70's ashtray" - square edge bowl turning*
> 
> I found a nice 5' piece of red oak at Home Depot that was a bit odd in hue, having more depth to its grain than what I usually see there. I had visions of turning some square plates, so I snagged it:
> 
> ...


Gary I'm shcked I never thought you bought wood. cool turning.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *red oak "70's ashtray" - square edge bowl turning*
> 
> I found a nice 5' piece of red oak at Home Depot that was a bit odd in hue, having more depth to its grain than what I usually see there. I had visions of turning some square plates, so I snagged it:
> 
> ...


Jim - I know! It's been awhile. It felt weird. I used to spend tons on wood, until I realized I can do a lot of playing just from the things that fall down here in the city.


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## scrappy (Jan 3, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *red oak "70's ashtray" - square edge bowl turning*
> 
> I found a nice 5' piece of red oak at Home Depot that was a bit odd in hue, having more depth to its grain than what I usually see there. I had visions of turning some square plates, so I snagged it:
> 
> ...


Gary, Great design. If you want a higher lift, with prominent arches, I saw one somewhere that was 3 sided.(triangle). That gave the edges a lot more arch and the bowl bottom was prominent. I think that one was a candle holder.

Just an idea I have been kicking around. (still have a small piece of my zebrawood to use on something)

Thanks for posting. Great video.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *red oak "70's ashtray" - square edge bowl turning*
> 
> I found a nice 5' piece of red oak at Home Depot that was a bit odd in hue, having more depth to its grain than what I usually see there. I had visions of turning some square plates, so I snagged it:
> 
> ...


scrappy - Triangles sound like fun!


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## matt1970 (Mar 28, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *red oak "70's ashtray" - square edge bowl turning*
> 
> I found a nice 5' piece of red oak at Home Depot that was a bit odd in hue, having more depth to its grain than what I usually see there. I had visions of turning some square plates, so I snagged it:
> 
> ...


oooh…i like the triangle idea…gary very nice!!


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*

Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.

Well, that night, I just couldn't let it rest. On the drive home it was all I could think about. I grabbed the largest half-log of that Jacaranda I cut up (it's the one leaning hardest to the left in the last pic of that post), chucked it up, and had at it.

Here's the log half:



It was about 8.5 inch × 9.5 inch:





And about 5.5 inches tall. I kept the pith, figuring any problems would just add details to the final hat:



I had actually measured my coworker's hat with a tape measure, but forgot all the dimensions before I started on this 

I had a little fun with my block plane flattening out the top of the log. This was totally unnecessary, and not the best way to do this. I was just playing, and proving to myself I'm still terrible with block planes. I could not plane it level for the life of me:



Rather excitingly, the shavings through the cambial layer looked remarkably like bacon! Mmmm…. bacon.



Now to switch to an edited-together video of the processes. I used a technique I spied in a hat-turning video a month or two back on YouTube, wherein a man with an audience (turning show, IIRC) turned the lights off in the little auditorium or classroom, and shined a light on the side of the turning, finishing up the piece by color. The thinner, the brighter the light coming through. It worked pretty well. The wood got deep red at first, then lighter and lighter as it thinned. The only bad thing was having no light on my tool, and working on the opposite side from the rear gooseneck light. I couldn't tell where I'd be putting the tool down in the dark, and so I kept thinning some sections too much, unintentionally.






There were bark edges on opposite sides of the brim which stuck straight out in plane with the brim when I finished, but by the morning they had curled up dramatically:



Unfortunately, the hat wasn't thin enough to curl anything. I was originally going for the cowboy hat, but realized it was getting small, and hoping to still fit it on my head, opted for the much large bowler shape, with its smaller brim. It was still far too small, as the video shows. Apparently a 12" lathe is not enough to make a hat for my head, unless I don't turn a brim on it. You know what that means. Time to price bigger lathes! 



You can see a split in the brim in the following pic, which I glued back together with Super Glue.



I also glued my fingers together, and coated my index finger tip entirely in the stuff. I found through trial-and-error that SC Johnson Paste Wax seems to break it up pretty well. I just stuck my finger in the tub, then kneaded it all around, and it started to break off in chunks. It took about 3 dunkings, and some effort, but it all came off in a few minutes, as opposed to not coming off at all without the paste wax. That's one to grow on. (they also sell a super glue remover, if you have better foresight than I).



The top is a bit rough still. I figured if I cared enough later, I'd run my ROS over it to round it over and get rid of the tool marks:



And finally, some shots of the inside:



You can see some super glue I also smeared around the bark areas to glue them back on, as they were coming off, peeling away at the joint between sapwood and cambium:



A few tool marks inside, and there's a weird thing I've noticed Jacaranda does, which you can see in this shot especially - the top of the hat (middle of the pic here here) inside is kind of reddish. The area nearer the brim in the background (top of the pic here) is more yellow. There's a kind of streaky division between these colors at the left edge, like the torn end of a splintery log. I'm not really sure yet what it is exactly, though it seems tied to location in the log, and how the cut was made across the grain. That's about where I'm transitioning from cutting across the end grain to along the face grain, perhaps at about 45° through the grain. It's evident in the previous image on the opposite side inside the hat, too, and I've noticed it in large bowls and other things I've turned. It adds a bit to the unprofessional look, and I'm wondering if something like my new Spindlemasters, or the Sandmaster (thanks again, mom!) can diminish or remove it. It's not tearout. It's smooth. Maybe it's some kind of micro-tearout.



I also gave the hat to a girl at the office whose head is considerably smaller than mine. It still didn't fit. Maybe I'll just have to make bowlers for younger gentlemen for now, say in the 6-8 year old range 

Things I learned this time through, outside of the above notes:

1) it's a lot of work to hog out that much material - took about 2 hours I guess.
2) it's hard to turn things consistently very thin, but we all knew that.
3) my lathe doesn't like turning heavy, wet logs out by its full capacity - not enough torque.

As for the last one, it was a little bit of a surprise, but I should have seen it coming. My little Sherline 4400 CNC mini mill has a really hard time out at the edge of its meager 3" radius, and the machining bed on which tools and tool rests ride really gets in the way of a full 3" radius. It's closer to 2", and still, a piece of cylindrical Eucalyptus chucked in there will slow to a stop if you don't take absurdly light cuts, in the few 1/1000" range. The Jet is like this for things above about 9"-10", especially when they're sopping wet. I had to turn down at around 500-800RPM, or the lathe would shake the entire table it was clamped to violently. It wasn't until near the end that I could get up to around 1000-1200RPM, and even then I leaned a leg into the table to support it. And worst of all, during this turning, and a fat bowl turning I did, I actually slowed the lathe to a stop while making nice shavings with my 1/2" bowl gouge. Before I'd hogged much away, I was slowing it a stop often! Something to remember if you're thinking about lathes. They seem to have some trouble out at their limits. The motors seem designed to just barely make it out to their full range.


----------



## Toolz (Feb 26, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Gary, that is really cool!


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Gary, you obviously have been bitten by the turning bug. 

But that is a pretty interesting hat that you have turned. It certainly is unique!!


----------



## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


i notice your thinking ,
is rounding out too .
here's " el tule " , willow tree
in oaxaca , 33' across .
you might make a really big hat with it ?








thats a guy walking on the left ,
this is the largest tree in the world !


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


looks fantastic!

don't beat yourself for not being able to flatten with a block plane - it's not meant for flattening to begin with  (even a #4 is too small to be considered for flattening).


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Neat turning


----------



## Innovator (Jan 20, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Gary it came out great, good photos.


----------



## scrappy (Jan 3, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Great job Gary! I like the fact you are trying new things and pushing the limit.

One thing I noticed though, in your video, you do not use an "S Curve" tool rest for bowls. Is that by choice or is it still on the wish list? Seems like it would have come in real handy on the inside of this hat. You seemed to be haveing a little trouble getting your tool rest close enough in a couple of spots.

I had one welded up but haven't turned anything big enough to use it yet.

Anyway…..Great job on this hat. I think it would take a pretty big lathe to turn one for an adault to use.

Keep up the interesting posts.

Scrappy


----------



## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Scrappy - It's one of the things I've not yet gotten around to researching. I haven't seen them for sale anywhere yet, and haven't yet looked online, but yes, I was thinking I wish I had one through the whole hollowing procedure, and on several large bowls since. My rest seems to be made from iron, or an iron-like steel, and it dents and dings so easily. I'm wondering if that's on purpose, to keep tools from receiving these marks instead, but it sure is a pain to part off a cup and end up with a 1/8" wide dig in my tool rest.


----------



## mmh (Mar 17, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Nice blog, especially for a first time project. It makes it very tempting to start turning hats!


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## DennisLeeZongker (Jul 25, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Sweet Blog! Looks like your having fun.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


I knew a fellow who carved wooden hats he wore, but this is a whole new dimension is light weight wooden head wear ;-))


----------



## MsDebbieP (Jan 4, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


that's awesome.
I really enjoyed the video and the attempt to wear it-made me chuckle.

Well done.

Now, what's next?


----------



## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Wow…you are really getting the bug…I have always agreed with the folks that say turning is the crack of woodworking….very addictive….You seem to be having a great time….and thats what the real purpose of this stuff we do….

Cool Hat!....great idea….and you are definitely pushing your skills…..

gives me the yearning to get back and do some turning….I've got several blanks cooking up in my shop….just need to find some time to chuck them up and roll…..right now though Im up to my ^%$^[email protected]@ in alligators and probably should quit lolygaggin on this site and get it done….

Keep it up!!


----------



## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A turned Jacaranda bowler hat*
> 
> Monday of last week, some 12 days ago, I was talking with a coworker who was wearing a small fedora. I commented that I should try to turn him a hat on my lathe. He thought it was a fun idea, and I mentioned I'd seen full-size, wearable cowboy hats online turned from green wood to very thin, then bent in jigs to hold them in proper shape with curled brims and dented-in top until dry, at which point they could be worn. The site was Johannes Michelsen's woodhat.com, and his gallery is quite impressive.
> 
> ...


Boy do you work fast LOL! The kids and I watched your video a couple of times. They particularily liked when you tried it on. Great job.


----------



## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*

Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:

1) My 1/2" Sorby Spindlemaster was not a good indicator of how the 3/4" and 1" behave. I've been using the 1/2" however I liked, never reading up on how to use it, nor watching any videos. I recently watched one and thought "Huh, I've been using it entirely wrong." I've been holding it flat, and using a combination of things with both hands and the tool rest to get the curves I want. With the larger versions, these movements I've grown accustomed to cause catches, wrenching the tool this way and that. It's nearly unavoidable. So, I went back and watched the video again. I was out there for awhile trying everything with both new tools, and I passed through the proper methods many times, but didn't achieve the results seen in the videos most of the time. It's going to take a lot more work with them to gain comfort. I did get it to act sort of like in the video several times, but could never achieve a smooth curve, nor did I ever get that burnished look (though it's green wood - so probably couldn't anyway).

2) The Sorby Sandmaster is pretty cool, save the bearing. The head spins freely, and by letting the work brush the bottom edge of the disc, you get it spinning, so it keeps clearing away dust and presenting different sections of grit to the turning. I found that the bearing isn't quite the precision engineering I was expecting. The head was a tad rattley. The disc would stop frequently, and need a bit of coaxing to start spinning again, because the head bent ever so slightly, causing the mating surfaces around the bearing to seize up a bit. Once the dust got in the cracks, it gummed up and was scratchy when spun by hand. I sprayed some WD-40 in there and it got a lot better. It works alright, but I was just surprised that such a top tool needed babying right from the first minutes of use. It did give a good finish, and allowed me to round out the hollow form from the poor surface I was getting through my inexperience with the new Spindlemasters. The pad (60 grit only so far) stayed nice and clean, and no burned fingers was a real plus 

3) Hollow forms are harder than I feared. I don't really know what's going on inside yet without being able to see. I don't have good light set up, nor calipers, so it's all guessing when turning, then trying to figure things out by feel with my fingers after powering down intermittently to check things out.

Here's the chunk of Indian laurel fig (Ficus microcarpa) turned cylindrical:



It's pretty green still. It's a branch from a larger log that forked. The grain reminds me of an unsealed utility pole:





I was able to drill out a centered hole easily with the Sorby micro holder with boring bar insert:



Save for the fluffy bottom - green F. microcarpa logs get huge flaps in certain parts of their grain (a kind of tearout) - the outer form came out well. This is sanded with the Sorby Sandmaster with 60 grit, used to shape the curvature a bit after some wobbly Spindlemaster work:



I was having a really tough time past the first 2 inches. The micro hollowing tool, which fits in the red insert handle seen above (with the boring bar inserted) worked great at first, but then it was just too deep. I switched to the Sorby Hollowmaster, but it's just huge. It was like playing Operation getting the head in there without hitting the lip walls, and then it was so hard to maneuver. I needed a hollowing tool halfway between them.

Eventually I lost my grip on the micro hollowing tool and it rattled around in the lip for a second before I grabbed it again, and it made some large cracks down the walls. I carefully tried to turn it a little more (for some reason), and then decided to open the mouth wide and just see what I'd done inside, as it was hard to tell in the dark interior. The 1/2" Spindlemaster made a really ragged edge when I did this, probably because the cracks were causing the whole lip structure to vibrate hard against itself:



That's where I gave up on it for the night. I was a little low on patience. My first half dozen bowls were disasters, too (sent at least 4 of them across the garage after huge catches), so I'm not nearly ready to give up, but it was time to take a rest.

I have finally tried it, and now I have a better sense of what I'm in for. I think I might turn away the top of this thing, reshape what remains into a smaller version of what I made here, and use the micro hollower on what will be a much more properly-scaled turning for its length.

This fig is actually a bit hard. I think I've made myself into a wimp with that luxuriously soft jacaranda wood. It melts away like butter, in 1/4" deep cuts. I should probably glue up some oak blocks and strengthen myself up. Hollow forms are tough work!


----------



## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the description of the tool operation, Gary

Looks like each time you turn you get a new experience and improved skills.

Lew


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## scrappy (Jan 3, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


Keep all the great info comeing. Now I know I am not ready to try a hollow form. haha

Will try sooner or later, but still trying other forms that you have shown.

Thanks for the great posts.

Scrappy


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## StevenAntonucci (Aug 14, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


It always starts that way. Do yourself a favor for #2 and don't make such a deep vessel. Once you get more than a few inches over the tool rest, things get more exaggerated.

The shape you picked is a good starting shape because 90% of the vessel can be cut with a straight boring bar. The undercut shoulder is right there and relatively easy to get at with an undercut bar or tool of your choice. THE NUMBER ONE RULE IN TURNING HOLLOW VESSELS IS YOU HAVE TO KEEP THE CUTTING TIP ON CENTERLINE. All of the jerkiness and catches you experienced were caused by being somewhere else in the vessel. Also, make sure your cutter is sharp (it should hiss) to reduce drag and cutting forces…

If you are trying to hollow with a scraper, you will find a lot of better ways with some simple tools. Look at the Ellsworth style hollowers, then run down to Home Depot to the steel racks…

Good luck on #2…


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## RBWoodworker (Mar 22, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


Howdy Gary!!

my turning experience starts and stops with just turning the front legs of the rockers I make.. I have never tried bowls or anything hollow.. you are venturing into an area that I never have.. and from the looks of it, your doing a great job so far..I like that vase!! no chucking it across the room either..lol

Listen to those that know like Steven and the other Lj'er's here.. I'm learning just fom reading their post so I will know when my time comes.. hang in there buddy!!


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## Hix (Jun 4, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


Great Post! Most of us learn from a combination of trial and error and education. The advice to start w/ smaller forms is right on. Keep at it, the next one will be easier and the one after that and the one…...
It sure is addicting isn't it? 
Keep turning out the posts (and the bowls.) I enjoy reading them.


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## trifern (Feb 1, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


Hi Gary, I would also add the suggestion of having a larger opening. Start by doing a closed bowl type form. This will allow you to use your hollowing tools, but allow more access visually. By being able to see better, you can concentrate on the proper techniques required for your hollowing tools. After some practice and a better understanding of the techniques you can gradually start reducing the diameter of the opening.

Joe


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


Lew - Yep, learn something new each time, and sometimes that means learning I have a looong way to go 

Scrappy - Keep at it! We all have to motivate each other. The replies in here psyched me up again after this latest failure.

Steven - Thanks for the tips! I will incorporate them, but I'm also sure it will be awhile before I manage anything nice in the area of hollow forms.

Randall - Thanks for the words of encouragement. Definitely inspiring!

Hix - Will do! I'm going a lot smaller on the next one, whenever I work up the motivation to get back out there.

Joe - I think that's probably the best idea - start wider, not just smaller. I think my next bit of learning will be something along the lines of 2" deep, and 8" wide, with a 5"+ opening - basically a bowl with a rounded over top, which is what I think you meant by 'closed bowl form.' Do you find you can tell where the edges are as you work, or do you have to check with calipers often? Wish me luck!


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


Gary, you should also pre drill your vessell with the biggest forstner you can use….l usually use a 2 1/4" chucked into my tailstock with a bit extender (depending on depth of the vessell)...now by taking the bit to where you want to hollow out…you will have a guide to how deep you are going to go….it also gives you the ability to get the hollower into the vessell. You should also have a pair of calipers on hand to measure the thickness as you go.

Hollow forms are actually quite easy once you get the hang of it….and very enjoyable to create…they are art just by themselves (IMO)....

Just keep practising….thats what all of us have to do…..and take it slow and easy…..you will be turning out great hollows in no time….there are also excellent how tos on the internet…and You Tube.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tips, reggie! And for the vote of confidence.


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Newfound respect for hollow-form turners*
> 
> Well, I tried out the tools I got from mom for my birthday recently. Of note:
> 
> ...


My pleasure….from looking at the pics…I know you will get the hang…..my first hollow looked really bad inside…l wasn't on LJ's then or I wonder if I would have had the stones to post it…LOL….but by watching the videos….playing with the chucking….and sending the forstner down the inside….I can turn a nice one fairly easy…Now all I need are some good blanks….therein lies the hard part….good blanks..to buy them is expensive….to make them takes a lot of time…or you need a bit of luck to find some from fallen trees…

Also, look up the staved vessels…its a fairly easy way to make a hollow…without using so much wood…I built the jig…but now I just use a couple band clamps…and wallah!...I should be posting one fairly soon as I am just getting ready to put the finish on my most recent one…


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*

Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:



I took a week's hiatus - no motivation - and upon returning to the garage (last Sunday), I found this:



Note it goes right to the pith, as every check I've seen in any log, branch, or twig in which I've noticed any checking does. This is why so many people remove the pith entirely from their blanks, and why pith-in end-grain turnings can be a bit of a craps shoot.



Note that this was completely green lumber, and turning this thing all the way down, instead of a mere 2" may have helped , as it would have effectively removed the pith over a much greater length, but still… The other probability here is that because this was a branch, and didn't grow straight up and down, it probably had internal stresses that originally helped it counteract gravity.

Here's the bottom - note that the check finds the pith again on this side, and there's a second one, too, which is very common in checking logs:



And this is the part I turned away after realizing it was just way too long. This was sitting on my router table, and checked the same way, right from the pith out:





With the checking, deep, fuzzy tearout which is really hard to manage, and rampant mold control issues, you begin to see why I have such a hard time finding any turnings - or anything - made out of Ficus wood online.

Anyone need about a half cord of this stuff?


----------



## jeffthewoodwacker (Dec 26, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


You could always use it for firewood. Amazing what wood can do sometimes. I had a piece of green ash literally explode off the lathe last week - didn't appear to have any checks or cracks in the piece! If I leave a green piece on the lathe I mist it with water and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. That does not always work either.


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## Loucarb (Dec 19, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


That stinks after you did most of the work.


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## cabinetmaster (Aug 28, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


That's the piths…........................LOL Jeff is right….......leave a piece of green wood on the lathe you must wet it down and wrap in plastic and tie it tightly. If you don't….well you saw what happened.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


To bad Gary


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Yeah, it's crazy stuff. Lou - I'd already given up on this piece. It's halfway between both of my hollowing tool sizes, and just too hard to work for me - a novice - to be any fun. Also, I'd already cracked the rim all over just trying to widen it up to make it an easier project. It was already scrap, but it was still a little sad to see it crack so badly.

I cut some rounds off of a piece of European olive - the check'n'est wood I've ever experienced, and one of the larger pieces - only about 5" diameter or so - I actually wrapped a band clamp around and tightened as hard as I could with a large allen wrench. It STILL checked and opened up like a Pac Man with about a 3/4" mouth. It's solution to get around band clamp was to dome outward on one side. It became a kind of flat, rounded cone.

I think I'm should keep some olive logs around in a humid environment, in case I ever need to forcibly tear anything, like a car, or foundation apart. I can just cut some short pieces and wedge them in a crack, and then put up a warning sign and leave


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Ahhh…the joys of turning….I get that sometimes…it seems for a while I'm on a roll and the stuff rolls of the lathe just the way I envision….then there are the times that everything seems to go bad….checks, cracks, grain tear, knots that come apart..voids..the grain inside the piece is colorless….or my stain/finish goes south.

Sometimes I wish I had taken up golf….at least I know for sure I stink at that….....BUT…when you get that really nice burl or blank…and you turn that great one in a million goblet, hollow or segmented….it makes up for all those previous stinkers….Just always remember….there is another beautiful work…just waiting for you to discover and you will. By the way…you are making great progress…..I tend to think a person can't be trying hard enough if they don't get some stinkers….

I've been turning for a looong time and I still blow it now and then….I always have to remember that wood is organic….we do not control it…and we have to to learn to work with it the way it wants us too….and sometimes it iust isn't happening….so the best advice I've ever gotten was to take the good with the bad….you can learn alot from both (the best leasons come from the failures - they tend to teach me more patience and a lot about humility…LOL). Anyway….you are lucky I don't post my failures…...luckily wood burns fast…...sheesh..


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


reggie - you should come hang out and cheer me up. You'd have lots to do. I mess up very often 

Thanks for the encouragement!


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## scrappy (Jan 3, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Haveing your same problems Gary. Still only have one good success from my eucalyptus. Just took a piece out of the frige and tried to turn it today. Still checked and cracked all over.

Reggie, Thanks for the encouragement. I have had some great turnings from bought wood (seasoned) and some pallet stuff, but all old wood. Nothing green want to cooperate with me.

Will keep pluggin along and hope you do too Gary. Allways love to keep up with your posts.


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## getneds (Mar 18, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


I always say….
if you don't make a mistake, you werent working.

It's all part of the game. I can't wait until i start to turn. Never did that yet


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## Hix (Jun 4, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Now you have the opportunity to practice filling cracks. Mix up some epoxy and give it a try!


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## mmh (Mar 17, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Well, I give you an A+ for sharing your experience with us. It takes more initiative to show a "Boo-Boo" and tell about it, than it does a project well done.

I appreciate your blog, as it's a true learning experience. Thanks!

BTW: Have you seen the possom since he slept in your shavings bag? That was just too incredibly adorable!


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## peruturner (Mar 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Hi queep the wood if possible in a plastic bag,here in lima is very humid so very seldom the woods crack unless sun hit them see my pict(lat ones) Im turning pith and all very little movement on them


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Well Gary, I too think you need to invest in some plastic bags. You could also try packing in your new green closed form with the shavings you are creating from the same piece in the plastic bag. That way you don't have to wet it, although that is a good idea too. An endgrain turning needs to have even walls and bottom before it can take the drying out. Most (actually all) of my closed turnings have the pith in the bottom. I find that it is a good idea to use super glue on the pith from the outside as soon or sooner than you can get at it to reinforce it a bit. I hope you won't think I'm boasting when I tell you that I have never lost a green piece, and I have turned quite a few over the years. I hope this is ENcouraging and not DIScouraging to you. Looking forward to your next blog describing a turning triumph. Have fun in the meanwhile!


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## Routerisstillmyname (Oct 16, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Gorilla glue


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


That is something I forgot to mention about keeping the humidity high until the piece has suficient area to allow for the natural dehydration rate to balance with the "breathing" rate of the wood. The bark and fibre of the outer rings are made to keep the hydration inside the tree (near the live pith) while it is alive - the cuts used to remove a branch or fell the tree allow an area for the hydration to escape. When those layers are removed the rate at which the hydration migrates into the local atmostphere is controled by the humidity around it. If the air is dryer…then that rate is accelerated…accelerate this too much and you have the fibres separating (cracking) because the water dehydrates faster then the ability of interal air to stabilize the pressure. In order to retard this acceleration, you need to make sure the humidity is more balanced….Needless to say, Jeff, Peru and Stefang have excellent suggestions on how to normalize this process.

I guess I forget this problem since I always keep my green turnings in a cool area with a pan of water nearby….while they cure. The humidity here is usually pretty stabile….(and it seems to be that I usually turn green stuff in the colder wetter months) so I haven't needed to use plastic bags and or a sprayer….but those are great ideas to remember.

Once again LJ's come up with excellent suggestions…


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


reggie - I've tried some of the things. I have stored some pieces in plastic bags full of their own chips. I've painted some over with BLO immediately after turning. I've also painted some up with Anchorseal, similar to what turning blank producers do with bowl and other blanks. With ficus - the wood above - it just doesn't work. This wood becomes mold - literally mold all the way through - slice it open anywhere, and it's all mold - and any attempt to seal in the moisture causes it to mold over. I paint on Anchorseal, and mold grows thickly beneath it across the entire surface and pushes the sealant up. I put it in a bag of shavings and pull it out coated in thick green fuzz a few weeks later. I've actually had the best luck letting fig air dry, with no preparations. I have a bowl I turned - the first large one I turned - that I never sealed, and it's barely warped, and has no checking. That was August 1st, about a month and a week ago. The mold that had formed on the Anchorsealed blank it was turned from went all through the bowl. Air-drying has at least gotten rid of the smell. The other half of that log is on the floor of the garage, also Anchorsealed, though not cut into a blank. The sealed side is almost black with green mold.

The piece I painted up in BLO actually seems to be doing really well, but I need to check again. I don't think it's molding up. I recently made walnut ink, and one of the steps at the end is to add some vinegar to keep mold from forming. I just found after 2 days of not noticing it, and less than a week after making it, that it had formed huge clusters of green mold floating on the top. I did my best to draw them all out with strips of paper towels, but there's a residue on the surface that won't be extracted. I'm going to add some vinegar to hopefully kill it, and maybe eventually pour it into a different jar through a coffee filter to try to get as much of the mold and spores out of it as I can. I'm also thinking of spraying vinegar on my fig log blanks to try to inhibit this rampant mold spread. Maybe I can seal them after that. I'll try both ways.


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Very interesting….I've never had wood that prone to fungus. Where did you get that from?

You might also try puting just a bit of diluted bleach in the bags or storage media or on the wood itself…..it has to be dilute as pure bleach encourages the growth while diluted bleach kills it (go figure??) Also copper is an excellent anti fungal - as it is also used for weather treating wood….you might get some CopperX (a tree spray or find some wood treatment copper) and try spraying a bit of that on the wood or in the bags or storage media (Copper is not as toxic as some of the chemical anti fungals can be…it is toxic in large amounts though). The only trouble with copper is that it can stain the wood a bit…so try a test first.

Lastly, I suppose you may need to consider another wood for turning. There are some that just will not provide or become good turning media….like very soft woods (pine and cedar for example) and very long grain wood (oak is one….and cork oak is one that definitely will not work). I still try now and then to experiment with combinations and segments of these woods….You might want to try cutting the stuff you have and laminating it to something else (you would have to dry it a bit first though)...


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


reggie - Ficus microcarpa (Indian Laurel Fig, AKA Green Island Fig, AKA Cuban Laurel, AKA Chinese Banyan) is virtually a weed here in LA. I have a bunch of old blog posts here about finding it and studying it, but suffice it to say that someone on my block kept putting it out by the road, and I kept picking it up  I want to try every wood I can get my hands on, especially the stuff you can't buy anywhere for whatever reason, and I'd been waiting to cut some of the larger limbs from my neighbor's house behind me that were encroaching on my garage. I lost that chance when the telephone repairmen cut all the big ones away and hauled them off while I was at work, so I leapt at the chance to haul the big stuff home.

The only info I've ever found on ficus regarding turning is that it deteriorates rapidly and is not good for woodworking. I like to test everything myself, if interested enough, so I've just been going at it anyway. One of the things it's really doing for me is providing a sort of bootcamp. It's such a crappy wood to work in, I'm learning all of ways to recover from mistakes, fight against problems, and even how to just deal with losing a piece, which is a skill in itself. Here are some posts from my huge set (I know it's a bear to dig through 120 posts 

http://lumberjocks.com/gfixler/blog/9274 - finding the 3rd load
http://lumberjocks.com/gfixler/blog/10188 - making and sealing a blank
http://lumberjocks.com/gfixler/blog/10396 - turning a large bowl

It is a pretty wood, really, when finished, so I was hoping I could salvage something, and it does appear at least plausible. I'm definitely going to try vinegar, diluted bleach, and copper (thanks for those last 2 suggestions!), and we'll see what happens. I was even curious to see if the mold could end up in some way like spalting, making me prettier wood, but it doesn't seem likely.

Here's an example of a dish turned in it: http://lumberjocks.com/gfixler/blog/10079

It's halfway pretty, and never molded over because it was so thin. It dried quickly enough. I didn't do anything but take the dry blank, turn it, leave it out for a bit in the air, then rub some shellac into it - probably not the best finish for this wood. I don't think I ever got a shot of it later, before a coworker took a fancy to it and I gave it to him, but it curled up pretty impressively, like a potato chip, with a sine-wave curve around the rim. But anyway, I'm just screwing around in this wood to learn to turn better. It's like free scrap wood that's large enough for me to max out my lathe in both directions. I'm not considering it for any final pieces, and I don't really see the worth in trying to dry it properly.

Thanks for the suggestions!


----------



## jeffthewoodwacker (Dec 26, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


You could always drill a set of parallel holes along the crack and use leather shoe string to stitch it up.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


jeff - I just saw one of those on our front page here recently and loved the idea. I have enough checking wood over here to make a whole career out of it


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


I know what you mean Gary. I try turning the wildest stuff. I've even turned polymers and mixed medias (soft metals laminated to woods…and plastic wood mixtures…a time or two)...some with moderate success…some dismall failures….but I just like to see what comes about….I wouldn't call myself an artist….at least not in the vein of folks that show their works…and get talked about in galleries. I do turn some interesting forms and some nice stuff now and then….have sold some (although I wonder if the folks feel sorry for me…ROFL)

I like to experiment which is art in its purist form…I try to see what the creator of the piece sees or envisions….My stuff is something I try to do on a similar vein…but not a copy. That is one of the things that draws me to woodturning. It is an evolving media….and there is tons of room for experimentation….I am playing with off center turning…eccentric turning….open media turning….different sized segments….stained glass inlays….you name it …anything I can do to make something different and interesting…

So I see your failures the same as I see mine….an attempt to do something new and interesting….and so you keep trying and pushing the envelope…some work out…some don't…so if this wood experiment of yours doesn't you can move on to something else that may…


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## Innovator (Jan 20, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Gary thats a bummer. There is nothing I hate more than working for hours on a piece and having it crack on me.

I recentally turned a black oak bowl 14" in diameter and 8" in height. I took the pith out of the log and I left the bowls wall thickness about 1 1/4" . I put 3 coats of anchorseal on on each of the two bowls I made. I put it away to dry and my goal was to finish it a few months later. Well, that will never happen. It had massive cracks all over it, ON BOTH BOWLS!!!!! I couldnt beleive it.

Anyway, I feel your pain.

Take care
Rob


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Right on, reggie. That's how I see my stuff right now - anyone who buys it is pitying me  I am trying to actually do some things I can sell. I'm the eternal student, far more interested in how things work, and trying out random ideas and making test after test to learn everything I can than in actually producing a final piece. It's hard work for me to finally finish something and say "this is done." I tend to go to the last few steps, then stop forever, and busy myself with a neverending stream of new things. I'm surrounded by half (or less) completed projects. It can be frustrating, but learning new things by tearing them open to study their insides is so much more fun than completing a project! I haven't done any mixed-media stuff. How's that soft metal work out? Does it dull the tools quickly?

Rob - thankfully, I'd only spent about a half hour on it, and wasn't much enjoying it as I worked in it. Ficus isn't joyful to turn. I just wanted to test my new tools, so this was always just a test - never a final piece. Still, my heart does weep a little when I see even a brief, unfinished, never-to-be-finished piece split itself entirely in half. I can't believe your oak bowls cracked like that! Did you get the wood when it was freshly cut? I'm wondering if it sat around awhile. Maybe the checks were forming then. I will say this, though. Oak can really move, and it's unbelievably strong. The only wood I've ever had pinch my saw blade was red oak. I was just ripping a 1×4 or 1×6 into two pieces, and I realized past the blade there was no kerf slit. It was closing right up. That's dangerous kick-back territory, and I sweat the last few feet of ripping. It worked out, but it was tense. The two boards were like shallow rocking chair bottoms. Very strong wood with lots of tension stored inside it. I guess you don't have any interested in filling the cracks? If you used something contrasting, it might come out a bit artsy. Those are some pretty big bowls.


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## hunter19 (Oct 4, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


rough turn then soak in denatured alcohol for 24 hours no cracks & no distortion wrap in brown paper bag up to over rim tape up place upside down on rack for 2 weeks then it will be ready to finish


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Wow, hunter. That is quite a specific procedure! Does the alcohol replace the water and then evaporate more quickly from the cell walls? Where did you hear about this technique? I've not heard it yet. I'm intrigued.


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## DaleM (Feb 18, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Gary, in case you haven't looked into it more yet, here are a few sites I've looked at in the past on alcohol drying. Great info and it looks like it works although I haven't tried it yet. Hunter summed it up well.

http://alcoholsoaking.blogspot.com/ 
http://www.wnywoodturners.com/articles/alcodrying/alcodrying.htm


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


Thanks, Dale! This is an exciting development in my wood turning and drying exploits. I'll have to check - I think I just picked up a gallon of denatured alcohol the other day, though it might have been mineral spirits. I'll get a gallon or two if I not, find some nice tupperware containers, and give this a go. I also have a very large roll of brown paper that's been looking for a use for years, as well as about 6 rolls of masking tape that I've not gotten around to opening in over a year now. I might just have all the materials on hand to experiment immediately. Thanks to you and hunter both for my next series of experiments!


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## hunter19 (Oct 4, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


the alcohol makes it dry very quickly evaporating moisture i do it all the time also you can use it (denatured alcohol) over & over again when you soak roughed out bowl make sure to cover the top of container the alcohol will evaporate. mixed woods in alcohol will not stain other wood


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## hunter19 (Oct 4, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


a cheap plastic trash can works better if alcohol does not fill above roughed bowl add a piece of scrap wood in to raise alcohol level


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## hunter19 (Oct 4, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


check bowl in about 2 weeks if alcohol smell is gone open your present and finish it send me a picture when your finished with it


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## cabinetmaster (Aug 28, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *first hollow-form failure update - major checking!*
> 
> Just an update on this post. When I left off, it looked like this:
> 
> ...


I'm going to try this too. Thanks for the links above.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*A small juggling pin*

Been awhile since I posted anything! How's everyone been? Work keeps me busy all the time anymore, but I do love it. Unfortunately it's a very long drive, about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, crawling along LA's 405 and 101 freeways. Traffic ever since school started keeps it really busy until midnight, and with all the techy stuff I'm always working on, I tend to stick around at work until after 8PM, and often until 9 or 10, then the long drive home in heavy (but relatively light) traffic.

Anyway, at a little outdoor games party awhile back at work, one of my coworkers - Ryan - brought in his juggling clubs. I'm a juggler, and I've had this cheap Jugglebug set since I was in high school back in the early 90s. I've been keen to pick up some really good pins from somewhere like Dubé, especially their Europeans. Ryan's pins looked a lot like their stage style clubs, so I was anxious to try them. Here's Ryan juggling them:










The Europeans are ~$45/club, or about 6x the cost in total (for 3) as my old cheapy Jugglebugs. I don't juggle enough to warrant that, especially without getting to try them out first! I could try them out in NY at their store, but I'm in LA. Ryan got his clubs while on vacation in Italy, but has no idea what brand, if any they are. The balance was quite odd for me, and the handles really felt like they were swinging around a much wider arc, almost hitting me in the face with every throw.

There are optional lengths, weights, and diameters on balls and clubs, which makes it even harder to choose online, and then getting to try out the first cool-looking set I've seen and having them be so hard to control just makes it even less likely I'll shell out money to test out what seems like a good combination online. History has taught me that anything with an ergonomic element that I order online I will hate once I get my hands on it. A perfect example is the Happy Hacking keyboard, meant for programmers, but I didn't like anything about it. The keys were way too tall, tapered too sharply (making them feel too separate from each other), too hard to press, and the surfaces felt like 320-grit sandpaper, quickly irritating my fingers. I type 90WPM on average, but I couldn't use any of my shortcuts on that board, like sliding from one key to an adjacent one to type both in one swipe.

Anyway, I've been thinking for at least a year that it would be fun to make juggling pins on my lathe. Bowling pins are (or at least were) all wood. I wouldn't want to juggle all-wood pins for any length of time - my set already kills my knuckles, and they're hollow plastic - but I could make some really beautiful, decorative pins with glued-up hardwoods. I know my mom would love a set for decorating. There are also fighting clubs (Rule #1: You don't talk about fighting clubs!), like these from India, c. 1920.

Too, I could make various pin shapes out of wood, paint them with something to get them smooth and perfect, then make molds from those and do some roto-casting with plastic to create hollow, unibody pins of my own design. I'm anxious to try that one day. Who knows? Maybe I'll make some signature pins worthy of selling under my own brand. In the meantime, though, I figured I should try turning a pin on my lathe. Tonight, home early from work (holiday time half-day), I grabbed a large branch of jacaranda, a great, light wood that carvers love to whittle, and which I have in abundance at the moment:



I started with a 20-inch piece, but soon realized that my 12×20 lathe can't handle a piece that long. I'd have to make a short club - something like a cudgel - and one day upgrade with a bed extension for doing full-size clubs. Fair enough. I cut the piece down to 18 inches and moved the tailstock out to the end:



And now for some turning:



My tools need some sharpening some day when I have time, and Jacaranda is soft and flexible, so I was getting heavy vibration as I thinned the handle. I had to invent new techniques, like taking fast slicing sweeps to the side with the tools. It wasn't very thought-out. I just decided to make a pin and ran out to the garage to do it 



Here it is all rough. I would clean up the rest with sanding.





All sanded up:





And my hand for scale - it's a mini club.



I cut the ends off with a thin pull saw, then sanded the ends flat with the the belt sander, cleaning up the ends with some hand sanding.



You can see some of the tearout that comes with the territory when manhandling jacaranda. The big chunk in the middle is from turning on centers. The spurs of the driver pin tore it out early on.



A little more tearout on the knob:



I always like bark inclusions.



It was great to get back out there and make something again in the hour and a half I had free. It's been too long. Now I have a new thing to bring in and show my fellow juggling coworker. It was a successful first test, though I probably won't have any more time this year to do another. I will be in the shop this weekend, but Saturday is all about helping my friend make a headboard for his wife for their bed for Christmas (surprise present!), and Sunday is making some things out of branches that have a special meaning for my stepdad for a Christmas present. Then next week I fly home to see my folks until after the new year. Busy times!

And I haven't made a nice mess like this in far too long!


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## degoose (Mar 20, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A small juggling pin*
> 
> Been awhile since I posted anything! How's everyone been? Work keeps me busy all the time anymore, but I do love it. Unfortunately it's a very long drive, about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, crawling along LA's 405 and 101 freeways. Traffic ever since school started keeps it really busy until midnight, and with all the techy stuff I'm always working on, I tend to stick around at work until after 8PM, and often until 9 or 10, then the long drive home in heavy (but relatively light) traffic.
> 
> ...


Now for two more.. and you too can be a juggler…


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A small juggling pin*
> 
> Been awhile since I posted anything! How's everyone been? Work keeps me busy all the time anymore, but I do love it. Unfortunately it's a very long drive, about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, crawling along LA's 405 and 101 freeways. Traffic ever since school started keeps it really busy until midnight, and with all the techy stuff I'm always working on, I tend to stick around at work until after 8PM, and often until 9 or 10, then the long drive home in heavy (but relatively light) traffic.
> 
> ...


good you got some time 
back in the shop gary

all that wood you have stashed 
must be getting closer 
to dry by now

have a great holidays
and hope you get time
next year to have some fun

that sawdust looks better
than the glop 
you had on the floor before

be safe
enjoy


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A small juggling pin*
> 
> Been awhile since I posted anything! How's everyone been? Work keeps me busy all the time anymore, but I do love it. Unfortunately it's a very long drive, about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, crawling along LA's 405 and 101 freeways. Traffic ever since school started keeps it really busy until midnight, and with all the techy stuff I'm always working on, I tend to stick around at work until after 8PM, and often until 9 or 10, then the long drive home in heavy (but relatively light) traffic.
> 
> ...


What, no pictures of you with 4 pins in the air- at the same time!!! ;^)

Nice job, Gary.

Lew


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## clieb91 (Aug 17, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *A small juggling pin*
> 
> Been awhile since I posted anything! How's everyone been? Work keeps me busy all the time anymore, but I do love it. Unfortunately it's a very long drive, about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, crawling along LA's 405 and 101 freeways. Traffic ever since school started keeps it really busy until midnight, and with all the techy stuff I'm always working on, I tend to stick around at work until after 8PM, and often until 9 or 10, then the long drive home in heavy (but relatively light) traffic.
> 
> ...


Gary, Glad to see you made it into the shop for a little bit. The bark inclusion on that looks pretty cool. Hope you get a chance to make a few more sometime soon.

CtL


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A small juggling pin*
> 
> Been awhile since I posted anything! How's everyone been? Work keeps me busy all the time anymore, but I do love it. Unfortunately it's a very long drive, about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, crawling along LA's 405 and 101 freeways. Traffic ever since school started keeps it really busy until midnight, and with all the techy stuff I'm always working on, I tend to stick around at work until after 8PM, and often until 9 or 10, then the long drive home in heavy (but relatively light) traffic.
> 
> ...


I've really missed your posts. Good to see you got a little shop time in. Hope the job is still as awesome as before!


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## timjr (Aug 29, 2010)

gfixler said:


> *A small juggling pin*
> 
> Been awhile since I posted anything! How's everyone been? Work keeps me busy all the time anymore, but I do love it. Unfortunately it's a very long drive, about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, crawling along LA's 405 and 101 freeways. Traffic ever since school started keeps it really busy until midnight, and with all the techy stuff I'm always working on, I tend to stick around at work until after 8PM, and often until 9 or 10, then the long drive home in heavy (but relatively light) traffic.
> 
> ...


I've been missing your posts too, Gary! Glad to see you back. I hope you go on some more urban logging adventures soon.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A small juggling pin*
> 
> Been awhile since I posted anything! How's everyone been? Work keeps me busy all the time anymore, but I do love it. Unfortunately it's a very long drive, about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, crawling along LA's 405 and 101 freeways. Traffic ever since school started keeps it really busy until midnight, and with all the techy stuff I'm always working on, I tend to stick around at work until after 8PM, and often until 9 or 10, then the long drive home in heavy (but relatively light) traffic.
> 
> ...


I've missed you folks, too! And timjr, I need to go on whatever the opposite of a logging adventure is. I have WAY too many logs for this little 0.18 acre lot now. It really looks like the woodworking version of that hoarders show.


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