Mini Maple Bat

I made this 12" long for my year old nephew. I wonder how long it will take him to figure out how to whack the dogs and furniture and walls with it....

Christmas Peppermills

As Christmas gifts I made peppermills for everyone this year. I made four sets of salt and pepper mills from cocobolo, katalox, guapanillo, and bocote. Plus one extra pepper mill from bloodwood. I had planned on five sets, but stuck the bit in the Indian Rosewood. Forgive me for the lack of pics, I did not want to spoil the gifts and was not finished with them until about one hour before I needed to leave for Dallas.

Lessons learned from this project include chucking, drilling and finishing. With this project I learned very quickly how valuable multiple chucks and multiple jaws for those chucks can be. I used the #2 jaws on my Oneway Stronghold and the long nose pin jaws on my SuperNova2. I also try to minimize the amount of rechucking that I do.  As far as drilling goes, I believe that a pilot hole drilled on the lathe then finished out on the drill press. I feel like the drilling is easier and results are more accurate. And yes you can really can drill a bit stuck... so stuck that you have to turn the waste wood away to recover it. I also discovered that oil finishes do not dry in a cold shop with dense woods. The finished stayed very sticky using Danish oil. Then I tried Teak oil, still sticky, Tung oil and was still sticky. I cleaned all the previous finishes with mineral spirits and alcohol. Polyurethane would not even work. Finally I used some blonde shellac to get a clean glossy finish.

I have been working on cleaning up the shop lately, with the help of my father-in-law. We got a fair bit accomplished today.

To relax this evening I turned a 12" maple baseball bat for my 13 month old nephew. I wonder how long it will take for him to learn how to whop the dog with it.... Pictures to come.

Christmas is coming.... 21 days left.

I have been busy working on Christmas gifts and other related projects. This weekend I finished a bowl/platter made of another unknown bargain bin wood, three votive candle holders, and several more tree ornaments.


This bowl/platter is another one of my bargain bin mystery woods from Woodcraft in OKC. It is a fairly hard wood that turned well. I sanded it up to 400 grit, then finished it with Watco Danish Oil. I still have a few more coats of oil and some buffing to finish it up. It is by far the best feeling and looking creation to date, in my opinion.

The first two candle holders are made from a persimmon branch and are shaped like small goblets. The persimmon wood has some unique coloring and black spots. The third candle holder is made from Arizona Cypress. It is reversible and can hold a candle on either end. All have been finished with danish oil.

The Christmas Tree ornaments are made from ebony, mesquite, zebra wood, and a mystery wood. These have been finished with polyurethane gloss.  There are four more ornaments still in the shop allowing the polyurethane to dry overnight.

I will be in OKC Sunday through Tuesday and plan on making at least one run by Woodcraft. I am going to get a SuperNova2 chuck to hold some of the larger heavier bowls and well as long, heavy spindles. I will also look in their bargain bin for some more good deals.

Saved from the Burn Pile

I haven't had much time to turn this month. We went on a trip to New Mexico, then hosted Thanksgiving at our house.

The following pictures are two goblets turned from some river birch. It turned fairly easily. I need some more work on the base of the goblets.

This is the wood I salvaged from some burn piles in New Mexico. It is cottonwood and Arizona Cypress. My truck and trailer was loaded down with wood on the trip back. The last picture is of a log I split in half. I am considering cutting a slab from it and making a small bench or stool. I can always cut quite a few bowl blanks and spindle billets from it.

This last set of pictures is of a Christmas ornament made from a piece of Arizona Cypress. This wood turned easily and has good looking grain.

I will have some more ornaments ready soon. Along with a few pens.

Cedar Bowl II

This is a cedar hollow form/bowl. It is finished with amber shellac. I turned it using a set of carbide hollowing tools. These tools produced a smooth surface that required less sanding than usual. The hollow interior follows the contour, with a wall thickness of about 1/4". All in all I am pleased with the turning, but not so sure about the shellac. Maybe I just need more practice.

I also wrote an article about this blog that was published in the ETWA Newsletter this month. A link to the ETWA website is posted under the links section to the right. You can navigate to this months newsletter to view the article.

Now for the pictures.

A weeks worth of turnings

I have been neglecting the blog over the past week. I have been preparing for the New Mexico Mule Deer season that begins in just over one week. I have also been working to get the shop annex finished. I have however been able to complete several turning projects including an 14" peppermill, a bicentered hollow form, two bowls and a birch hollow form that exploded.

The peppermill was turned from a piece of wood from the bargain bin at Woodcraft. It is slightly off center but is better than the previous peppermill. I will attempt to use the spindle steady and possibly a new drilling technique. My next peppermill will be from bloodwood or another bargain bin wood (possibly canary wood). Hopefully my next attempt will not have these same issues.

The bicentered hollow form originally was to be a single axis vessel from some persimmon. However turning revealed a natural hollow section. I rechucked the project with a 1 1/8" expanding collet chuck. The result is a rather interesting piece.

The first bowl is from another piece of bargain bin wood. If anyone has any insight as to the type of wood this is please let me know. The walls of the bowl curve in and the interior of the bowl follows this contour. My wife like this bow so much she confiscated it for use as her new ring/necklace/earring holder on our vanity.

The second bowl is from curly maple that I acquired from the bargain rack at Wood World in Dallas. This bowl has a rounded base, but is weighted so that it stays upright. This shape would make a good candy dish somewhere.

My attempt at a hollow vase was going quite well until I tried to turn off the tennon. I took a catch and knocked the vase off the chuck where it proceeded to be destroyed. Upon further examination of the broken vessel, I am pleased with the uniformity of the wall thickness. This was turned from a piece of river birch that was given to be by Tom C. at our last ETWA meeting.

Tonight I turned a cedar bowl/hollow form. It is currently being finished. I will post up those pictures once it is complete.

More tops

I made a few more tops over the weekend. From ebony, mahogany, and some zebra wood. I don't have any pictures of them at the moment but will post some sooner or later.

My order from Exotic Woods USA is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I am interested to see what the wood looks like.

Exotic Woods USA 15% Off

Exotic Woods USA 

Get 15% off with the coupon code: ewusaAAW

I ordered some blanks tonight, saved a bit of money on the order. Thought I would pass along the info.

I found the code on this site: www.savannahriverwoodturners.org

Goblets and more tops

This past week has been a busy one. I ordered some wood and parts for Christmas presents, attended the East Texas Woodturner's Association meeting, visited the Hardwood Barn in Mt. Enterprise, TX, sawed up some logs into blanks, started a unique project involving paper and wood glue, and turned some goblets and tops.

The parts and wood for the gifts should arrive tomorrow. I turned a part for one of the gifts, but was unhappy with the shape. However I did learn some valuable lessons. You will just have to wait until after Christmas to see the pictures.

The ETWA meeting was quite eventful. The demo illustrated the art of segmented turning. I have along way to go before I attempt any segmented work. Also at the meeting there was some freshly cut River Birch free for the taking, provided by a generous member of the group.

At the Hardwood Barn I found some nice Mahogany, Zebrawood, Ebony, Bocote, and some assorted pen blanks. The Hardwood Barn had a nice selection of exotic and domestic lumber with quite reasonable prices, combined with friendly service, I will be a return customer.

I sawed up some Red Oak and Persimmon into some blanks and billets. There was some very interesting grain in some of the oak, as it is somewhat spalted. We will see what becomes of this in the future.

Now for some pictures.

First I turned a goblet from some spalted, rotten, worm eaten Red Oak. The lesson learned from this project is don't get greedy. I was almost finished and decided I should take one more cut.... and took a catch and snapped the stem. The next day I came back and turned the lower portion of the goblet away and the glued it back to the upper portion. Overall I am pleased with the results.

The next goblet I turned is from a piece of Persimmon. It was green and turned very well. I am unhappy with the thickness of the goblet. I did not stop to check the thickness before I turned the stem and could not correct the problem. However I do like the look of the bark on the edges.

The two tops I turned tonight are from wood that was found in the bargain bin at Woodcraft in OKC. I am finding that I really enjoy turning tops. They make good gifts, use small amounts of wood, and don't take too long to make. Is there anyone that doesn't enjoy spinning a top?

That's all folks! (at least for now)

Softball Bat, Top, and Bowls

Yesterday I made a softball bat for my 16mth old girl, a top and two bowls.

The softball bat is made from a piece of red oak salvaged from a shipping crate. The shape was free handed. I started off just roughing the oak into a long cylinder then decided half way through that I should try to make a bat. As completely freehand off the cuff project, I am quite pleased with the results. My daughter likes it as well, although she uses it more like a golf club, swatting wiffle golf balls around the house, then chasing them down and whacking them again.

The next project is a small top made from teak. I am much more pleased with the shape of this top than my previous attempts. On the top surface I used the Sorby texture tool. It produced an interesting spiral type pattern, though it is hard to see in the picture. It spins well.

The first bowl is made from red oak that had to be removed from the front yard of my parents house. This bowl was turned green and has warped slightly. The oak has a good grain.

The second bowl I turned is from black limba. This seemed to be a softer wood that was prone to end grain tear out. A considerable amount of sanding was required to smooth everything out. Apparently black limba normally has more of the dark streaks that you see at edge of the bowl.

Everything was finished with Watco Danish oil. I will be applying tung oil to increase the sheen on the black limba bowl.