# showin' off some of my stuff.



## aquan8tor

Just showing off one of my recent pieces, a piece of spalted Hickory, probably picknut but I'm not 100% on that--possibly mockernut. It was a blowdown in one of the turning club members' yards. Thanks Paul Pierce! This was at and partially below ground level; the roots were totally rotted away, which caused the wonderful green and red/purple colors. The wood was absolutely solid, and no punky spots in the bowl at all. These were turned green, and cored with the McNaughton center saver. I did use black CA glue on a couple small hairline cracks that formed as the pieces dried. I soaked them in DNA and dried them very slowly in a double layer paper bag for a few weeks, then sanded and varnished them with Antique Oil. They are all between 1/8 and 3/16" thick, with approx. 1/4"-3/8" thick bases depending on the size bowl, to balance them. The largest started out at 13.5", but moved a LOT, to about 12.75. The others are about 10" and 6" at their widest. Although quite thin, Hickory is surprisingly heavy even at this thickness, and very dry in the winter in my wood heated shop. 

I'm new to photography; this was just a box and some tissue paper, and a daylight spectrum incandescent bulb. Next time I take pics I'll have to come up with better lighting. The glare spots drive me crazy!!


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## aquan8tor

*more pics*

just some more pics...


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## trimmmed

Attaboy!  They be looking good.


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## Jacob J.

I agree, good work! Those are quite unique looking.


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## dingeryote

NICE!!!!


Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## carvinmark

Looking good !!


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## BuddhaKat

Beautiful!


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## buicken

Face the light away from the object you are photographing onto a white surface like a big piece of foamcore board. The reflected light should be enough to get a good pic without the glare.


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## pastryguyhawaii

Very nice work! I like that style of bowl.


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## buzz sawyer

Beautiful work Aquan8tor. That hickory takes a nice shine.

How are you hold the base while turning?


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## Adkpk

Wow, that's something. How did you get them so thin without any cracking? I just got my lathe setup, I can't wait to turn a bowl. Taking a course uh, I didn't think about that. Wonder if there's something in my area?


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## bowtechmadman

Absolutely beautiful


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## carver36

*Great Turning*

WOW!
Very, Very nice stuff, the photography is pretty good too.
Carver


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## aquan8tor

Adkpk said:


> Wow, that's something. How did you get them so thin without any cracking? I just got my lathe setup, I can't wait to turn a bowl. Taking a course uh, I didn't think about that. Wonder if there's something in my area?



Thanks for all the comliments, folks. Well, As far as the thickness is concerned, I've turned a few pieces of hickory, and knew from before that even when turned pretty thin, its still pretty strong. Turning them thin is actually how to keep green wood from cracking as it dries. I also soak green bowls in DNA; denatured alcohol. Somebody figured out a long time ago that when you soak wet wood in alcohol, it dries quicker--the alcohol doesn't "displace" the water, it bonds to it---same way they use alcohol drops in peoples ears to dry them out when you have swimmers ear, or adding alcohol to the gas tank to get rid of water that may have gotten in there. Anyway, I then put the alcohol saturated bowl into a double layer brown paper grocery bag, and let it sit for a few weeks to a month, and then sand it. I'm pretty methodical with sanding; 80,100,120,150,180,220,320,400,600, then 2 scotchbrite synthetics. When I finish, it honestly shines without varnish. I don't have to goop the varnish on to get a shine. That's three coats on each bowl. 

As for holding it on the lathe, I have a OneWay Stronghold Chuck. I use a faceplate to shape the outside of the bowl, and form a tenon, then reverse it and put it in the chuck. I reverse turn the foot on a jam chuck with tailstock support. Hickory moves too much when drying to use a vacuum chuck to turn off the tenon.


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## Adkpk

I have a huge cherry burl to turn into bowls. How would I go about learning the best way to get started. Any books anybody knows of? Websites?


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## aquan8tor

Coat the burl with anchorseal and practice a bit first! No offense intended! check out www.sawmillcreek.org , its a big site, there's a turning forum that is very helpful. I'm pretty much self taught, but I did read a couple books, "turning a bowl with Ernie Conover" and "Turning Bowls with Richard Raffan", I think both are Taunton Press published. Before you start anything, and not knowing what lathe you have at all, make sure it is as completely stable as possible. Putting sandbags on the stand, etc. is very helpful. Either buy or make a "wolverine" style sharpening jig, and Vari-Grind fingernail grind sharpening jig. If you join the site, you can search the threads and find info there. I just don't have a link saved for it. I bought a Oneway vari-grind fingernail grind jig, and build my own wolverine style platform. You'll use a bench grinder almost as often as the lathe itself once you start turning a lot. Bottom line, have fun, and be safe; always always always wear a faceshield. Did I mention always?? Even a mini-lathe has the ability to throw a piece at you about as hard as a majorleague fastball. Stay safe.


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## Adkpk

aquan8tor said:


> No offense intended!



No problem. Here's a pic of the lathe. http://www.arboristsite.com/showpost.php?p=1405144&postcount=16
I realize I won't get a very big bowl. Do you have a pic of you lathe? I'll try to get a pic of the burl this weekend.


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## Adkpk

Thanks agua, I learned something already from that site. I didn't realize you get multiple bowls from one burl. I'll post a pic of the burl and you tell me what you think.


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## arbadacarba

Really nice work! I love spalted wood!


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## aquan8tor

Thanks guys. I love the spalted stuff, but I'm super paranoid about breathing it. I'm slowly working my way through nursing school (taking a break now b/c of job not working with my schedule--hard to find another job these days with health benefits), anyway, in my microbiology lab class I learned about the fungal lung infections you can get from breathing spalted wood dust. BAADD. very bad. I have a 3M full faceshield respirator with a polycarbonate impact shield. Kindof a pita, but worth the safety factor. Gotta wear the PPE in everything you do, I suppose.


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## aquan8tor

Adkpk said:


> Thanks agua, I learned something already from that site. I didn't realize you get multiple bowls from one burl. I'll post a pic of the burl and you tell me what you think.



Only if you have the coring tool.....which has a pretty steep learning curve. I made a number of "funnels" before getting the laser guide for it. Check out the "Mcnaughton Center Saver" tool.


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## buzz sawyer

aquan8tor said:


> Thanks guys. I love the spalted stuff, but I'm super paranoid about breathing it. I'm slowly working my way through nursing school (taking a break now b/c of job not working with my schedule--hard to find another job these days with health benefits), anyway, in my microbiology lab class I learned about the fungal lung infections you can get from breathing spalted wood dust. BAADD. very bad. I have a 3M full faceshield respirator with a polycarbonate impact shield. Kindof a pita, but worth the safety factor. Gotta wear the PPE in everything you do, I suppose.



Thanks for the all the details - +1 on the dust!


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## dustytools

Beautiful work Nathan!!


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## arbadacarba

I've got a trend airshield and am very happy with it. Agree totally on the spalted wood thing. Bigleaf Maple is one of the worst for this, but the finished product makes it worth it. I also have the McNaughton system core-saver. Great when you are using a nice piece of wood.


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## markvanzee

*wall thichness*

great job on the bowls

do you use any particular type of cut or gouge to cut a bowl with such a thin wall thickness?

when i try to turn bowl so thin it usually becomes to weak to support the cutting, leaving scratches all over the bowl. or it just explodes. i always turn them with green hardwoods like ash and yew but i can turn as such thin wall thicknesses

any advice would be appriciated


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## discounthunter

super nice work!


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## Marine5068

Nice work. They look unique.
If you're thinking better lighting in photography, then try this tip.
Make a diffuser for the front of the lamp(if it's a spot type lamp).
Just make sure that if the bulb is incandescent or halogen that it's not going to burst into flames. Make out of frosted glass sheet maybe.
If it's a compact florescent bulb(s) then rice paper or onion skin paper between the source and the object will work. Reflected is good way too as previously stated.
Just a couple tips on home-made photography lighting from my two years studying it at College.(It has to come in handy. I paid enough for the knowledge...lol)
Good Luck and happy carving.
~Stan


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## rarefish383

Great thread, I had to rep you on it. This is one of those simple threads that I just learned a ton from. I have access to almost unlimited wood, and I have been milling lots of spalted Maple and Poplar, and never thought about the fungi I was milling and sanding. I've been leaving the stumps, and I have a couple Hickory blow downs that were cut up for firewood, guess I'll go back and get those stumps. My father in law just gave away two lathes and now I'm looking for one. I didn't know about the DNA either. Got a respirator, guess I better start wearing it. I read every thing I can get my hands on, so I'm gonna check out the books mentioned. Thanks again for the post, and by the way, beautiful bowls, Joe.


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## JDCOMPACTMAN

Really interesting stuff. Nice Job!


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