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OSB bowl

I had a piece of OSB board left over from a project and decided I should find out what happens when you turn the stuff. It has its own rules, like any other piece of wood, and part of the project was just learning those rules. I glued up several layers in a stack about 3 inches high and 8 inches in diameter, using large hairy primate glue, though this stuff had a picture of a bull on the bottle. Go figure. Not wanting to get the wall of the bowl too thin for fear of it coming apart somehow, I left it about 5/8 inch thick. The end grain, which is all the way around, looks almost like the wood was woven in some way, an interesting pattern. The face grain surfaces have a kind of random piebald pattern, kind of interesting. As soon as I get a couple of coats of shellac on this thing, I will post some pics on Flickr. Interesting turning, this material does not take kindly to sharp details, but on the other hand, there is no distinct grain pattern to contend with, either.I sanded it to 320 grit and then burnished with some shavings saved from other projects. Pictures will be posted some time tomorrow. That would be Wednesday o'clock, Minnesota time. tom koehler

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tom koehler
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On Tue, 1 Mar 2011 21:51:17 -0600, tom koehler wrote (in message ):

pictures on Flickr here:

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tom

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tom koehler

Rather than glue up OSB sheet goods,see if you can find a cut off of a "paralam" beam. They come in 4x10, 4x12 and some 6x12 and 6x18 or more. You'd avoid distinct glue lines used when you laminate 3/4" sheet goods.

The challenges of turning OSB are a) voids and b) all the glue in them. The latter dulls cutting edges much faster than solid wood - and a sharp edge is crucial when turning OSB - so small chips of wood on the surface can be severed rather than torn out. So sharpening much more often than when turning solid wood will slow you down a bit - but save you time in the long run. Sanding out torn out areas in this stuff is a real PITA. Voids you can fill in with epoxy and some coffee grounds or saw dust.

Turning paralams can get you a piece that can look like interesting really spalted wood - but figure on using your 60 or 80 grit "gouge" once you've got your form turned.

charlie b

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charlie b

On Fri, 4 Mar 2011 0:45:33 -0600, charlie b wrote (in message ):

A good point, re the paralams. This area howevere is not a good candidate for that kind of building scrap. I have considerd however, the idea of talking to smeone in the local OSB plant, to find out what kind of scrap is available. Yes, I did use my #60 gouge to clean things up a bit. I did not notice any objectionable glue lines in my project. The photos on Flickr are reasonably good detail. The surface region of the panels is compressed somewhat and the core is a bit less so. In the turning then are regions of close density and regions of less density, but the pattern is kinda interesting. No real distinct glue line that I can see. tom

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tom koehler

"tom koehler" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.frontiernet.net...

Very organic looking. I like the right half better than the left. More natural.

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Lobby Dosser

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