Ash and Black Mesquite Bowl

Maybe I've not been doing this long enough to get persnickity about things. I like the looks of it. It beats the snot out of anything I've done yet. I'd be proud of it.

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Very nice! I can tell it represents a lot of work. Good job.

Thanks! It's one of those technically correct pieces that just didn't turn out quite as expected. :-\

But I did use my home brew vacuum chuck to turn the bottom: (Since you're now playing with such a device.)

Man is that thing great - and only cost about $30. (Had the pump, gauge, and many of the parts.) I've never reversed anything and finished the bottom so quickly and easily. Held really well with only 1" Hg, and I used 5" Hg for the turning process. (On something this large, 20"+ would probably destroy it.) After this, I turned an exposed bark bowl from sopping wet magnolia. It is the ugliest thing, and the nastiest wood, I have ever turned. Kinda like politicians, black heart, and pale, featureless outer. ;-) Hope it's good to burn in the fireplace, 'cause I'm not bothering with turning the rest of the log...

FWIW

Greg G.

I have some nice bowls from magnolia. And some bad ones. Will post a picture in ABPW of one that spalted (molded) after rough turning.

Cool - I would be interested in seeing those. I was hoping that this would be spalted, as it was retrieved from the ground, but not so. Doesn't seem to have much to recommend it, yet. I believe it is southern swamp magnolia. The pickings are slim - green wood isn't easy to find anymore, and I can't just cut down trees because we live in the city. And all the forests around us have recently been cleared for acres of dreaded McMansions.

That is one reason I do a lot of segmented stuff. I can buy a variety of exotic wood easier than finding a tree - dead or otherwise. (!) The neighbors have cut down trees, but it's usually a pine tree. There has been one big poplar, a few tiny oaks, and a Bradford pear. I turned some of the pear, but it sure is squirrely - seems to split a lot while drying. But my favorite has been the cherry (laurel) that I removed from our yard - which is what prompted the purchase of a Jet mini last year. What a treacherous, downhill path THAT led to...

Greg G.

Thanks! I'm certainly no expert. Have owned a lathe for less than two years, and then used it mostly in the winter months. I had no idea how Ash would turn - and now I know.

Made a Maple and Black Walnut bowl last winter,

and was kinda driving for a scaled up version. It's bigger, for sure. Greg G.

I just got a truck load of spalted sweetgum from a neighbor, and just down the hill is three dead elms already promised to me when they cut them down. That is some pretty wood. My favorite tree cutter sometimes drops off a log in my back yard, too. It's feast or famine.

I love the Elm that I've seen, and have looked for a supply. But can't find it dead or alive around here. Lumber places don't carry it, and I haven't seen a live Elm tree in years. Birdseye Elm is especially attractive. I'm not sure what sweetgum looks like turned, but it's fairly common here. Spalted Hackberry is another wood on my wish list.

Looked at your magnolia bowl - nice! I don't think the stuff I have will turn out like that as the heartwood is almost black, and it's not very pretty.

All the more reason I need to get out of the city...

FWIW

Greg G.