Pat on the back for myself (gloat)

You win two prestigeous awards and send an URL of a bandsaw motor.....Boy was I disappointed...... Anyway congrats on the win..:-)

Sorry Mike

Mike I still have to make a picture, but I was looking for a neutral background,( I like to use grey paper), and I haven't got one that's big enough, the one turning is approx. 24" D and 8" H, but I will put a pic. up as soon as I can.

Hey! Congratulations Leo. I am looking forward to seeing the winning pieces. After visiting your site, I can only imagine what you took to win.

Robert

Hi Robert Thanks, I just finished putting up a new album with pictures from the winning entries and some more to fill the book

I hope it works, it did for me but you never know. This is the address

Very nice willow burl Leo. I also like the grain on the ash bowl and it's nice to see someone making the effort to FINISH the bottom of a bowl A job well done!!.....Shows you have pride in your work................

OK Leo. I looked at the page, it worked fine, and I was really knocked over by that willow burl bowl. WOW.

I would have been really impressed by the white ash, but after seeing the willow, it was just spectacular, not jaw dropping.

So.... tell us. HOW in the world did you get that piece of willow burl mounted? It is so big, and looks to be really unbalanced, and I can't for the life of me figure how you got it mounted up well enough to do some finish work on it. I didn't see any sign of how you held it. ?????

Another quick question. I have turned a fair amount of white ash, but none like that, and none that color. Did you tint or stain it before finishing?

Nice job on the new album, too.

Robert

Thanks for the compliments Robert

After taking off all the bark, I looked and found 4 bumps that where close to even in a plane, I than screwed a large enough piece of MDF to those, now to become feet, and than after establishing the visual center, I screwed my faceplate to the MDF, now installed to the lathe, I had to bold on a couple of hitch balls and a transformer body to get the whole setup balanced. After turning I had to cleanup the outside, willow is very fuzzy and I could not brush it off, I then took 2 scrub pads and put them on a stove bold and then mounted in the high speed drill, I was able to cleanup the outside. Hammered some pegs into the screw holes and sanded them down, you can still see them if you look close. After drying I had to do a lot of hand and power sanding sanding, when all the cracks where filled. The Ash is the natural color, I have a couple more rough turnings somewhere in my drying cabin, it comes from a large log, where a big branch had grown on the tree, and there was also a big bump next to it, had a hard time getting the pieces out and off of the log, when I went back a couple of days later, the city crew had moved it on top off a big pile of logs and I didn't dare to climb up there to get some more, just to dangerous.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

pretty damn good, Leo... I think you're starting to get it... a few more years and you'll be a legend..

That willow is so "over my head" that I not only wouldn't have imagined the finished piece, but wouldn't know how to make it if I did...

Really ingenious mounting method, also... some amazing work! Mac

Very nice work Leo! You deserve to gloat over this. I reckon we all need to get busy to catch up with you! Thanks for sharing them with us. Lyndell

Hi Mac

Thanks, but no thanks, I like to be incognito, I do have fun just fine the way things are. I guess a lifelong of working around problems and finding solutions and ways to do things, do rub off and become second nature, just lucky in that way I suppose.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Hi Lyndell

Thank you, but there is no need to catch up with anyone, the important thing is to enjoy, having fun with what you are doing, do what pleases you, and getting better just comes naturally.