Well, it's cooling down here in SoMinn and we've had a lot of wind lately and our trees have gone from looking spectacular to skeletons. But cool weather also means it's a good day for turning so I went down to the wood shop and opened the drying box and fished out the bowls we have drying. It looks like we need to have a session of bowl intensive care. Here we go:
The beech bowl from earlier in the week had dried out quite a bit and twisted itself out of shape--it's no longer round. It has a large dead knot in the center of the bowl and this is twisting the bowl out of shape as it dries. So it took it in hand and placed it on the lathe and turned the daylights out of it on both it's outside and inside surfaces. It's thinner than it was and deeper but it is round again. Here is a current photo:
The dead knot turned some but I can't turn it away completely. This fellow still needs to dry some and we'll come back to it.
Next: our hickory bowl from a week or two ago is doing well and I've turned it down to it's final shape:
It also need more drying but I think this guy is going to do very well and I can hardly wait to get the finish on it. I bet that grain will pop.
Then there's the sycamore bowl. Ah yes, the sycamore bowl. I'm beginning to think this thing is afflicted with evil tree spirits. It's still cracked and it is really getting deformed so I placed it on the lathe and turned it down hoping to clean it up. No chance. It's like trying to turn a potato. It's still full of water and tree sap and even though my tools are razor sharp, it tears instead of cuts:
I don't think this guy is going to make it.
The Blue House bowl is now ready to finish. Here are some photos:
Now that it's getting colder, the bowls are going to have to come inside and finish drying as my shop isn't heated and I'm not sure what kind of effect the cold weather will have on them. So they all get to go inside their own individual shopping bag where they can dry out a little more.
See you next week.
VW
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