Saturday, March 31, 2012

project update-laminated red salad bowl

Hi Everyone,

I've emailed the person I was going to make that laminated red salad bowl for and offered to make her a solid red bowl out of mahogany (I found some today at Siwek Lumber). She indicated she would prefer a solid red bowl so I'm going to glue the red bowl stack together and get it ready to be turned at a later date.

The big hickory bowl will be left as is and I'll continue to work on it and hollow it out.

More later,
VW

Douglas Fir-a wood, not a person

Hi Everyone,

In my previous posting I mentioned a type of softwood called Douglas Fir. It's a soft wood, commonly used for framing, flooring, and cabinetry. It has a lovely orange color and the scent is heavenly--it really brings back memories of my childhood as several members of my family were involved in construction.

Anyway, I found some today at Siwek Lumber and decided to while away the afternoon turning a piece of it into a plate.

Here goes:

The wood is soft and since most of my faceplates are attached to other projects and can't be removed, I decided to attache the blank via my 4 jaw chuck and the center screw that is an accessory to this. See the photos:




The last photo shows the blank ready to be cut out on the bandsaw. Notice the hole in the center for the chuck. This surface will eventually become the top of the plate.


Here is a photo of the underside of the plate. You can see the foot in the center. Fir has the wild grain patterns and it also has a coarse texture. This makes tearing it very easy and lathe tools have to be very sharp to cut it and the lathe has to be spinning at least 800 rpm.




I flipped it over and began to hollow it out and it was difficult going. The coarseness is a real problem and there was a lot of tearing in the wood. The dark grain in the wood is harder than the adjoining light colored wood, so cutting and sanding leaves a wavy surface.  I had to re-shapen my bowl gouge to get past that but I still had a small amount of pitting left on the surface. I went on a head and sanded it and gave it a light coat of oil. Here are the finish photos:




This was an interesting exercise. Next time I'll sharpen my tools to razor sharp status before cutting. I'm not sure what I'll do with this plate--probably use it as a pattern.

Well, it's getting late and I need to figure out what to cook for dinner and I'm sure you do too. I'll see you again on Monday.

Have a good weekend,
VW

Siwek Lumber--wow!

Hi Everyone,

Well, I went out to a new lumber yard, Siwek Lumber, located in the Arts District in Minneapolis. What a find this was. They have an amazing variety of lumber and lumber products as well as all sorts of hardware, tools, and finishing products. They also have an amazing variety of softwoods-pine, cedar of every imaginable size, and douglas fir. I haven't seen douglas fir in years as here in the midwest it tends to wind up in doors, window frames, flooring, etc. You don't see a lot of lumber for sale. I was really happy to see so much fir lumber as I grew up with it as a kid--it was like almost seeing an old friend after many years absence.

I've been wanting to do some work in soft woods, particularly yellow pine and douglas fir due to their pronounced grain patters. The douglas fir I found was kiln dried, straight grained, and over all very sound.-in short prefect for turning so I bought several cut off pieces and brought them home to make platters out of .

They have a ton of hardwoods for sale, including wide widths, and large thickness. They also have some of the lesser known hardwoods like hackberry, sycamore, all sorts of maple, mahogany, you name it. And surprise, they had a big stack of Brazilian cherry, one of my favorites.

The staff is very friendly and helpful. And they have a big dog who is really nice and that sealed the deal. I will be making my way back there!!

VW

Friday, March 30, 2012

Next Projects: Large Hickory Bowl and Red laminated salad bowl: Discussion and plans

Hi Everyone,

Well, it's cool day in the northern mid west this morning-perfect turning weather! We also have an owl close by who has been hooting away a lot lately so it's perfect wood shop weather.

We have two new projects to do:

The first is a large hickory bowl blank. I ordered this last year with the red elm bowl blank that I began turning yesterday. I'd like to get this cut into shape in order for it to dry and be finished by fall. Here is a photo of it:


This is fine wood that is turning very well.

Normally I like to leave very figured wood alone--ie--I don't add any adornment to the exterior surface but this time I have hankering to add something to the surface-some beads or coves. I'm not sure what I'll do so I'll stop for now and think about that before I continue.

Next project-Laminated red bowl

I wonderful friend of mine asked me for a red salad bowl some time ago and I've searched heaven and earth for a solid red block of wood to accommodate her request but alas, no such luck. So in order to get a project going for her before I turn 100 years old, I've decided to laminate a block of red-colored woods and make her a bowl.

Here we go:

I have some wood in stock that is red colored and it's kempas wood, a favorite wood of mine for turning. Kempas wood is most often used in the US for flooring and exterior decking on houses. It's a deep orange red color and it turns wonderfully, but since most of it goes for flooring, it's difficult to find it at all, let alone in solid turning blocks. Luckily I found some kempas lumber a month ago and had the foresight to buy it. This will make up most of the bowl. Next I have some cumaru wood, also found in flooring and decking and it's a lovely golden brown color. It turns wonderfully and I bought some of that when I bought the kempas. I also have lots of hickory for contrast and a small piece of thin rosewood:



I've gone a head and cut them to a uniform 4.25" in width and then I cut them down to 12" in length:



Let's arrange them into a possible bowl blank:




It needs to be a little wider in order for us to have a 12" diameter blank. I'm going to have to add more wood but what kind and what color? Hmmm....better leave this and think about it over night too.

While I had the table saw set up I cut two platter blanks from solid planks of wood: one is black ash and the other is Phillipine mahogany. Those will become serving platters in the coming weeks.

So here we go again. I'll be back tomorrow to work on everything some more and in the mean time I'll give all this some heavy thought. So grab some coffee and put your feet up and join me tomorrow in the wood shop for yet another adventure in woodturning.

See you soon,
VW

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Heritage Craft Association

Hi Everyone,

One of my favorite organizations is the Heritage Craft Association in the UK. They promote the preservation of traditional craft skills and they seek to create a public space for people who practice these crafts and make a living at them. I've been a big admirer of them and wish we had an organization like this here in the US.

Anyway, they have a very interesting section on "What is Craft?" that I would like to share with you at:
http://www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/index.php/news/hca-blog/item/123-can-we-define-what-craft-is?

See you soon,
VW

Красный Вяз чаши обсуждения и планы

Привет всем,

У меня был блок красный вяз с лета прошлого года, что я хотел работать, и я, наконец, есть место в моем графике. Я получил этот блок из дерева ВключениеБланки 4 U, небольшой семейный бизнес, дерево во Флориде / HTTP :/ /www.woodturningblanks4u.com/. Они имеют хороший запас заготовок из различных деревьев, которые они собирают со всего юго-востоке США.

В любом случае это 3 "x10" блок:



Блоки ... как это обычно появляются покрытые воском или Anchorseal, оба из которых держать блок от высыхания и растрескивания. И они, как правило,покрыты грязью и опилки, так что может быть трудно знать, что древесина подвыглядит.

Какой сюрприз был в магазине для меня:



Это несколько действительно впечатляющих зерно - и дерево spaltedСм.следующие две фотографии:






Во всяком случае, блок невыдержанный поэтому его придется идти в сумку длясушки около 1 месяца, так что будет сохнуть медленно и, надеюсь, не трескается и не деформируется. Я сократить его очень толстый в этот момент, чтобы дать нам лес, чтобы работать, когда я сократил его снова.

И вот лучшая часть - чаши уже продан!

Мы вернемся к этому позже.
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New Project-Red Elm bowl-discussion and plans

Hi Everyone,

I have had a block of red elm since last summer that I've wanted to work on and I finally have space in my schedule for. I got this block from Wood Turning Blanks 4 U, a small family owned wood business in Florida/http://www.woodturningblanks4u.com/. They have a nice inventory of blanks from a variety of trees that they harvest from around the southeastern US.

Any way this is a 3"x10" block:


...blocks like this typically arrive coated with wax or Anchorseal, both of which keep the block from drying out and cracking. And they are usually covered with dirt and saw dust so it can be difficult to know just what the wood underneath looks like.

What a surprise was in store for me:



This is some really spectacular grain--and the wood is spalted. See the next two photos:






Anyway, the block is unseasoned so its going to have to go into the drying bag for about 1 month so it will dry slowly and hopefully not crack or distort.  I've cut it very thick at this point to give us wood to work with when I cut it again.

And here's the best part--the bowl is already sold!

We'll come back to this one later.

VW

Adrienne Rich

RIP Adrienne Rich-a woman who told it like it is

Repose en paix Adrienne Rich


Покойся с миром Adrienne Rich


Descansa en paz Adrienne Rich


Ruhe in Frieden Adrienne Rich





Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Project Updates

Hi Everyone,
Well, its a really nice day here in the upper mid west and so I went down to the wood shop and worked on several projects:

Salad Bowl Wedding Present

The mineral stained poplar bowl is coming along nicely. I've turned it down to it's final shape and done some rough sanding on the outside and in the interior:



You can clearly see the mineral staining on the side photo. It's going to be interesting to see how this finally comes out.


Hickory bowl with the walnut rim:


I've finished hollowing out this bowl and it's quite nice.  The end grain has some tearing on the inside so it's going to take quite a lot of sanding to smooth it.  More work for this bowl is ahead of us.


Purple Heart Tea Box:


This is done although there is pitting on the end grain both inside and outside. I'm going to have to work on my technique more as this is showing up repeatedly. The top came out perfect.


The pink hand grenade


Well, I guess this doesn't look as bad as it did last night. I've oiled and polished it and it has a nice finish. I think if I look at this long enough, it will become "objet d'art" instead of a weird colored piece of wood. Oh well, on the bookshelf it goes.


More later,
VW

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Цветочные вазы конца «голубого периода»

Привет всем,
Ну, это через несколько часов, и я пошел обратно в лес, магазин, чтобывзглянуть на дерево ваза:






Уродливый как грязи забор черта выглядит как пурпурный ручная граната. Этоопределенно не то, что я хотел достичь. Так что я положил его обратно на токарном станке и отшлифовать от фиолетового цвета. Вы можете увидетьфиолетового пятна до сих пор в лесу зерна:



Так как дуб красный имеет розоватый цвет с самого начала я решил попробовать окрашивание его с той же древесины пятно я использовал наленивого Сьюзан - это сейчас блевать цвет темно-розовыми:




Я собираюсь оставить эту ночь и посмотреть, как он выглядит завтра.

Вздох,
Виктория

Flower vase-end of blue period

Hi Everyone,
Well, it's several hours later and I went back down to the wood shop to take a look at the wood vase:


Ugly as a mud fence-the damn thing looks like a purple hand grenade.  This is most definitely not what I wanted to achieve. So I put it back on the lathe and sanded off the purple color. You can see the purple stain still in the wood grain:



Since the red oak has a pinkish color to begin with I decided to try staining it with the same wood stain I used on the lazy susan--it's now a puke color of deep pink:



I'm going to leave this overnight and see what it looks like tomorrow.

Sigh,
VW

Синяя посуда, продолжает ...

Привет всем,
Что касается синих удар посуды я на:

Я решил запечатать дерево перед тем, как он окрашивается и вот фото этогоготовы пойти:




... и как вы можете видеть, дерево герметик вывел природных розовостьдревесины.

Я посмотрел на несколько различных типов древесины красителями и решили начать с доступными красками. Я пошел и купил бутылку краска ткани Рит втемно-синий:




Те из нас, кто пережил 60-е годы в США будут помнить "Рит краска" (тип тканикраска для домашнего использования) от всех связь смерти и другиесумасшедшие действия, которые мы сделали тогда. Я решил использовать его, потому что это легко доступны, и это нетоксичный.

Я затопил поверхности лица с красителем и оставил его около 5 минут:



Поскольку речь идет о водной основе красителя и герметика я использовал на основе нефти, краска бисером некоторые.

Через 5 минут я взял бумажное полотенце и повернулся на токарном станке истер ее с намерением трения красителя на поверхность, и вот что получилось:




Розовый и синий в сочетании выделять фиолетовый цвет.

Я хочу, чтобы это полностью высохнуть в течение следующих нескольких часов и вернуться и посмотреть, как он выглядит. Я могу применить отделку тут же-мывидим.

Если все это выглядит ужасно, я всегда могу повторно песка на поверхность иначать все сначала. Я отправлю больше фотографий сегодня.

Виктория

Blue ware, continued

Hi Everyone,
With regards to the blue ware kick I'm on:

I decided to seal the wood before I stained it and here is a photo of it ready to go:


...and as you can see, the wood sealer brought out the natural pinkness of the wood.

I've looked around at several different types of wood dyes and decided to begin with readily available dyes. I went and purchased a bottle of Rit Fabric Dye in navy blue:


Those of you who survived the '60s will remember Rit Dye from all the tie dying and other crazy activities we did back then.  I decided to use it because it's readily available and it's non-toxic.

I flooded the surface of the face with dye and left it for about 5 minutes:


Since this is a water based dye and the sealer I used is oil based, the dye is beading up some.

After 5 minutes I took a paper towel and turned on the lathe and wiped it off with the intention of rubbing the dye into the surface and here is what I got:



The pink and the blue combined to give off a purple color.

I'm going to let this completely dry for the next several hours and come back and see what it looks like. I may apply a finish right then and there-we'll see.

If the whole thing looks terrible, I can always re-sand the surface and begin again. I'll post more photos tonight.

VW



Sunday, March 25, 2012

Во второй половине дня воскресенья, Hickory миску и я с "голубой" период

Привет всем,
Ну, это прекрасный день здесь, в замороженном севере. Все зеленеет исуществует огромное количество птиц и других животных за пределами прямо сейчас. Он должен превратить холодную и дождливую завтра, так что ясобираюсь сделать сено (или щепа), а солнце светит.

Я выдолбленные грецкого ореха гикори чаша больше, и я обнаружил проблему -снаружи, так и внешние формы не совпадают:






Толщина стен варьируется, если вы посмотрите на краю в верхней части фото и сравнить ее с обода в нижней части фотографии, вы увидите расхождения втолщине. О оленей, что делать?


Хотя я размышляет о том, что я начинаю новый проект. На какое-то время я хотела экспериментировать с цветом на некоторых объектах я делаю. Я такжехотел, чтобы посуда. И я всегда был очарован с голубой посуды, типа готовойкерамики применяется для производства в ряде мест в мире, от Японии доВеджвуд в Англии. Так вот вопрос: можно ли для получения синей отделкой наточеные деревянные объекта?

Я думаю, мы должны выяснить.

Я купил ламинированный дуб красный луч на Рождество в прошлом году с намерением использовать его для некоторых из моих поворотов. Мне нравитсякрасный дуб, потому что получается хорошо, и она выглядит прекрасной пищей и с маслом и воском, то получится красивый красновато-коричневый.

Я решил отрезать кусок красного дуба и превратить его в вазочке для сухих цветов. Я избавлю вас все в процессе фотографии, потому что вы видели меняпревратить площадь в лес круглой формы во много раз. Вот несколькофотографий начала и конечный продукт:












Много вопросов возникло: что я хочу сделать с этим? Что синего цвета я должен стремиться? Должна ли она повышению текстура древесины или скрывать это?Какой метод следует использовать, чтобы применить его и, наконец, какая отделка должна идти по нему?
Я собираюсь сделать несколько экспериментов, прежде чем применять пятно в вазу, и я возьму тебя с собой фотографии и процесс записи.
Итак, мы имеем еще одно приключение в лесу магазин впереди нас, и я буду рассматривать любые предложения, что кто-то так что не стесняйтесь обращаться ко мне на selkieworks на Gmail точка ком.
И вот опять!


Виктория