The Anniversary Tray-Completion Photos

 Hi Everyone,

 The anniversary tray is done! Here are the photos:

I'm really quite pleased with how this came out and I hope the folks I give it to will enjoy it.

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 Ok,  I'm going to take a short break and then come back and re-organize the wood shop and clean it well. After that I am going to be rough turning a large block of American cherry that is green and unseasoned. That will have to be handled differently from dry wood and we'll talk about that in the coming weeks.

See you all soon and as always, thanks for dropping by.

Best always, 

VW 

 

 

The Anniversary Tray-almost done

 Hi Everyone,

 Well, I was spending a quiet evening at home when I decided to go out to the wood shop and finish turning the anniversary tray. After about an hour, I finished hollowing out the top of the turning blank and here it is so far:

I'm very pleased with how it came out. It needs sanding and then the finished applied but it's a good thickness and it doesn't wobble. The wood grain has a pronounced ripple to it so when the whole thing is done it will look really nice.

Ok, tomorrow I'll sand it and begin the finishing process. I'll post completion photos in a couple of days.

 VW

The Anniversary Tray continued: Underneath the tray

 Hi All,

 Well I worked some more on the tray today and it looks really nice. Here's a photo and a description of today's work:

I finished turning the foot and shaping it fit into the large wood chuck I have. I also finished the turning and sanding-I sanded it to 400 grit and it really is lovely.

This is really light weight wood. For comparison I would put it in the soft pine-cedar category. It turns, sands, and finishes really well. 

After I sanded it I applied a coat of salad bowl finish and took it off the lathe as I had some other projects to work on today. It's inside drying now and it is almost dry. It feels like satin to the touch.

Tomorrow I'll put it back on the lathe and apply a second coat of finish and then let it dry. This weekend I'll flip it over and hollow it out.

Stay tuned,
VW

The Wedding Anniversary Tray continued

 Hi Everyone,

 Well I worked on the turning blank earlier today and got the underside shaped. Here's a couple of photos:

This first photo shows the foot of the tray. I'm going to make it a little bit thicker so the Nova chuck can really grab on to it when I flip it over:

And here is the underside. You can really see the heart wood clearly here:

This needs more shaping and smoothing and cleanup before I flip it over and I'll see to this tomorrow.

The next problem is should I make it into a tray with a flat bottom inside that could be used for serving food or should I turn it into a shallow bowl instead? And should I add some handles?

I'll think about it. Stay tuned,

VW

Wedding Anniversary Tray-Black Limba

 Hi Everyone,

 I've got a turning project to share with you-a large turned tray to honor the 65th wedding anniversary for a charming couple. 

Here's the story:

Our next door neighbor has parents who live in New Mexico but travel here from time to time to visit. I've gotten to know them over the years and they're really great. They're always interested in the wood shop and I miss them when they return home. Come to find out this August they'll be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary. I think this calls for a present.

Discussion and Plans

I have a large 16"x16"x2" black limba turning blank that I would like to use for this project. Limba is a large tree that grows in western Africa-black limba has dark grey or black streaks and white limba has no streaks. The blank I have has many black streaks and is greyish in color. And it's 2 inches thick so I can turn this with a foot and still get enough depth out of it for a tray. 

I'll have to set up the lathe for this by moving the headstock to the opposite end of the lathe (I'll show you a photo of this a little bit later on) and change the tool rest but I should be able to get a wide platter out of this.

Here's a photo of the blank I'm going to use:

 As I think they won't be here until July I have plenty of time to work on it. 

So I have to go to a dental appointment shortly but when I come back I'll get a face plate attached and set up the lathe for a wide turn.

See you all later.

VW

The Maple Salad Bowl Project-Completion Photos

 Hello Everyone,

Well the maple bowl is finally finished. It persevered through the lathe issues I had, the run in with the fingernail gouge and some other conniptions but it made it and I'm quite happy with it.

Here's the completion photos:

A word about hard maple: it may not have the flashy color or grain patterns of other woods but it turns beautifully. I've made plates almost the thickness of index cards out of it. It's strong and it holds up in kitchen use and survives being dropped. It's one of my favorite woods.

I think this one deserves a signature.

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Ok, what's next? I have several small projects to finish and then I'll probably take a break of a week or two and sharpen everything and clean out the wood shop. Also I have my summer garden to get going on and I'll be working on that too.

So stay tuned. There will be more turning this summer!

Best,

VW

Recent Work

 Hi Everyone,

 Here are a couple of photos of some recent completed work:

Here is a box of scrap wood for my grandson who loves to do crafts and build stuff. I've sanded it all smooth and rounded off corners and edges. He'll have this all over the place in a day or two:

Next is a pie server I made for my daughter-in-law's mother for Mother's Day. The handle is marble wood:

And lastly here is a couch tray made out of a slice of a walnut tree:

That's it for the weekend. See you all soon.

VW

The Maple Salad Bowl Project, continued: Shaping the Foot with Cole Jaws

 Hi Everyone,

Well Happy May Day to everyone here-I hope you're all having a nice day. Now that the music box is finished and everything is working properly again it's time to finish the maple salad bowl.

Let's talk about bowl feet-this is the part of bowl that sits between the bowl and the surface it sits on, in this case a table. They can be simple or very elaborate. They can be turned into the shape of a ring or carved into tiny feet. But what they all have in common is that they have to hold the bowl up without tipping over or wobbling so whatever is in it, doesn't fall out. And they add a more refined appearance to the bowl. 

The foot on this bowl was added separately to create both  foot and to add a strong attachment point for the lathe while I was hollowing it out. Now that this is done it's time to remove some of the height of the foot so it sits closer to the table top and to clean it up and put on the finish.

To do this I used a set of Cole Jaws so let's look at some photos now:

Cole Jaws are wedge-shaped aluminum jaws that attach to the body of a chuck, in this case my large Nova chuck.

 The jaws also come with a set of rubber bumpers which screw into the screw holes on the faces of the jaws:

 So when I place the bowl onto the jaws and close them the bumpers hold the bowl and then this entire thing is mounted on the lathe for turning:

Here is the bowl mounted on the lathe. You can see the bumpers in place. I had done several minutes of turning to make sure the bowl was spinning correctly and it was securely attached. And it worked!

The speed limit for this set up is 600 rpm but with my recent experience with everything not working properly I turned it a 350 rpm. It took a little while but I managed to remove about 3/8" of wood from the foot. I sanded it to 320 grit and decided to stop there:

Here it is with a coat of salad bowl finish on it. This turning for this project is finished:

I'm going to add several more coats of salad bowl finish to it then flip it over and polish it.  I'll post completion photos in a couple of days.

 

VW