It’s Monday…let’s make something! ~ Week 50
Welcome back to the barn! I’ve been battling a head cold for what seems like forever! In today’s video you can hear how congested I am. But nevertheless…I needed to get up into the barn and get something made for WEEK 50!! How are we two weeks away from one year of this series?!? It’s kinda mind blowing, when I actually think about it. And I’ve had my new website up and running for just as long. Lots of changes and honestly I’ve loved it all! But let’s get to work!
<—— Check out today’s video!
I was digging through the pile of logs I have in the corner of the barn and I found this maple log that I’ve had for almost 10 years! It’s from that big leaf maple tree that fell on my shop at our previous property. I knew this was going to be a good piece, but honestly…I wasn’t prepared for all the spalting when I cut it open!
I started on the Grizzly bandsaw, cutting both ends of the log off, making sure to cut past where the cracks in the wood were. Then I cut the log in half lengthwise. I drilled a hole for the woodworm screw and mounted this bad boy to the lathe. Again…I was super excited to see all the spalting in this piece! And in the next few weeks I’ll use the other pieces from this log!
Once on the lathe I took my time shaping the outside. When a log has bark on it you need to be careful because that bark can come flying off at any time (which it did). At one point I did stop the lathe and removed the bark by hand. Once I had all the bark cut off I was able to focus on the actual shape of the bowl. I originally started to make a big mortar and pestle, but quickly changed my mind…not sure why, but I decided just to go with a stand alone bowl.
This one took me a while to do, mainly because I had to completely turn off the part I was going to use as the pedestal for the bowl. But once I had that done I was able to focus on the shape. With the shape where I wanted it, I then sanded, oiled, sanded and buffed with wood shavings…and then oiled the outside of the bowl one more time. I flipped the bowl over in the chuck and got to work on this inside.
Sometimes maple can be a slow turn…but this piece honestly cut like butter! It was fun to see all the shavings just flying past me as I shaped the inside of the bowl. And seriously…the spalting in this bowl! One of the best! Once I had the inside to the thickness I wanted, I sanded, oiled, sanded, buffed with wood shavings and oiled the inside once more time before taking it off the lathe so I could put it in the cole jaws.
Since this piece was cutting so nicely…the foot wasn’t that bad to remove. On some pieces it can be a real slog and I need to sharpen my knife several times…but this one wasn’t a big deal at all. Then it was time to…you guessed it…sand, oil, sand, buff and oil. And the bowl was ready to come off the lathe for the final time! One final oiling of the entire piece and that’s all she wrote!
As excited as I was to turn this bowl…I’m even more excited to get back up into the barn and turn the other pieces from this log! Look for those in the coming weeks! What do you all think of this bowl? Hope you have a great week and I’ll see you all back up in the barn next Monday!
