| March 1, 2025
It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Two cities, London and Paris, two different experiences. Duality, contrasts, individuality.
I finished turning the two bowls last night. They’re rather small, and even with my nohurry approach to turning, I was able to finish them both in a few hours. I started with the spalted holly bowl first. It’s from a tree that had died last year, a disease in the roots that took out several holly. The wood, largely, was pure white, but part of the tree, even after sitting under cover for a year, were already spalting. I cut out several bowl blanks last month. They were almost to the point of dripping wet.
So, I drilled a hole, mounted onto the screw and started turning. I used a drill bit that was a little too large, and with the bowl slightly loosening on pressure, I went ahead and pushed a live enter into the tail to secure it. Turning was quick and easy. There is a reason for turning green wood! Ribbons went flying and I had the outside form fairly quickly. I shortened the height from the blank some. Some of the spalting is pretty soft, and I’m not comfortable with thin wall turning yet, so I keep the sides thicker. I removed the live center and then turned a mortoise to put in the Nova chuck.
I flipped and tightened the bowl into the chuck and went with a 50-degree bowl gouge to clean out the interior. Smooth as silk, not much pressure at all, and no catches. It was the best of times! I was a little rough in a couple places, so I worked from 80 grit to 800 grit sandpaper to clean up the lines and tighten up the pores to take on an entirely different look. The AMerican Holly is an amazing wood that changes to look more like rock with enough sanding. Rest assured, though, it is soft as it started. The lighting is a little yellow on the photo below but you get an idea of what it looks like right after turning.
That went pretty quick, so I picked up a cherry blank. I had made the bowl blank in February, but the tree itself was part of windfall several years ago, and it had then been stored in the garage, so it was exceedingly dry. I took the same process as the holly, mounting onto a screw with the live center on the tail, and took it to the point of carving out a mortoise. With its dryness, it was a bit of a bumpy ride making it round.
I flipped it and secured into the chuck and went about carving the interior, first with a scraper, and then onto the bowl gouge. But, I got a good catch with the scraper on the interior and wham, the mortoise blew out and away rolled the bowl. Ha ha ha, Oh well. I chased it down, and since the foot was now a mess, I screwed it back on, and flattened off the bottom to remove the blown out section, then decided to turn a foot as the tenon to hold.
I flipped back and mounted on the tenon and, while it was bumpy every now and then, pushed through the dry wood and had it mostly to shape. While I was finishing up, on the outside, I let the scraper glide into the recess, and wham, a big grab and there went the bowl again. I was turning ~1000RPM both times so they both fell to the floor. Time for another cleanup! So, remounted the bowl, shrunk it in size, and finished it off.
Looking back, I enjoyed each bowl for what it is, just as I enjoy each of the projects I complete for what it is (or becomes). The individuality, regardless of its easiness or difficulty, is what I enjoy so much about making.
All for now!
See you around … (groan) …
STAPLESMAKES-2025-02-A0
STAPLESMAKES-2025-02-A1