Check, Please

I have no idea what wood this bowl is turned from, but I do know that it was part of a large cache of wood purchased from a local woodturner who was retiring and selling all of his shop equipment and wood.  He had an eclectic collection, with some very fine, rare and expensive pieces, along with, frankly, a great deal of junk!  I suspect that this piece falls closer to the junk category, but I could be very wrong.  It was not prepared well for drying and the checks were obvious on the surface.  I would find out that the checks penetrated completely through the piece.  There was also considerable insect damage, particularly on one end of the unturned piece.2014-09-01 15.45.43

I had a lot of difficulty in simply getting the piece to round from its odd shape, but I was able to retain a small section of natural edge.  The wood was quite hard and resisted cutting, on several occasions simply jamming, making me thankful for the auto-arrest feature on my lathe that prevented damage to the machine, the wood, or me.  The wood had a distinct odor of vinegar when freshly cut, but this dissipated from the final product.

Finally, I was able to get it round and cut the mounting for the chuck, but the checks concerned me because I wasn’t convinced that the wood had enough structural integrity to hold together during the turning process.  I was able to hollow the center fairly easily but the outer edges caused too much centrifugal force and the piece came off the chuck several times, but didn’t fly away since the tool rest was close.  I had to be careful to not apply too much expansion force since the checks would increase under pressure.2014-09-01 17.28.57

Eventually, I was able to achieve a shape I liked through very patient work, very light cuts, and a speed kept under 1,000 RPM at all times.  There was little tear out or cross grain tough spots to sand, but I did have to sand away the cyanoacrylate that was holding one particular through and through check so that I could keep the piece on the chuck!  In addition, there was a wedge on the bottom that came completely off, making the use of the chuck problematic, although just possible.  In the end, the sanding proved easier than I feared and I achieved a finish that I was comfortable with, if not completely perfect perhaps in a few very small spots.

I used Natural Watco Danish Oil as I didn’t want to risk imparting a false or dark color to the unknown wood.  I was also reluctant to use any finish that was at all pasty in consistency, such as the ShellaWax I often use, since I imagined that anything other than a completely liquid finish would gather in the checks and be unattractive.  I applied two coats of Watco and buffed lightly when dry to the touch.2014-09-01 19.58.33

I chose to felt the bottom of this piece because I simply didn’t trust the structural integrity of the piece to withstand being reverse mounted to round off the sharp edges of the divot.  I debated this over and over but because one of the checks had to be glued close so that the chuck would even function and because a small wedge on the bottom had already completely separated and was only in place due to glue, I could clearly see that no matter how lightly I cut or how slowly I ran the lathe, any pressure from the tool on those checks would have a high likelihood of tearing the entire piece apart, or at least tearing out the glued chunk.  At this point I had too much time and energy invested to go all cowboy on it, so I felted it.  And, I figured that it wasn’t all that long ago that most turned bowls had felted bottoms to hide the screw marks from the face plates in the days prior to fancy chucks like the Nova series.  I found the felt to be a reasonable compromise from my usual bottom finishing process.2014-09-01 19.58.42

I realize that many turners would have turned this into firewood or garbage, and there were times in the process when I also considered doing exactly that since the wood didn’t seem attractive enough to continue the delicate work that was required.  I also know that some turners won’t work with anything other than a “perfect” blank.  But I am consistently gratified at discovering what is possible with the less than perfect piece of wood, and I find a piece that manages to survive despite structural defects and insect damage to be among the most interesting and challenging of all pieces both to make and to enjoy once finished.  I hope at least some of you readers agree!!

By the way, if anyone has any idea, no matter how remote, about the possible species of wood in use here, please let me know!