Over the summer of 2019 my Dad gave me a large 13″ x 2″ round blank of Claro Walnut. I was intimidated about working with it as it would be the largest blank I had ever taken on. But finally, in early November 2019 I dove in to the challenge and had really nice results.
Claro Walnut and Black Walnut are two of my favorite woods to work with. They cut cleanly and finish easily making them ideal for use on the lathe. Although this blank was bigger than any I had tried before, the basics were the same and in the end the only thing that I really noticed to be different was the number of times I had to move my tool rest about to be sure that I was in close contact with the wood. My Robust American Beauty lathe can turn objects up to 24″ in diameter, so while this was the largest blank I had worked with it was not quite close to being the biggest that I would work with.
American Beauty Lathe
The blank did has a large check running completely across it although, thankfully, it was not a full thickness check. I was still a bit concerned about the stability of the side of the blank with the check but in the end it held up fine. I realize that many wood turners won’t turn blanks with checks but I think that these checks add character to a finished piece and a bit of a challenge to the turner as well not avoid catches that would tear the entire piece apart.
In addition to the check, I found some nice figure in the wood as well. There is a small are that seems to bloom out from the main figure in the base of the platter, forming a narrow channel and then enlarging out again as if it were a lake or wetland. And there was a strip of sapwood that remained and which adds color interest due to the contrast between the much darker heartwood and the lighter sapwood.
While it took a bit longer to cut and shape than a smaller blank would have the process was essentially identical. I cut the piece to round which reduced the diameter to about 12.75″. I cleaned up the back which took a good deal more effort than I expected as the piece had not been planed flat such that about half of what would be the back was higher than the other half. Flattening this out took off about another 1/4″ of so from the finished piece. Finally, I cut the divot for mounting the blank on to the 100mm Nova Chuck for cutting out the interior of the platter. The interior cut surprisingly fast considering the size of the piece. The cutting and finishing process were the same for interior and exterior.
Claro Walnut Platter
All cuts were made using Easy Wood Tools cutters along with a Robert Sorby shew chisel to the set the interior bevel for the divot. The last step was to sand the back and sides to the final finish of 800 grit using Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks.
Usually when working with walnut, either Black or Claro, I use a natural tone Watco Danish Oil. In this case my can of natural Watco had been exposed to air and had hardened into a lump, so I decided to try the Medium Walnut tone which I expected would be behave similarly with walnut wood as the cherry tone Watco does with cherry wood, i.e. enhancing the natural color without being too darkening. I tested the finish on some other as yet unworked pieces of walnut and the color change didn’t seem too dramatic or dark, so I went ahead and applied it to the entire piece. I think in the end that it darkened a bit more than I expected, especially on the sapwood section but I still think the overall effect is pleasing.