Easy Wood Tools<\/a>, the Rougher, the Finisher, and the No 1 Hollower all handled this hard and twisted wood. Their performance once again demonstrates why I am 100% loyal to the brand.<\/p>\nTo help ensure stability, I remembered a trick my Dad had used in making the bowl he made from a similar Manzanita root burl. He essentially soaked every crack and crevice with thin cyanoacrylate to help increase the odds that the piece would stay together. Once I had removed enough material that I could see more clearly, I too soaked some of the larger cracks and crevices with cyanoacrylate and then I sprayed those areas with accelerator. Even so, I waited 10 to 15 minutes to be certain, I thought, that all the glue had dried. Confident that the glue was dry, I remounted the Manzanita burl on the lathe and turned it on.<\/p>\n
Immediately there was a shower of liquid cyanoacrylate spraying out from the cracks and crevices! I had not yet put my safety glasses on because I had not started to use any tools and a droplet of the glue landed millimeters from my right eye. I was momentarily in a, excuse the pun, blind panic that I had glue in my right eye and that I might glue my eye shut or cause damage to cornea itself. I had, again forgive the pun, visions of a night in the local emergency room frantically trying to preserve my eyesight. But whew! The wood turning gods were smiling on me. There was absolutely no glue in the eye itself, only on my face, my shirt, my pants, the floor, and the bandsaw table behind me.<\/p>\n
There were several lessons to be learned here. First and foremost, ALWAYS HAVE SAFETY GLASSES ON WHEN THE LATHE IS RUNNING EVEN IF NO TOOLS ARE IN USE! Even in the absence of the glue, a burl wood piece is inherently and always unstable. Such piece COULD fly apart from the centrifugal force at any time even if not tool is touching the wood. That was a foolish and careless oversight on my part. Secondly, I realized that cyanoacrylate that flows down into cracks and crevices might be protected from the air, or the accelerator, that is required to dry it. I should have walked away from the piece once I had soaked it in the glue for at least several hours, and even then I still should have had my safety glasses on before the lathe was turned on. I made a foolish mistake but I lived to tell about it and for that I am thankful.<\/p>\n
Eventually the piece was hollowed out to my satisfaction, although I kept being tempted to try to thin it out just a little more and then a little more yet. In general I hate the feeling and the look of bowls that are too thick and kludgey, so I am always trying to ensure that my side-walls are no more than 0.25” thick and that the bottoms are no more than 0.50” thick. But in this case that just wasn’t reasonable or safe. I had a form that I was happy with, mostly, and I achieved quite excellent thin walls given the nature of the material, and it was still in one piece. Plus, with the screws in the bottom of the piece, I had to be careful to not cut so thin as to hit and expose them. If I did that, no felt would hide the holes because they would be visible in the bottom interior of the bowl. So, at some point, I had to say enough is enough and live with it, making exceptions due to the material being so much less than perfect and easy to work with.<\/p>\n
Now I had to try and do some, thankfully, minimal sanding work. The Manzanita cut so cleanly that I didn’t need to do much clean up. And, on the outside edges of the natural edge area, there was only so much I could do with risking breakage or at the least tearing up the sandpaper as it would catch on the jagged natural edge pieces.<\/p>\n
But the worst was trying to sand the interior without catching my hands on the spinning natural edge protrusions. I lost count of how many times I lost control of the sanding pad and how many times I banged my hand on some protruding part of the natural edge. I was finish sanding at 400 grit, just daring to congratulate myself on managing to almost finish this piece without it breaking apart when it did just that.<\/p>\n
My middle finger, how appropriate, caught that protrusion on the natural edge and tore it right off the bowl. And it cut me pretty good with the force of the collision at over 1,000 RPM. At this point, cursing ensues I assure you. Then I grip a piece of paper towel on my finger, cut right at the joint crease to ensure that it would be maximally aggravating, and stopped the bleeding. The cut wasn’t deep and my finger was still clearly attached, but my bowl was missing a good chuck.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the bowl didn’t break any further and the piece itself was in one piece. This was good and it certainly wasn’t a guaranteed outcome as I have seen pieces come off and shatter when they hit the floor at good speed. I will say that the generous amount of shavings that are a constant feature under my lathe cushioned the blow, saved the piece, and therefore such debris is a safety feature and should not be cleaned away. It’s worth a shot, right?<\/p>\n
The break was relatively clean and I was able, with some patience, to glue the piece back into place. I’m not going to pretend that the break isn’t visible, if you know where it is and what you are looking at, but the beauty of having so many natural checks and cracks is that it looks exactly like all the naturally occurring imperfections. And, my experience is that most people don’t look close enough to see such minor issues, or if they see them they don’t know what they are, and the overall greater beauty and style of the piece tends to distract the eye from the imperfections anyway. I don’t think it detracts from the piece at all and while I could wish it hadn’t happened, I think the piece looks better as it is than it would have had I left the piece off and finished it without re-attaching it. Perhaps it is just a matter of personal opinion.<\/p>\n
Now of course I had to clean up the joint on the lathe, both inside and outside with a light application of the turning tools and then more light sanding, being very careful to not repeat the problem that caused it all in the first place.<\/p>\n
Once the sanding was finished to my satisfaction, I had to decide on a finish for the piece. I turned to spray lacquer by Deft because with a natural edge a rubbed finish really isn’t practical. The natural edge would never achieve a good finish with a rubbed product and most likely it would just gum up in the cracks and roughness of the natural edge. I have always used such a spray finish with natural edge work and I don’t think there is a better alternative out there. Besides, I think lots of people really respond positively to the high gloss shine of the spray lacquer and even I think it looks quite nice, almost nice enough that I would consider using a spray high-gloss finish on other piece that don’t have a natural edge. I haven’t done it yet, but it could happen.<\/p>\n
Natural edge work always presents both unique opportunities for beauty in highlighting the work of nature in the natural edge presentation but also unique challenges in turning, sanding, and finishing. Even the spray lacquer finish wasn’t without its challenges in that some areas of the natural edge that have a lower density, sapwood I suspect based on the coloration, tend to absorb the lacquer more than the harder and denser darker colored material which causes the gloss to be uneven, or absent, in those limited areas. I don’t know that there is much I could have done to stop that, although it is possible that a spray application of sanding sealer might have resolved it had I realized it would be an issue prior to applying the lacquer and assuming that I had a spray-on sanding sealer, which I don’t. But I don’t let it bother me personally. I know why the edge looks the way it does and I fully realize that it is the effect of the edge being truly natural. I wanted a natural edge and I am completely satisfied with how such edges finish and I have to trust that should I choose to give this unique piece to someone that they too will be the type of person who understands and appreciates that the natural world isn’t always uniform and that such non-uniformity and differences are what make natural items special, unique, and truly beautiful.<\/p>\n
I am lucky to still have two to three more of these small Manzanita burl pieces to work with in the future. I have completely enjoyed the experience of making this small piece and now that I know I can succeed with the material now that I have some years of practice under my belt, I look forward to further experimentation. I can easily see myself looking out for additional Manzanita burls in the future, provided I can find quality material with a provenance that I trust at a price that seems reasonable. It is potentially a tall order to fill but I trust in the honesty of wood vendors across the country, despite a few bad apples, and look forward to the hunt and the find of additional find examples of this truly unique and special wood that has links to my childhood and therefore a special place of affection in my heart, forever more.<\/p>\n
As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever their wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
But the worst was trying to sand the interior without catching my hands on the spinning natural edge protrusions. I lost count of how many times I lost control of the sanding pad and how many times I banged my hand on some protruding part of the natural edge. I was finish sanding at 400 grit, just daring to congratulate myself on managing to almost finish this piece without it breaking apart when it did just that. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":1335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,138,139,130],"tags":[154,159,160,162,171,176,179,181,183,198,200,210,217,221,225,233,234,239,240,241,247],"yoast_head":"\n
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