It's Wet
Wet is not something we're all that accustomed to, around here, you know. But, over the last few months, we've gotten an enormous amount of rain. So much, in point of fact, that, according to what I've heard, we've had more rain in the opening months of this year than we've had in the last fifteen years combined. As a consequence, it's really very wet around here. Meaning, my woodpiles contain wet wood.
I haven't turned a wet piece of wood in, at least, a couple years. I'd forgotten what it's like.
This morning, I came into the Dungeon needing to do something. I walked out back and picked up the first bit of wet wood I saw. A very small log - Podacarpus (read: Oleander), about 5" long and, maybe, 4" diameter, already shaped somewhat like a bowl, in it's oblongness. No photo of the log. I wish I had, but, I was just aiming to make some shavings, with no other goal in mind to speak of. But, when my very sharp tool started cutting very nicely, and shavings started flying, I thought,
Hey, I can do something I see lots of people in videos doing. I can "rough turn" a bowl, and set it on a shelf, for later treatment.
This is not a terribly pretty species, this Podacarpus, so it may not ever come to anything, in the end. Be that as it may, this morning, I rough-turned a small bowl - 4" x 2-1/2". It was quick (less than thirty minutes), and, I had some fun doing it.
I had begun by boring a worm screw hole in the fatter side of the log. And, naturally, when I drove it onto the screw and it hove to, the screw simply started auguring the very wet wood out of the hole. So, I stuck it between centers and went at it that way.
Now, while all this wood is wet, I want to do more. I'll need some shelf space, I think.
Very elementary stuff, really. I'm almost embarrassed to pollute my Beloved Buddies' heads with it. But, you know what? A little bit of practice doesn't hurt, much. Does it? I got some pleasurable practice in this. I made a nice, live-edge, bowl, with a clean lip, and a consistent wall thickness. And (this is big, for me) I didn't blow out the bottom. Also, I managed not to twist the foot right off of it, because I had the foresight that sometimes escapes me, in squirting some CA around the foot before putting it in the chuck.
I think I'm done, now.
Thank you.And, I apologize.
Wet is not something we're all that accustomed to, around here, you know. But, over the last few months, we've gotten an enormous amount of rain. So much, in point of fact, that, according to what I've heard, we've had more rain in the opening months of this year than we've had in the last fifteen years combined. As a consequence, it's really very wet around here. Meaning, my woodpiles contain wet wood.
I haven't turned a wet piece of wood in, at least, a couple years. I'd forgotten what it's like.
This morning, I came into the Dungeon needing to do something. I walked out back and picked up the first bit of wet wood I saw. A very small log - Podacarpus (read: Oleander), about 5" long and, maybe, 4" diameter, already shaped somewhat like a bowl, in it's oblongness. No photo of the log. I wish I had, but, I was just aiming to make some shavings, with no other goal in mind to speak of. But, when my very sharp tool started cutting very nicely, and shavings started flying, I thought,
Hey, I can do something I see lots of people in videos doing. I can "rough turn" a bowl, and set it on a shelf, for later treatment.
This is not a terribly pretty species, this Podacarpus, so it may not ever come to anything, in the end. Be that as it may, this morning, I rough-turned a small bowl - 4" x 2-1/2". It was quick (less than thirty minutes), and, I had some fun doing it.
I had begun by boring a worm screw hole in the fatter side of the log. And, naturally, when I drove it onto the screw and it hove to, the screw simply started auguring the very wet wood out of the hole. So, I stuck it between centers and went at it that way.
Now, while all this wood is wet, I want to do more. I'll need some shelf space, I think.
Very elementary stuff, really. I'm almost embarrassed to pollute my Beloved Buddies' heads with it. But, you know what? A little bit of practice doesn't hurt, much. Does it? I got some pleasurable practice in this. I made a nice, live-edge, bowl, with a clean lip, and a consistent wall thickness. And (this is big, for me) I didn't blow out the bottom. Also, I managed not to twist the foot right off of it, because I had the foresight that sometimes escapes me, in squirting some CA around the foot before putting it in the chuck.
I think I'm done, now.
Thank you.And, I apologize.