Project Information
Had a piece of elm crotch that I'm going to turn a bigger bowl from, but when I went to square it up, I had a fairly nice piece about 3 inches square. The grain orientation was a little weird because it was near the crotch, so I figured it would be good practice.
I started out with the faceplate on what became the bottom, thinking that was going to be the top, and I'd turn away the screw-holes, but I ran into some difficulties that convinced me to change my plans, and I ended up turning a tenon on that same end, then hollowing the other end.
After a couple sessions of repairing small cracks with CA glue, and soaking down a couple spots of problematic end-grain with CA, I got a reasonable turning that was about 4 inches high. But I had a catch while smoothing the inside (I need a side-scraper, I think), so I parted off the top inch and tried again. Still not great, but it's done and my sweetie thinks it's "so pretty!"
Finished with linseed oil and shellac, but I'm thinking of putting on a couple coats of tung oil or maybe epoxy so I can use it as a whiskey glass.
I tried to "sign" the bottom by using titanium dioxide in place of coffee grounds for a kolrosing powder. That doesn't work so well, since titanium dioxide is oil soluble. Oops!
I started out with the faceplate on what became the bottom, thinking that was going to be the top, and I'd turn away the screw-holes, but I ran into some difficulties that convinced me to change my plans, and I ended up turning a tenon on that same end, then hollowing the other end.
After a couple sessions of repairing small cracks with CA glue, and soaking down a couple spots of problematic end-grain with CA, I got a reasonable turning that was about 4 inches high. But I had a catch while smoothing the inside (I need a side-scraper, I think), so I parted off the top inch and tried again. Still not great, but it's done and my sweetie thinks it's "so pretty!"
Finished with linseed oil and shellac, but I'm thinking of putting on a couple coats of tung oil or maybe epoxy so I can use it as a whiskey glass.
I tried to "sign" the bottom by using titanium dioxide in place of coffee grounds for a kolrosing powder. That doesn't work so well, since titanium dioxide is oil soluble. Oops!