Natural edge crotch platter

This September I had the opportunity to host a day long, hands on workshop in my workshop. My friend, Don Geiger, ( http://www.geigerssolutions.com/ ) who is also a Robust lathe dealer brought in 5 lathes, a Stubby, 2 American beauties, a Sweet Sixteen, and a Liberty. We had Rudy Lopez, a very talented wood turner from Tampa teach 6 of us about turning things like this. I had seen Rudy do a demo on this once and later had found this piece of wood and wanted to try my luck, but I couldn't turn it on the lathe I had. This was a perfect opportunity. These lathes are really fine tools. A dream to turn on and operate. American made. And I want one. It was a special day in my workshop that day and this is what I made with Rudy's coaching.

This is spalted pecan about 19" tip to tip and I have turned it to shy of 3/16" thick. Anyone who has done any turning like this can appreciate the amount of air you're turning between the thin wood tips. Keeping that all under control is a challenge. Rudy is a great instructor and does some amazing stuff. His website is: http://www.rudolphlopez.com/portrait.html I encourage you to check out his gallery.





Thanks for checking it out