Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
WEED POTS
Brad
>I was given several hand-hewn oak beams from a barn built around 1900. The beams are dry, but solid. One thing I would like to do with this wood is make some weed-pots. I would like to hollow out the end grain, but have never attemted end grain turning with dry, hard wood. Any suggestions on how to do this before I put this wood on the lathe and mess it up? Thanks in advance!
Re: WEED POTS
RevDoug
>Sharp tools and take your time. You will find it harder than anything green. Don't expect too many long curls. You can do it.
Often, weed pots are only drilled. That way you don't even have to mess with hollowing out the "pot."
How big a weed pot are you making?
Re: WEED POTS
Brad
>The beams are about 6" "square." I would like to leave a section with the hand-hewn sides as a base, then turn the rest down "vase-like" above that, 14" tall, or so. I plan on drilling some of them out with a spade bit, but thought it would be interesting to make some with a wider opening, hence the question on end-grain hollowing.
Re: WEED POTS
RevDoug
>Thanks, I was just curious. Sounds like they are going to be pretty nice.
Re: WEED POTS
Don Evans
>Brad:
That's fairly large for a weed pot I think. So I would be concerned with it's weight.
Turning the sides down but stopping so there are 4 flats (natural) sounds good.
One thing you can consider if it becomes necessary is to go into the bottom and hollow some of it and then plug and finish the bottom. I mention that cause I'm picturing a long neck.
I don't usually recommend hollowing that way but in this case it may be only way, keep it a little bottom heavy though.
Don
Re: WEED POTS
Brad
>These will be big weed pots. I guess I'm kind of a wood junkie, I just couldn't pass these beams up, and can't think of anything else to do with them. Any suggestions? I made a couple of weed pots out of a smaller beam from the same barn and they were a big hit.