One of these days

Re: One of these days

Jonathan Bruce in Ellijay, GA

>I understand your dissapointment. Cherry often seems to have a mind of it's own. I have a pretty piece of slightly figured cherry about fifteen inches in diameter that I turned about eight months ago. I turned it thick and anchorsealed it. It did fine for about three months or so, then it cracked on the rim and on the bottom. The crack on the rim ended up being almost half an inch wide! On the other hand, I have had other cherry bowls out of the same log that have done just fine. I guess that I have lots of sympathy but not any good answers.

Good luck,

Jonathan

I can guess

Sam Simpson

>Hi Y'all,

Robert, I think I know what happened.

I'm just guessing but, I'll bet you mounted it onto something, and then set it to spinning round and round on that machine that you fellas all seem to have a few of on this side of the fence. And As if that weren't enough, I'm willing to bet that while it was spinning round and round, you tried to poke at it with a stick. Yeah, go on, admit it. And not just any stick. I'll bet it was a metal one with a sharp pointy end. Am I close?

Waderyer expect was going to happen???

Regards Sam Simpson.

Re: One of these days

DWFII

>My sympathies...as it happens I just finished turning a piece of wild cherry that a generous feller on this forum sent me. It was a rough blank...already rounded and the outside shaped but not the inside.

It had cracks in it, and was cut and turned so that about half the pith was destined for the rim. Had I cut the pith off, it would have been a small saucer. As it was, it's about six inches wide and about two and a half inches deep.

I needed the practice and didn't have anything tied up--emotionally or financially--in the cherry, and it seemed to be plenty dry, so I CA'd the cracks and went ahead.

I managed to get the bowl turned to about quarter inch walls but as I turned the inside I found that the cracks went all the way through. More CA.

It's done now and sitting under a coat of pure tung oil but I'm not altogether sure it won't just crack itself apart overnight.

Sure is purty though...

DW

In the High Desert of Central Oregon

Re: One of these days

Sean Troy

>One of the most common reasons a bowl or vessel go flying to pieces is you lift the tool off the tool rest. Even for a mili second or a few millimeters off the rest can blow up a turning when it contacts the wood again.

Sean you have been spying on me again!

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>

It should hold up OK but it wont hold soup.

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>Hi DW,

It is a good thing you didn't mention the guys name because nobody would believe the generous part. The bowl core was soaked in alcohol and had been in a paper bag for a couple months. I doubt it will crack any more. I figured you could make a small plate out of it. You can always ask for your money back. Heck I would even ask for double. That wild cherry have nice grain lines and a little different color. It will darken with exposure to light but it will not get as dark as Eastern black cherry.

Did anything turn out from that box of wood you paid the big bucks for? I figured the apple would be a piece of cake.

Happy turning and don't believe most of the stuff I say.

Dave Smith

Just being my typical smart-aleck self in Longview, WA.

Standard reply (LONG)

Doug Trembath

>Well, Robert, I can certainly understand your wish to know what happened. It is my habit to give the same answer to a great multitude of problems folks experience on the lathe, and although it's absolutely true, it can be hard to swallow.

Take a lesson from the best instructor you can find, and can afford.

A little history, if you will. I dreamed about turning some of the hollow vessels I saw in the early years of Fine Woodworking, and other magazines, notably the work of David Ellsworth and John Jordan. Not having a job that allowed me to be at home for extended lengths of time, and somewhat limited resources, all I could do was dream. Later in life circumstances changed, and allowed me to actually pursue that dream, but with some shattering results. I had a few notable successes, and a multitude of failures. I had always been able to intuitively pick up techniques and processes easily, and my pride in those accomplishments led me to believe I could do the same with woodturning. Sadly, I was mistaken. Many of the processes seemed counter-intuitive to me, and I did't have a lot of luck figuring a lot of it out for myself, especially the finer points. I broke down and began to learn from others. It didn't take too long for me to swallow that load of crow, and take lessons from some of the best turners out there. I progressed very quickly from then on, because I finally understood the forces involved, and could reach a predictable outcome. Now, I have had a number of students that had been turning for many years, and they tell me that their understanding takes a quantum leap when they attend a class with me, and their subsequent work shows it.

I don't mean to be a braggart, I am just sharing with them the experience and knowledge I have developed as a result of instruction and a great amount of practice, where you learn the most. When you turn 6-7 days a week, 8-12 hours a day, you have more opportunity to understand the techniques, and begin to develop a philosophy. Keep turning, and that philosophy gells into an even deeper understanding of the processes. Now, many turners equate my work with some of the best out there, and my students go from spending hours sanding out torn grain to making a final cut from the rim to the bottom of a bowl with at most a very small amount of defects, which are easily removed.

Take it from one who suffered, bled, and cursed his way to swallowing his pride and making a tremendous amount of difference in his turning.

Take a lesson, again, from the best instructor you can find and afford, then practice those techniques extensively without expectation of a finished piece. Just practice them until they are second nature. Your work will be so much improved, and your own self esteem will take a big jump.

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods

Re: It should hold up OK but it wont hold soup.

DWFII

>Dave,

Well, you're "outed" now. :D On some forums if you let people know you're giving stuff away, you get bombarded with requests...so I'm cautious with my friends and benefactors.

The apple turned out beautifully. Made that five-sixteenth of an inch thick with a coved rim, flat bottom. Found out my Longworth chuck wasn't capable of centering a bowl so I bought a set of cole jaws for my Axminster. In the end that was a plus. Tung oil and friction polish for a finish.

The viney maple--which I hope to get a vase out of--cracked even though the ends were sealed and I wrapped it up in newsprint. I might still get a box out of it. I guess I was disappointed in that as much as anything.

I didn't even try with the white oak. I got to measuring it and I figured that even if I filled the big crack, I'd still never get it round.

The cherry looks lovely and since I'm into waste blocks for near everything, I didn't lose more than a half inch of height, if that.

I put an ogee (?)rim on it, and learned a heck of a lot about getting the interior smooth (no ridges or high spots) and worked a little on my scraping technique.

Thank you for your help and advice and wood and "thanks for the fish"... :D

DW

In the High Desert of Central Oregon

Re: Standard reply (LONG)

Keith Tompkins

>Doug, you are absolutely right on.....You are not bragging at all, you are simply telling it like it is.

There is a lot to be said about taking lessons from the best. If you learn from a mediocre turner, you will be simply learning his bad habits, and repeating his mistakes. It's difficult to break those bad habits once you have them.

It doesn't have to take several years to become skilled at the lathe...a good teacher will speed up the process a great deal...and eliminate tons of frustration.

I like your approach....I'd like to sit in on one of your classes!

Re: I can guess

Robert Cox

>You mean if I had left it setting still and not poked with sharp metal it might've been OK?

Re: One of these days

Charlie Anderson in Southern Maryland

>So that's why you didn't make it by today; you were grieving.

If you don't have Bill Grumbine's video, I'll loan mine to you. It will help.

And some fishing will help you get past the grief.

Re: Standard reply (LONG)

Robert Cox

>I guess one day lessons might be a good idea.

A day I spent with Schwing was a great learning time.

Looking back on it, I think 1/16" may have been a little thin for me.

Re: One of these days

adrien

>One of my ways of exploding a bowl is to try to sheer scrape from the bottom of the bowl towards the rim. 'Twill do it every time.

I can only assume you had a giant catch which means the gouge was angled so as to dig deeply into the wood rather than slice thin. Usually I blow my bowls from the inside. I can also do it at the rim, coming in too aggressively.

Re: One of these days

adrien

>Rob, I thought I should add that you go into the inside of a bowl, from rim to base and (usually) come out on the outside, cutting from base to rim, though this is not so critical