Norfolf Island Pine Vessel PIC
Ben Aragon
>Hi,
Another piece turned, it is Norfolk Island Pine 9� x 7�. It is an enclosed form. I rough turned it to about 3/4� thick then dried with the alcohol method. I then finished turned it to 1/8� thick and sanded. I soaked it a mixture of 1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 oil based varnish, and 1/3 mineral spirits. This is the first piece of Norfolk Island Pine I have turned and I�m not sure how may times it need to be soaked, but it really soaked up the oil with the first 24 hour soaking. I soaked it about 6 times letting it dry for 24 hours between soakings.
I visited Ron Kent�s website and he soaks his pieces in a soap solution to prevent them from cracking before finish turning them and then soaks them in a Danish oil bath as many as 50 times. I�m not saying what I did is better, he is a great artist. I think the alcohol soaking method really dried the piece well, it soaked up most of the oil in the first 4 soakings. I live in Albuquerque and the humidity is about 15% here lately and this may also help compared to Hawaii. It is so dry here it is quite a job to keep bowls from cracking.
The only reason I didn�t use 3 gallons of Danish oil is I couldn�t afford them. I had on hand a gallon of Boiled Linseed oil and a gallon of Oil Based Varnish I used on a fence, and I went out and bought a gallon of Mineral Spirits.
Now to the piece, I�m not real happy with the shape or form and I wasn�t able to turn it with the star pattern at the bottom. What I do like about it is the color and the translucency; it�s hard to tell in the photo. It is free of cracks and the knots are solid, I filled the knots in a few places with coffee grounds were needed before sanding. I buffed it with the Beall System. Comments welcome good or bad.
Best regards,
Ben
