# Small Sycamore hollow form



## SeanPEvans (Feb 24, 2020)

Work in progress. Turned and carved hollow form; 3” wide. The area without the birdseye figure will be carved. Unusually figured Sycamore.

Reactions: Like 4 | EyeCandy! 5 | Way Cool 10


----------



## T. Ben (Feb 24, 2020)



Reactions: Funny 1


----------



## DKMD (Feb 24, 2020)

Beauty!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## Tony (Feb 24, 2020)

Very cool Sean!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## TXMoon (Feb 24, 2020)

Beautiful. I was just commenting on a Facebook group about how beautiful sycamore is. You've got an exceptional piece there, and a nice form.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## Nature Man (Feb 24, 2020)

Striking! Almost looks like a planet! Gorgeous wood! Chuck

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## Eric Rorabaugh (Feb 24, 2020)

Very nice looking piece so far. Can't wait to see if finished.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


----------



## TimR (Feb 24, 2020)

Looking like a great start, very unusual sycamore.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## Albert Kiebert (Feb 24, 2020)

Very nice Looks similar to some of David Ellsworth’s pieces I’ve seen


----------



## SeanPEvans (Feb 24, 2020)

TimR said:


> Looking like a great start, very unusual sycamore.


Thank you. Yeah, it’s a very unusual figure type for Sycamore.


----------



## SeanPEvans (Feb 24, 2020)

Albert Kiebert said:


> Very nice Looks similar to some of David Ellsworth’s pieces I’ve seen


Thanks. David is one of my teachers, and a huge influence.


----------



## William Tanner (Feb 24, 2020)

I turn mostly sycamore because that is what I have. This has interesting figure. Very nice job.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## SeanPEvans (Feb 24, 2020)

William Tanner said:


> I turn mostly sycamore because that is what I have. This has interesting figure. Very nice job.


Thank you. Sycamore is beautiful timber, figured or otherwise.


----------



## trc65 (Feb 24, 2020)

Beautiful form and piece of wood! Looking forward to seeing your carving. 

Care to give us a hint or preview of what you have planned?

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## SeanPEvans (Feb 24, 2020)

trc65 said:


> Beautiful form and piece of wood! Looking forward to seeing your carving.
> 
> Care to give us a hint or preview of what you have planned?


Thank you, I really appreciate that! 
For the carving, I’ll be taking the non-Birdseye area down about 1/8”, and then bleaching that area to increase the contrast. My hope is that it will look like it’s being absorbed/enveloped by the top layer. Sort of like this piece below, but without being pierced through.

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 1 | Way Cool 3


----------



## djg (Feb 25, 2020)

Beautiful piece. It's amazing you could hollow out such a small hole.


----------



## SeanPEvans (Feb 25, 2020)

djg said:


> Beautiful piece. It's amazing you could hollow out such a small hole.


Thanks. I use repurposed old screwdrivers to do the hollowing. I’ll attach a photo below, but they’re very effective, and extremely inexpensive and easy to make. I think I have a whopping $3 invested in the tools.

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 3 | Creative 3


----------



## Patrude (Feb 25, 2020)

Man that's cool. There's so much satisfaction in making your own tools. Do they hold the edge? Just curious


----------



## SeanPEvans (Feb 25, 2020)

Patrude said:


> Man that's cool. There's so much satisfaction in making your own tools. Do they hold the edge? Just curious


They hold an edge surprisingly well. The steel used for most screwdrivers is incredible hard


----------



## barry richardson (Feb 28, 2020)

Beautiful work! and thanks for the tips, god knows I have a lot of old screwdrivers, gonna make a couple of those mini hollowers....

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


----------



## SeanPEvans (Feb 28, 2020)

My pleasure. They’re really quite effective for smaller pieces.


----------



## phinds (Feb 28, 2020)

Beautiful piece, very interesting figure (probably embedded small branches?) and thanks for the tip on the screwdrivers. Seeing your comment, I realized that I have a particular type of cove on some of my bowls' bases that I could do more easily with a small diameter scraper such as I could make from a screwdriver. I have a small bowl gouge that I use but it don't like its action for this particular use and would prefer a scraper.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## SeanPEvans (Feb 28, 2020)

phinds said:


> Beautiful piece, very interesting figure (probably embedded small branches?) and thanks for the tip on the screwdrivers. Seeing your comment, I realized that I have a particular type of cove on some of my bowls' bases that I could do more easily with a small diameter scraper such as I could make from a screwdriver. I have a small bowl gouge that I use but it don't like its action for this particular use and would prefer a scraper.


I had someone suggest that the “Birdseye” could be due to mistletoe rooting into the Sycamore, what do you think about that? 

And a modified screwdriver would be perfect for a small scraper, great idea on that. I know these types/profiles of tools are technically scrapers, but I hadn’t really thought of using one as such.


----------



## phinds (Feb 28, 2020)

SeanPEvans said:


> I had someone suggest that the “Birdseye” could be due to mistletoe rooting into the Sycamore, what do you think about that?


Don't know. Sounds unlikely but as I said, I don't really know. Calling @Mr. Peet


----------



## Mr. Peet (Feb 28, 2020)

phinds said:


> Don't know. Sounds unlikely but as I said, I don't really know. Calling @Mr. Peet



Don't know. I've only seen about a dozen species milled at a mistletoe interface. Only ever saw spalt and distorted grain, nothing with eyes or adventitious buds.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Buckeyepen (Mar 1, 2020)

Beautiful form. What do you use to hollow? Hand tools, trapped system, articulated? Love it. 





SeanPEvans said:


> Work in progress. Turned and carved hollow form; 3” wide. The area without the birdseye figure will be carved. Unusually figured Sycamore.
> 
> View attachment 180757
> 
> ...

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## SeanPEvans (Mar 1, 2020)

Mr. Peet said:


> Don't know. I've only seen about a dozen species milled at a mistletoe interface. Only ever saw spalt and distorted grain, nothing with eyes or adventitious buds.


Have you seen this particular figuring in Sycamore before?


----------



## SeanPEvans (Mar 1, 2020)

Buckeyepen said:


> Beautiful form. What do you use to hollow? Hand tools, trapped system, articulated? Love it.


This one is rather small at 3” so I used modified screwdrivers to hollow it (see photo on the first page of this thread). On larger forms though I only use hand tool, even up to 16+”

Reactions: Thank You! 1


----------



## Mr. Peet (Mar 1, 2020)

SeanPEvans said:


> Have you seen this particular figuring in Sycamore before?



No Sean, I have not seen that figure in American sycamore before yours. A pure beauty, thanks for posting it.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## SeanPEvans (Mar 1, 2020)

Mr. Peet said:


> No Sean, I have not seen that figure in American sycamore before yours. A pure beauty, thanks for posting it.


My pleasure. I hadn’t seen that figure before either, it’s interesting.

Reactions: Agree 1


----------



## ripjack13 (Mar 2, 2020)

SeanPEvans said:


> They hold an edge surprisingly well. The steel used for most screwdrivers is incredible hard



How hot do you need to get em? And do you let them cool naturally or quench them? And in water or oil?

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Eric Rorabaugh (Mar 2, 2020)




----------



## SeanPEvans (Mar 2, 2020)

ripjack13 said:


> How hot do you need to get em? And do you let them cool naturally or quench them? And in water or oil?


I use a propane torch and just get them glowing. I don’t quench them at all, and have yet to bend one, even on smaller diameter ones.


----------



## Mr. Peet (Mar 3, 2020)

SeanPEvans said:


> I use a propane torch and just get them glowing. I don’t quench them at all, and have yet to bend one, even on smaller diameter ones.



Assume you have a vice grip locked on the shank before the handle as a heat sink, to avoid melting the shaft out of the plastic handled ones..?..


----------



## SeanPEvans (Mar 3, 2020)

Mr. Peet said:


> Assume you have a vice grip locked on the shank before the handle as a heat sink, to avoid melting the shaft out of the plastic handled ones..?..


There’s no need. You spot heat where the bend will be to just beyond red, and make the bend. They cool quickly enough, and although the shaft down by the handle gets warm, I’ve never had one that was too hot to touch. I suppose if I was doing a stubby one I would want a heat sink though...certainly wouldn’t hurt anything.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


----------

