# redwood root from Anthony



## duncsuss (Sep 1, 2016)

@Anthony offered me a piece of the redwood root in THIS THREAD -- I'll post a photo of it later today or tomorrow, and whatever I find to send in exchange ... just keeping it on the up-and-up ...

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## duncsuss (Sep 4, 2016)

Pix of the redwood root that @Anthony sent. There a some deep checks and I'm not particularly adventurous when it comes to dodgy bowl blanks, so I'll probably end up breaking it into a number of smaller pieces that I feel more comfortable with.

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## duncsuss (Sep 4, 2016)

What the heck, I'm going for it ... just under 9" diameter bowl blank, plus 4 generous sized pen blanks, plus some small leftovers which I might be able to turn into a pendant or such.



 

Bowl blank on the lathe ...



 

And here it is with a bottle of Turners' Friend ... I won about 3 pints of it with the clear fountain pen back in January, I have to use it before it goes bad

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## ripjack13 (Sep 4, 2016)




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## duncsuss (Sep 4, 2016)

I got the outside shape to something I found pleasing, and sanded it through 400 grit.


 

I made a start on hollowing, then stopped for dinner.


 

It was at this point I noticed 4 little dings in the outside, as if somebody had tapped it with a metal tool or something. I don't remember doing it, but there was nobody else within 50 feet of the lathe so it must have been me.

Phooey. Tomorrow I'll see if I can steam the dents out -- if not, I get to shape the outside again.

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## duncsuss (Sep 4, 2016)

ripjack13 said:


>


Marc, it seems like this "trade" thread has morphed into a "general turning" sort of thing ... would you be so kind as to move it over there? Thanks!

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## Anthony (Sep 4, 2016)

Awesome thank u for posting this step by step . looks great IMO


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## Anthony (Sep 4, 2016)

Dang it . 


duncsuss said:


> I got the outside shape to something I found pleasing, and sanded it through 400 grit.
> View attachment 112778
> 
> I made a start on hollowing, then stopped for dinner.
> ...


Dang it


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## duncsuss (Sep 4, 2016)

Anthony said:


> Dang it


That's what I thought too!

It's interesting material -- needs a very sharp gouge to get a clean cut, otherwise it tears out. But there's something in it -- sand or grit or something -- plus some kind of oil or resin, it dulls my tools really fast, and clogs sandpaper too.

That said -- it looks great, definitely worth the effort. Thanks for sharing it with me 

(p.s. I saw that you are trading with @DKMD for some gouges -- excellent choice, I have some of Doug Thompson's tools and they stay sharp much longer than any other gouges I own. I don't know why I haven't been using them on this redwood root!)

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## DKMD (Sep 4, 2016)

Duncan, you might try spraying the dents with water or denatured alcohol... I've had some success getting little dents to 'undent' don't that.

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## Anthony (Sep 4, 2016)

I pulled that root out of the side of a hill should have no oil . humm odd ....
Glad it was worth the effort for you I was starting to feel bad when I saw ur first post. 
Thank you 
Anthony


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## duncsuss (Sep 4, 2016)

@ripjack13 Thanks Marc!

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## ripjack13 (Sep 4, 2016)

Ok...I moved it...

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## duncsuss (Sep 4, 2016)

Anthony said:


> I pulled that root out of the side of a hill should have no oil . humm odd ....


I expect it's intrinsic to the tree -- like sticky sap or something -- not the Exxon Valdez variety 



> Glad it was worth the effort for you I was starting to feel bad when I saw ur first post.


No reason at all to feel that way -- even if I couldn't do anything with it, you wouldn't be responsible for the curve balls that Mother Nature throws us. ("Bad" wood is a learning opportunity!)

I hope the sticks that I cut off for pen blanks show the same beautiful figure as this bowl -- they'll be knockout


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## Anthony (Sep 4, 2016)

duncsuss said:


> I expect it's intrinsic to the tree -- like sticky sap or something -- not the Exxon Valdez variety
> 
> 
> No reason at all to feel that way -- even if I couldn't do anything with it, you wouldn't be responsible for the curve balls that Mother Nature throws us. ("Bad" wood is a learning opportunity!)
> ...


Glad to hear .What did u use on the checks ? For some reason the pic would not load . I tried to Google turners friend but nothing came up related to wood


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## duncsuss (Sep 4, 2016)

LOL - that's my name for CA glue.

Some of the cracks I just drizzled CA into, the larger ones I sanded the surface of the wood letting the dust pack into the crack then dripped the CA onto it. Thin CA wicks into the saw dust and sets quickly.


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## Anthony (Sep 4, 2016)

duncsuss said:


> LOL - that's my name for CA glue.
> 
> Some of the cracks I just drizzled CA into, the larger ones I sanded the surface of the wood letting the dust pack into the crack then dripped the CA onto it. Thin CA wicks into the saw dust and sets quickly.


Nice , good to know . thanx


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 5, 2016)




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## barry richardson (Sep 5, 2016)

Following with interest Duncan. I got a piece from Anthony from the same root which I plan to turn in the future.....


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## duncsuss (Sep 5, 2016)

DKMD said:


> Duncan, you might try spraying the dents with water or denatured alcohol... I've had some success getting little dents to 'undent' don't that.



I sprayed some water on then got an idea -- folded a paper towel, put it in a plastic tray (from frozen food) with some water and zapped it in the shop microwave till it was good and steamy. After a couple of goes-around with the spa face treatment, it looks a lot better -- still visible, but greatly reduced.


 

This is the larger (top) dent from the earlier photo:


 

I'll try doing this a few more times, adding water and reheating, before deciding if I can live with it or need to peel some away with a gouge.

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## duncsuss (Sep 6, 2016)

The hot water compresses didn't completely fix the dents, but I forgot to wrap it up when I stopped for dinner -- naturally there were a few checks to deal with when I came back. I hit them with CA and sanded the area to pack dust into the glue as it cured, not the end of the world -- but of course it meant there were some ugly glue stains to deal with, so I decided to shave the surface to get rid of that (and it took care of the remaining dents from earlier.)

Last night I wrapped it up tight in "shipping stretch-wrap" (comes on a dispenser handle, I think I got it at Staples) which sealed it well so nothing moved overnight.

I hollowed it out today and sanded the innards, then gave it a thorough dowsing with Watco Danish Oil inside and out. The oil darkened it a lot -- I partially wish I'd opted for a water-based finish instead, I rather liked the paler shades and the ripple figure stood out more. The richer tones are also good, so I'm still happy with how it looks.

Before dinner last night ...


 

Wrapped up to stop more cracks forming on the outside, hollowing away ...


 

Lots of tear-out on the bottom, that tool a while to clean up ...


 

The outside with its first coat of Danish Oil ...


 

And the inside with oil ...

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## David Van Asperen (Sep 6, 2016)

@duncsuss 
It appears that you did well , considering you were a little iffy to start with . I do not turn so my opinion is strictly from appearance, and it looks fantastic to me.
Dave


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## duncsuss (Sep 6, 2016)

David Van Asperen said:


> @duncsuss
> It appears that you did well , considering you were a little iffy to start with . I do not turn so my opinion is strictly from appearance, and it looks fantastic to me.
> Dave


Thanks, Dave 

I don't know if I'm getting more adventurous as I get older, or maybe it's because I spent several hundred dollars on fancy protective headgear and want to see some return on the investment

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## David Van Asperen (Sep 6, 2016)

PPE is always a good investment ,but I never wanted to find out how well it works. I guess I feel that I am the person that makes it work for 99% of the users.

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## Anthony (Sep 6, 2016)

duncsuss said:


> The hot water compresses didn't completely fix the dents, but I forgot to wrap it up when I stopped for dinner -- naturally there were a few checks to deal with when I came back. I hit them with CA and sanded the area to pack dust into the glue as it cured, not the end of the world -- but of course it meant there were some ugly glue stains to deal with, so I decided to shave the surface to get rid of that (and it took care of the remaining dents from earlier.)
> 
> Last night I wrapped it up tight in "shipping stretch-wrap" (comes on a dispenser handle, I think I got it at Staples) which sealed it well so nothing moved overnight.
> 
> ...


Looks great . on of the problems I have been having with redwood in general is tear out.


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## duncsuss (Sep 6, 2016)

Anthony said:


> Looks great . on of the problems I have been having with redwood in general is tear out.



Me too -- I think it's because the wood is very soft, even a sharp tool can "pluck out" the fibers if it isn't angled just right or if you try to take too large a bite (or maybe it's too small a bite, I can never tell.)

Sometimes changing the lathe speed can make a difference. I'd try that more often if I had an electronic speed control -- right now I have to stop, change the belt position to a new pulley, and start up again. It makes me tend to stay at one speed rather than try finding a speed that works better.

I found that a large round-nose scraper was awful. A small round-nose scraper was better. The EasyWoodTool that I have is a swan-neck (designed for working under the rim of a closed hollow form) but the carbide bit is small -- and it did a pretty good job, once I turned the tool rest into the opening to reduce the amount of tool overhanging the rest.

I have a Thompson Tools 1/2" V flute bowl gouge that is ground to a very steep nose angle, I use it a lot for working across the bottom of bowls, it worked kind of okay but not great.

60 grit did a pretty good job of cleaning it up when everything else had failed. I have (had) a decent stock of 2" blue sanding discs from "Vince's Wood and Wonders" -- pretty decent prices for good quality velcro-backed stuff -- 60/80/100/120/180/220/280/320/400.

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## ripjack13 (Sep 7, 2016)

Looking good Duncan....real good.

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## Tony (Sep 7, 2016)

Nice looking bowl Duncan, just saw this thread. Tony

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## Blueglass (Sep 7, 2016)

duncsuss said:


> I got the outside shape to something I found pleasing, and sanded it through 400 grit.
> View attachment 112778
> 
> I made a start on hollowing, then stopped for dinner.
> ...


Steam the dents out. A moist towel and a soldering iron or even regular iron if you can get to where you need it. I've done this a fair amount of times and it works.

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## duncsuss (Oct 3, 2016)

Last night I decided that the Danish Oil must be cured by now, and attacked it with the Beall buffing wheels. Tripoli, white diamond, and finish off with carnauba wax.

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## Lou Currier (Oct 3, 2016)

duncsuss said:


> That's what I thought too!
> 
> It's interesting material -- needs a very sharp gouge to get a clean cut, otherwise it tears out. But there's something in it -- sand or grit or something -- plus some kind of oil or resin, it dulls my tools really fast, and clogs sandpaper too



I experienced the same thing! The finish on a pen I turned did not want to shine...sanded it back down and ended up doing a CA finish...it does look nice...will be posting pictures soon.


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## barry richardson (Oct 3, 2016)

Thats some pretty wood, you just motivated me to chuck up the chunk I have from the same root

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## gman2431 (Oct 3, 2016)

Looks great Duncan! I just got some oil myself on some of Anthony's redwood this weekend. I'll give it away and give it a buff myself. I had terrible tearout also when hollowing the bowl but i used my termite ring tool and it worked very well.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## barry richardson (Oct 3, 2016)

gman2431 said:


> Looks great Duncan! I just got some oil myself on some of Anthony's redwood this weekend. I'll give it away and give it a buff myself. I had terrible tearout also when hollowing the bowl but i used my termite ring tool and it worked very well.


Was it dusty? Old redwood I've turned in the past had really nasty fine dust......


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## gman2431 (Oct 3, 2016)

barry richardson said:


> Was it dusty? Old redwood I've turned in the past had really nasty fine dust......



Yes. It had a couple soft spots also. One turned out and one didn't.


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