Yesterday, I was finishing up on a 18 small plates for a friend that is donating them to one of our local schools. They are going to be commemorative plates for students who have outstanding achievements in the community or the school. The tree that I made these from is Aleppo Pine that grew on the school grounds and finally fell in one of our Monsoons a few years back.
When I needed to sand the bottoms before finish, I found this piece of Mesquite that was just over 8" OD, and about 1 1/4" thick that already had a tenon from a year ago. I had to glue up some cracks then, and after glue, it was set aside in the black hole of my shop.
I measured the diameter of the Pine plates, and proceeded to turn a depression in the face of this Mesquite to fit the smallest plate first, and then made adjustments as I progressed until all were done. I have no pictures of this method, but when done, I decided to make a plate out of the Mesquite.
While turning this Mesquite plate, I decided to see just how far I could take down to. When I got down to just over 1/16" thick, I started sanding it with my ROS. That is when I heard it crack. Stopped and checked it out. There was a crack leading from the rim to about 1" into the plate. I got some CA, and made my repair. After it cured, I started sanding again. It cracked again, 180 degrees from the first crack. I fixed that one too.
I then figured it was thin enough and time to remove the tenon. I set up a friction plate, and proceeded to remove the tenon . When I got down to about a 3/4" nub, I heard it crack again. Had to stop and make the repair, and went back to tenon removal. Another crack and I took the piece off to make another repair. It sat on my desk all night to cure and I decided to remove the rest of the tenon/nub in the morning.
This morning came, and I grabbed my piece to go out into the shop. At the door, I had the plate in one hand, something in the other and was trying to get the door open. I then put the plate between my body and arm, and used that hand to get the door open. The second I moved my arm, the plate hit the floor. Well, shucks, broken again. I looked and found only one crack. Got it glued, and was about ready to mount it when I saw another crack. Damn, this poor plate has 3 cracks in 2 places all within a 1" spot. But, after the repairs, it's still solid. Because of the thinness, it's pretty flexible though. Anyway, I'm going out again in about 10 minutes to finish the nub removal.
OH, crap, I just found another crack......Here are pictures I took about an hour ago before finding this last crack.
.
I am gonna finish this piece as it it absolutely the thinnest piece I've ever finished, I hope. Finished piece in about 30 minutes.
The second picture shows a piece under the plate. It's Mesquite that will be an Olla resembling some of the pottery that has been found in archeological sites here in the Southwest. I was hollowing pretty good until my tenon broke. That's in repair too.............. Jerry (in Tucson)
When I needed to sand the bottoms before finish, I found this piece of Mesquite that was just over 8" OD, and about 1 1/4" thick that already had a tenon from a year ago. I had to glue up some cracks then, and after glue, it was set aside in the black hole of my shop.
I measured the diameter of the Pine plates, and proceeded to turn a depression in the face of this Mesquite to fit the smallest plate first, and then made adjustments as I progressed until all were done. I have no pictures of this method, but when done, I decided to make a plate out of the Mesquite.
While turning this Mesquite plate, I decided to see just how far I could take down to. When I got down to just over 1/16" thick, I started sanding it with my ROS. That is when I heard it crack. Stopped and checked it out. There was a crack leading from the rim to about 1" into the plate. I got some CA, and made my repair. After it cured, I started sanding again. It cracked again, 180 degrees from the first crack. I fixed that one too.
I then figured it was thin enough and time to remove the tenon. I set up a friction plate, and proceeded to remove the tenon . When I got down to about a 3/4" nub, I heard it crack again. Had to stop and make the repair, and went back to tenon removal. Another crack and I took the piece off to make another repair. It sat on my desk all night to cure and I decided to remove the rest of the tenon/nub in the morning.
This morning came, and I grabbed my piece to go out into the shop. At the door, I had the plate in one hand, something in the other and was trying to get the door open. I then put the plate between my body and arm, and used that hand to get the door open. The second I moved my arm, the plate hit the floor. Well, shucks, broken again. I looked and found only one crack. Got it glued, and was about ready to mount it when I saw another crack. Damn, this poor plate has 3 cracks in 2 places all within a 1" spot. But, after the repairs, it's still solid. Because of the thinness, it's pretty flexible though. Anyway, I'm going out again in about 10 minutes to finish the nub removal.
OH, crap, I just found another crack......Here are pictures I took about an hour ago before finding this last crack.
.
I am gonna finish this piece as it it absolutely the thinnest piece I've ever finished, I hope. Finished piece in about 30 minutes.
The second picture shows a piece under the plate. It's Mesquite that will be an Olla resembling some of the pottery that has been found in archeological sites here in the Southwest. I was hollowing pretty good until my tenon broke. That's in repair too.............. Jerry (in Tucson)
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