What did you do in your shop today?

Spinartist said:
My first thought was palm, but that changed to some type of oak. Or maybe Jacaranda?
But you say its from a root... umbrella tree?
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A buddy of mine that lives in Central Florida was clearing his land to build a house. This tree was taken down, he called it cherry, but they left the roots. When he went to put a fence in he had to dig up the 8 inch diameter roots. This is from those roots @Spinartist
 
Ordered over 3 grand in pen kits and such, then home to work on getting an EAB infested tree down. The power lines are making it interesting. Taking it down in pieces to make sure I don't electrocute myself.

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Another show today, getting crazy low on inventory....

What you see is all I have for pens and such. I really need to turn a crap ton of inventory. I leave in 36 hours for a week long trip to Washington DC with my son for school, I'll get back and have 4 days in the shop and then off to the boundary waters for a week.... The joys of show season :wacko:

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@Spinartist That's so cool to see them all working away at the same time! I never received any instruction, just trial and error and fumbled my way along. Lol. It's great that they can learn from you:good2:
 
Steve, again, so glad you decided to finish the desk. It is absolutely beautiful! Love the pulls and the overall style of the piece.
Most excellent work and craftsmanship.
:cool::good2::good::wink:
 
Steve, that thing is great man! I know you don't care for the pulls, but that is a winning look! They tie it together with the ebony accents on the top beautifully. You need to be dam proud of this build! Tony
 
Mr. Peet said:
Still looks good. Are you trimming out the left base as done on the right, or is it a statement....?
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Mark yea i'll be trimming out the left side and the back just like the right side. Just ran out of cherry boards, so i'm gonna have to find some. Been asking but even the saw3 mills don't have any at this time. I do know a place in Mississippi, but would have to take a day off work, as there only opened Monday through Friday.
 
steve bellinger said:
Mark yea i'll be trimming out the left side and the back just like the right side. Just ran out of cherry boards, so i'm gonna have to find some. Been asking but even the saw3 mills don't have any at this time. I do know a place in Mississippi, but would have to take a day off work, as there only opened Monday through Friday.
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I bet @woodtickgreg could help with the cherry, I seem to recall seeing some in the mill drippings he wagged home some time back.
 
Cindy lady came over for her 4th woodturning class! She made an AWESOME spalted Mango pen, a matching letter opener & a spalted Mango saltmill.
While I was standing around I cut, drilled (damn you @rocky1 :punish:) & glued, & drilled, & glued, & drilled, & glued, etc..., epoxied tube in, trued ends, mounted & turned & glued & turned & glued & sanded & glued... one of the coolest honey comb pen blanks I got from @rocky1 when I visited him in April.
Rocky, I don't remember you telling me how wonderful these are to work with!! Well, with teaching a student & working on a difficult blank at the same time, all present & I are very impressed with the final product!! :good2:

I don't know if I want to show it to the honey bee keepers down here cause they'll want to order a bunch. I'd have to charge double the normal rate for the trouble it was to make.


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@steve bellinger I have cherry boards too if you need some I can cut to whatever size you need and ship it. And I do ave a bunch of mill rippings but I don't know if they will be wide enough.
 
Spinartist said:
Cindy lady came over for her 4th woodturning class! She made an AWESOME spalted Mango pen, a matching letter opener & a spalted Mango saltmill.
While I was standing around I cut, drilled (damn you @rocky1 :punish:, & glued, & drilled, & glued, & drilled, & glued, etc...),epoxied tube in, trued ends, mounted & turned & glued & turned & glued & sanded & glued... one of the coolest honey comb pen blanks I got from @rocky1 when I visited him in April.

Rocky, I don't remember you telling me how wonderful these are to work with!! Well, with teaching a student & working on a difficult blank at the same time, all present & I are very impressed with the final product!! :good2:

I don't know if I want to show it to the honey bee keepers down here cause they'll want to order a bunch. I'd have to charge double the normal rate for the trouble it was to make.
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Oh yes I did! :lol2:

They are a tad frustrating with cells wanting to pop out, but if you take your time, it does result in one really cool honeycomb pen.

Don't worry, they get easier after the first one, but only because you know about where to get real serious about gluing, and turning and gluing and turning some more, and getting out the 80 grit, a good file or fine toothed rasp that isn't real sharp works well in there too, and some more gluing. There is a reason I haven't made a bunch of them!

They do look sweet when you get done though, color is about perfect on them, in every respect, if I could just figure out how to get the resin to penetrate the cell walls.

I think @NeilYeag needs some knife scales out of that stuff too!
 
rocky1 said:
Oh yes I did! :lol2:

They are a tad frustrating with cells wanting to pop out, but if you take your time, it does result in one really cool honeycomb pen.

Don't worry, they get easier after the first one, but only because you know about where to get real serious about gluing, and turning and gluing and turning some more, and getting out the 80 grit, a good file or fine toothed rasp that isn't real sharp works well in there too, and some more gluing. There is a reason I haven't made a bunch of them!

They do look sweet when you get done though, color is about perfect on them, in every respect, if I could just figure out how to get the resin to penetrate the cell walls.

I think @NeilYeag needs some knife scales out of that stuff too!
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Used only spindle roughing gouge & parting tool!! I started sanding with 220 grit!! :cool: Then 400 grit & micro mesh up to 3200 grit & then some polishing compound. Flawless finish:good2:
 
How well did the parting tool work? Hadn't considered using that one, but it would maybe be less apt to lift pieces out of the cell structure. You use it in standard fashion, or did you by chance lay it flat? I can envision both working, but the latter suggests a Carbide Diamond Detail Cutter might work well also; less surface area on the tool lifting on the cell structure.

If you get it close, 220, 320 grit is adequate, no doubt; Silmar sands really nice. Last one I did, I quit turning a good ways out, glued everything up tight, then started sanding it down to finish it, because of the way my layers were working in the blank. Appeared I was going to have a lot of very thin cells when I got close to finish size, and was afraid I was going to pop them loose turning it.

And, yes... Silmar finishes beautifully! Wet sanded at 3000 grit, you're just satisfying OCDism to try and buff it. It'll come off the lathe looking like glass. I like to use Novus 2 Plastic Polish to finish Silmar up, guaranteed to make it sparkle!! Also works wonders on CA, plastic headlights on your vehicle, plastic windows in pickup toppers, plastic windows in the jeep ragtop... It's a terrific product, a little goes a long way, and worth every penny to have a bottle on the shelf for the shiny stuff.

The smaller cells do work a little easier than the large cell you turned.
 
@rocky1 Parting tool worked great. Used 1/8" wide tool & only took 1/16" wide cuts. Once round used spindle roughing gouge cutting on 45* angle. Stopped frequently to check for loose cells & reglue.
 
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