Needed to turn a last minute Christmas gift or two for in-laws in Mississippi; couple of sister-in-laws and their husbands that we needed goodies for. Sister-in-law here and the mother-in-law were taking off this morning. Had it all planned out then got a last minute phone call that one of the gals that used to work for us in ND was coming through town, and wanted me to run in and visit for a few minutes. So that kinda screwed up my plans to knock those out yesterday afternoon/evening. Went in and visited, terrific young lady, love her to death, wouldn't have missed it for the world. BUT... that meant I got a late start on things.
Assessed goodies on hand decided the girls needed a bell, had 1 turned, wasn't beautiful but it would suffice, had a couple of the busy bee pens to send them as well. Had a pen turned I could send one brother-in-law without breaking up sets, decided to send them each whistle key-chain, since the gals all got bells to call the husbands, figured they'd all get a kick out of the husbands getting whistles to call the wives back.
So I needed 1 bell and 1 pen, and it was 10 pm... Not a problem! NOT!!!
Picked a piece of highly figured Black Walnut, turned it and the color simply didn't pop. Turned a faded cloudy shade of gray, which while it was pretty, it wasn't what I wanted, and I grabbed the wrong bushings, so the stem was over-turned top and bottom. So I decided that one wasn't gonna fly. (See bell on left below. It's going to get taken apart and refitted with a different stem.)
Grabbed another piece of quarter sawn Walnut I acquired from the old man, @Mike1950 . Looked interesting but not spectacular, showed some promise anyhow. Turned that one, sanded, finished, and polished, and said, "Oh my God... NO! We are not sending that one to Mississippi, because I am not going to be responsible for 3 old gray haired women in Ripley going to jail for a Domestic Disturbance. Because there's gonna be a fight, if I send that one!! I'll give it to my wife, save the girls jail time over the Holidays, and get to keep it to cherish myself." (See bell on far right. The picture does NOT even remotely begin to do this bell justice. I don't know if I can take a picture that will do it justice, but if the sun comes out tomorrow I'll try. Thanks Mike! That piece of stock is amazing! Off the charts!! Simply unbelievable!!!)
So I grabbed a piece of a Buttonwood out my box from @Blueglass , had already picked a piece of that for the pen I needed to turn. Spun it, and it turned out really sweet. Lots of figure, lots of curl, very sweet stuff to turn as well. We gotta find some more of this Les! (See bell left center.)
Unfortunately, it far outshined the one I already had done in the house, so I decided to turn another. Grabbed a piece of reddish burly looking stuff out the box that looked interesting. Drilled it and glued my tube in, noticed CA leaking out a check in the side previously unseen. Decided to try it anyhow. Throughout turning said check was looking less and less noticeable, thought I had it licked, wasn't looking bad, then I buffed it out and 3 more checks showed up in the finished piece, and I again I said, "NO, this isn't going to work." So it got tossed on the bench and I went and dug back in the blank box again.
Found another nice reddish looking blank of unknown species, honestly not sure who's box it came out of, but again I suspect it was out of my @Blueglass box. I'm really not sure as it was getting a tad late in the morning by this point, and it could have been out any of 2 or 3 different boxes, maybe my @Mike1950 box, or my @rockb box, and it may be redwood, I honestly don't know. Mounted it up and began turning. Again, don't know what this stuff was, but it turned like butter, had wood flaking off it like little fish scales at first. Got it sorta to desired shape and sanded to final form, it was that soft. Looked absolutely beautiful!! Finished it, sanded, buffed it out, and for some reason it had a haze under the finish around 2 - 3 small knots at the top of the stem. Had to sand the top of it back to bare wood, and start over on that section. But, it turned out absolutely gorgeous! Lots of chatoyance, light just dances in it when you turn it.
Pen went sweet, again this one is Buttonwood from @Blueglass and the stuff turns really nice! Fitted on a Trimline kit in Gun Metal.
Wife came out to check on me about the time I was finishing up, which was just shortly before sunrise. Mother-in-law was in the house accusing me of falling asleep in the shop. They both thought I'd lost my mind, but appreciated the effort for the family members up there and loved the bells! And, I walked in the house with them about the time the sister-in-law pulled in the yard to head out.
Assessed goodies on hand decided the girls needed a bell, had 1 turned, wasn't beautiful but it would suffice, had a couple of the busy bee pens to send them as well. Had a pen turned I could send one brother-in-law without breaking up sets, decided to send them each whistle key-chain, since the gals all got bells to call the husbands, figured they'd all get a kick out of the husbands getting whistles to call the wives back.
So I needed 1 bell and 1 pen, and it was 10 pm... Not a problem! NOT!!!
Picked a piece of highly figured Black Walnut, turned it and the color simply didn't pop. Turned a faded cloudy shade of gray, which while it was pretty, it wasn't what I wanted, and I grabbed the wrong bushings, so the stem was over-turned top and bottom. So I decided that one wasn't gonna fly. (See bell on left below. It's going to get taken apart and refitted with a different stem.)
Grabbed another piece of quarter sawn Walnut I acquired from the old man, @Mike1950 . Looked interesting but not spectacular, showed some promise anyhow. Turned that one, sanded, finished, and polished, and said, "Oh my God... NO! We are not sending that one to Mississippi, because I am not going to be responsible for 3 old gray haired women in Ripley going to jail for a Domestic Disturbance. Because there's gonna be a fight, if I send that one!! I'll give it to my wife, save the girls jail time over the Holidays, and get to keep it to cherish myself." (See bell on far right. The picture does NOT even remotely begin to do this bell justice. I don't know if I can take a picture that will do it justice, but if the sun comes out tomorrow I'll try. Thanks Mike! That piece of stock is amazing! Off the charts!! Simply unbelievable!!!)
So I grabbed a piece of a Buttonwood out my box from @Blueglass , had already picked a piece of that for the pen I needed to turn. Spun it, and it turned out really sweet. Lots of figure, lots of curl, very sweet stuff to turn as well. We gotta find some more of this Les! (See bell left center.)
Unfortunately, it far outshined the one I already had done in the house, so I decided to turn another. Grabbed a piece of reddish burly looking stuff out the box that looked interesting. Drilled it and glued my tube in, noticed CA leaking out a check in the side previously unseen. Decided to try it anyhow. Throughout turning said check was looking less and less noticeable, thought I had it licked, wasn't looking bad, then I buffed it out and 3 more checks showed up in the finished piece, and I again I said, "NO, this isn't going to work." So it got tossed on the bench and I went and dug back in the blank box again.
Found another nice reddish looking blank of unknown species, honestly not sure who's box it came out of, but again I suspect it was out of my @Blueglass box. I'm really not sure as it was getting a tad late in the morning by this point, and it could have been out any of 2 or 3 different boxes, maybe my @Mike1950 box, or my @rockb box, and it may be redwood, I honestly don't know. Mounted it up and began turning. Again, don't know what this stuff was, but it turned like butter, had wood flaking off it like little fish scales at first. Got it sorta to desired shape and sanded to final form, it was that soft. Looked absolutely beautiful!! Finished it, sanded, buffed it out, and for some reason it had a haze under the finish around 2 - 3 small knots at the top of the stem. Had to sand the top of it back to bare wood, and start over on that section. But, it turned out absolutely gorgeous! Lots of chatoyance, light just dances in it when you turn it.
Pen went sweet, again this one is Buttonwood from @Blueglass and the stuff turns really nice! Fitted on a Trimline kit in Gun Metal.
Wife came out to check on me about the time I was finishing up, which was just shortly before sunrise. Mother-in-law was in the house accusing me of falling asleep in the shop. They both thought I'd lost my mind, but appreciated the effort for the family members up there and loved the bells! And, I walked in the house with them about the time the sister-in-law pulled in the yard to head out.
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