Monday, November 23, 2015

The Fun Begins


While we were in Colorado during the summer, we gathered several pieces of dead Aspen so I could turn bowls out of it. Now that my lathe is set up, I needed to start working on the project. I have been waiting for the man who taught me turning last year to return for the winter. Finally, I resorted to the internet to find information on how to select what part of a lot works best and which way to have the grain going.

This morning, John cut a piece off one of the logs and I set it up to start turning a bowl. It was spinning on the lathe


and then it was spinning off the lathe! Not what I intended.


One piece ended up on the floor across the room.


Only a small piece was left on the lathe. Obviously, the wood was rotten and two weak to work on.



So we choose another log of Aspen. Here I am holding the log for John to cut with our hand saw.


This log was better wood. So I began making a real mess in the shop.


And a mess on me.


The good news is, the wood stayed on the lathe and I was able to shape it.


It's not done. I hope to use the part I cut off the top to make a lid and I will have a box. I will have a lot of sanding to do by hand because I didn't want to keep working down the inside until I cut through the bottom, something I did last year. I'll show you the completed project in the next week or two, if it works out. Right now, it's looking pretty good.

4 comments:

  1. Whoa! John must be really quick with the camera to get a picture of the 'wanna be' bowl flying off.

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    Replies
    1. He is really quick with the camera. But we didn't know he had captured that image untill we looked at the pictures.

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  3. I am glad that piece did not fly off and hit someone!!!

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