Just finished this the other day. It's a Rowan burl that's been slowly
drying in my shop for several years. Long enough that I can't recall
where I got it! No matter. Formby's tung oil finish.

It's about 12" wide by 3 5/8" tall...

Enjoy...

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller - http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
Juneau, Alaska
In a recent survey, 7 out of 10 hard drives preferred Linux
Registered Linux User No: 307357, http://counter.li.org

On Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:44:41 -0800, Kevin Miller
wrote:

I never developed much of an interest in turning, but I've always
wondered how a burl like that is turned. Specifically, how do you
prevent it from cracking and breaking up completely while turning with
all the existing cracks and voids? I'm assuming, maybe incorrectly,
that there must be some type of violent vibration when a cutting tool
crosses a void or a crack.

Kevin Miller wrote:
Just finished this the other day. It's a Rowan burl that's been slowly
drying in my shop for several years. Long enough that I can't recall
where I got it! No matter. Formby's tung oil finish.

It's about 12" wide by 3 5/8" tall...

Enjoy...

...Kevin

Beautiful. But can you eat grits out of this bowl?

--
Gerald Ross

There, but for the grace of God, goes
God.-Winston Churchill

On 8/29/2011 10:44 PM, Kevin Miller wrote:
Just finished this the other day. It's a Rowan burl that's been slowly
drying in my shop for several years. Long enough that I can't recall
where I got it! No matter. Formby's tung oil finish.

It's about 12" wide by 3 5/8" tall...

Enjoy...

...Kevin
Very nice Kevin, good use of wood!

On 08/30/2011 12:49 AM, Dave wrote:
On Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:44:41 -0800, Kevin
wrote:

I never developed much of an interest in turning, but I've always
wondered how a burl like that is turned. Specifically, how do you
prevent it from cracking and breaking up completely while turning with
all the existing cracks and voids? I'm assuming, maybe incorrectly,
that there must be some type of violent vibration when a cutting tool
crosses a void or a crack.

There is a bit of chatter when crossing voids, but in general it isn't
so bad as one might suspect. It depends on several things such as the
speed the bowl is spiinning at, how sharp your tools are, what type of
cut you're making and how deep of a cut.

Even at a slow speed like 500-600 rpm the about of time the tool crosses
the void is so minimal that the tool doesn't really have a chance to
deviate from the path it's on so when it encounters the far side of the
void it hasn't significantly changed the geometry of the cut.

Dealing with cracks is an issue at times. I've had wood fly apart on me
when the rotational stresses were too much. A full face shield is a
must. In this case, by design, I left the walls pretty thick so there
was plenty of sound wood to work with so it wasn't a major concern.

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller
Juneau, Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
"In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car."
- Lawrence Summers

On 08/30/2011 02:21 AM, Gerald Ross wrote:
Kevin Miller wrote:
Just finished this the other day. It's a Rowan burl that's been slowly
drying in my shop for several years. Long enough that I can't recall
where I got it! No matter. Formby's tung oil finish.

It's about 12" wide by 3 5/8" tall...

Enjoy...

...Kevin

Beautiful. But can you eat grits out of this bowl?

I'm not sure I'd want to eat grits out of any bowl! ;-)

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller
Juneau, Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
"In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car."
- Lawrence Summers

On 08/30/2011 03:40 AM, Leon wrote:
On 8/29/2011 10:44 PM, Kevin Miller wrote:
Just finished this the other day. It's a Rowan burl that's been slowly
drying in my shop for several years. Long enough that I can't recall
where I got it! No matter. Formby's tung oil finish.

It's about 12" wide by 3 5/8" tall...

Enjoy...

...Kevin
Very nice Kevin, good use of wood!

Thanks. Now to find more...

--
Kevin Miller
Juneau, Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
"In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car."
- Lawrence Summers

Very beautiful piece. Do you turn it when wet and then let it dry the 2 or
3 year or wait and turn it after it is dry.
Very much like a ceramic piece.
john

"Kevin Miller" wrote in message ...

Just finished this the other day. It's a Rowan burl that's been slowly
drying in my shop for several years. Long enough that I can't recall
where I got it! No matter. Formby's tung oil finish.

It's about 12" wide by 3 5/8" tall...

Enjoy...

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller - http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
Juneau, Alaska
In a recent survey, 7 out of 10 hard drives preferred Linux
Registered Linux User No: 307357, http://counter.li.org

On 08/31/2011 05:44 AM, jloomis wrote:
Very beautiful piece. Do you turn it when wet and then let it dry the 2
or 3 year or wait and turn it after it is dry.
Very much like a ceramic piece.

It sat in my shop for two or three years before I tried to do anything.
I then started roughing it out to be used as a base for a lighthouse
but I didn't like how it came out so just set it aside for another
couple years. After the moisture level got to a low enough level I
finished it up.

Usually after roughing I can come back to something w/6 months, but
because I'd left this extra thick I wanted to give it a goodly long time
to dry...

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller
Juneau, Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
"In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car."
- Lawrence Summers

When you say the moisture level got low enough...How low is ideal???

Keith P

On 08/31/2011 12:13 PM, Keith wrote:
When you say the moisture level got low enough...How low is ideal???

Well 6-7% is probably about the best you can do. I think that's what
kiln drying takes them down to. Air dried I'm seeing 8%-9%. Since the
humidity changes with the seasons, even kiln dried wood will increase in
moisture content depending on the season. Usually higher in the summer,
lower in the winter. I live in a rain forest, so my EMC (equalibrium
moisture content) will never get below 8%, even in the winter. In a
place like Arizona that would be high probably.

Ideal is an EMC that reflects the location of the piece. Any wood piece
will eventually adapt to the local humidity. The trick is to get the
wood in the shop as close to that as you can...

--
Kevin Miller
Juneau, Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
"In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car."
- Lawrence Summers