My Next Project

[Burlkraft]

I am always up for a life challenging project, so this is my next one........








.

It's the end of a really nice Big Leaf Maple burl log that I had.

If it works like I plan it will be a nice piece.  ;D  ;D  ;D

If it doesn't it'll just be another in a long line of failed projects  : : :

[Norm]

Holy cow Steve that's one big burl! Might be time to invest in a flack jacket. 

[submarinesailor]

I bet you start off real slow because balancing that thing is going to be a bitch.  Remembers me of a fan in a steel plant I tried to balance one time – it was very, very dirty.  Be very careful as you bring it up to speed.

Bruce

[metalspinner]

Where's the big one??? :D

How deep into the log section do you figure the figure goes?

What is it gonna be?

Are you gonna shoot a bit of video for us to watch?  What about a live feed? ;D

[Burlkraft]

Are you gonna shoot a bit of video for us to watch?  What about a live feed? ;D

:D  :D  :D  :D  You guy's are lucky I can get some pictures in here now and then  :D  :D  :D

I wouldn't know where to begin to even start a live feed  :  :  :

I will try to get some pictures tho...

It's gonna be a big bowl. The figure stops at the log. I was really surprised but the figure ends at the burl and the log is pretty much straight grained. That branch stem is gonna be a challenge. I might start turnin' it this afternoon.

I'll keep ya posted  ;D

[Raider]

Steve- Great piece of wood Stay safe!   Raider

[woodsteach]

Burlkraft,

I can't even wrap my head around how to start something like that!!  Of course that lathe looks just a little heavier than my delta.  Good luck and keep us posted.

woodsteach

[Gary_C]

Wow Steve! That looks like it will be fun.  : You gonna wear a hard hat too?   

If that works out, I've got some even bigger ones.   :D :D

[pigman]

Get the video rolling and crank that lathe up to 2000 rpm so we can see  the One-Way  dance across the floor. ;D

[fiddle1]

what a project! im sure it'll be fine.
burls are just amazing!

way to go!

getting chucked and centerered must have been fun.
;)

[Burlkraft]

Get the video rolling and crank that lathe up to 2000 rpm so we can see  the One-Way  dance across the floor. ;D

It's bolted down  ;D ;D ;D

[Larry]

Hope you used really big bolts!

I'm far to big of a scarity cat to even contemplate turning something like that. ???

[Dodgy Loner]

Shouldn't be too tough to get it balanced. Just tedious. I'm assuming you have electronic continuously-variable speed adjustment that will allow you to start at 0 RPM and slowly increase it as needed. My lathe has geared continuously-variable speed control that bottoms out at 450 RPM. So it would be a no-go on my machine ;D

[beenthere]

Bolted down eh? 

So's then the shop starts dancin round the yard in the new snow.  ;D ;D

[Reddog]

It will be neat to see what is inside.

As for failed projects, you can always make a smaller bowl ;)

[Reddog]

Bolted down eh? 

So's then the shop starts dancin round the yard in the new snow.  ;D ;D

At least the retaining wall will keep it away form the house. :D

[Burlkraft]

This is what happened today..........








I had to make it so it would go around, so I cut off the high spots with the saw









Next is to get a tennon cut ASAP and get it in a chuck, but it was not as unbalanced as I thought.
I was able to round up the bottom and make it even look like a bowl...a little bit anyway  ;D







This is the shape we ended up with. I'll put a jaw chuck on the lathe and turn the burl around.















I'll start hollowing from this end, tomorrow  ;D

[SwampDonkey]

"We're gonna need a bigger boat lathe. :D  I haven't a lathe big enough for that sucker, but it's bolted down and has variable speed up to 2000 rpm. Mom has a burl coffee table from yellow birch that is almost 3 feet in diameter.  ;D

I took a picture awhile back of a huge birch burl sitting on a  6 foot wide pallet. I saw one just as big, deep in the bush and I think they cut it for one of the guys at the camp. Hauled it out by machine. Them things are heavy. :D

Looking good Steve.

[woodsteach]

Keep up the great work and pix BK I can't wait to see the finished product.

woods

[WDH]

That is amazing!  Gnarly too  :D.

That will be one special bowl.

[Dan_Shade]

burlkraft, do you have one of those high fallutin' hollowing tools so you can make multiple bowls from one blank?

[Mooseherder]

That thing is scary and intimidatingly huge.  Did Jill help you set it up. ??? ;)
If not, then your stronger than you think. :D

[SwampDonkey]

It's the veggie diet, all that spinach.  ;D

[Lud]

Nice big chunk,Steve.   keep yer tool sharp....., like Santy Claus it's got miles to go before it sleeps!

[Patty]

Wow Steve that is so COOL!  8)  Keep us posted on your progress. I will send my address over to you for the finished product.  ;D

[BcWoodWorks]

Wow Steve that is so COOL!  8)  Keep us posted on your progress. I will send my address over to you for the finished product.  ;D

Might have to Rock, paper, Scissors you for it Patty. Best out of 3 gets the burl AND the lathe.  :D

Steve - I knew you were going to start turning, but gosh DanG that's a biggie. You weren't kidding when you said "Major" turning project. Good to see the lathe is getting a workout though. Next time I come up I'm going to rig a camera mount, so we can get some videos uploaded.

You start without a big roughing gouge and work up from there?

Beenthere -  :D  :D That would be something to see. I doubt Rhino or Indigo would much care to hang around for that.   :D

[Burlkraft]

Here's what I did today. This thing is dry and hard and tears out very easily where the burl meets the straight grain of the log.  :  :  :





The first cuts on the inside







The weapon of choice today is a 3/4 inch Sorby Deep Flute bowl gouge









About 1/2 way through....This is a lot of work hollowing something this big.
I was going to core a couple of smaller bowls, but it just wouldn't work out as this is made up of 5 different burls
growing around the stem.










Here's the bowl with the center cut out.
















I did some final cutting and a quick sand with 65 grit. I put a coat of mineral oil on to keep it from cracking.














That's all for today. Next up is putting the final shape and getting some of the tear out cleaned up on the outside.   ;D  ;D

[BcWoodWorks]

Wow!  8)

Now that's what I call beautiful.

Your skill surpasses even your age, old guy.  :D

Keep the pics coming, it looks fantastic. Can't wait to see then end product!

[LeeB]

Looks realy nice. I hope it stays together for you.

[metalspinner]

 8) 8)

It looks like flower petals to me.


Is your lathe the 24"?  Do you have some kind of overhead lift in the shop?

[SwampDonkey]

Wow, that burl sure has some real nice swirls to it. I hope she don't split apart with that pith kind of separating. The checks don't seem to go into the burl much though, from what I can see. I can imagine it takes quite a day to carve that hog up. The sanding and polishing is gonna eat up some time to.  ;D

The old dog is sure enjoying himself. ;)

[pasbuild]

Wow!  8)



Your skill surpasses even your age, old guy.  :D

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[pigman]

I put a coat of mineral oil on to keep it from cracking.

When you finish turning that thing be sure to wear your face shield. I think I already see some cracks.

[Burlkraft]

Is your lathe the 24"?  Do you have some kind of overhead lift in the shop?

My lathe is a 2436. It has a 12" swing and I needed every inch of it for this project.

I do have a sky hook that I use a chain hoist on, but it was not needed for this.

I was able to handle the chunk pretty easily  ;D

[Burlkraft]

Wow!  8)



Your skill surpasses even your age, old guy.  :D

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Do not egg the child on  :-\  :-\  :-\

He gets enuff "Old Man" cracks in without help from you's guy's  :D :D :D :D

[BcWoodWorks]

To be honest, I don't even know how you turned that thing. I figured it would have just exploded as soon as it met a tool.    Guess it's good it didn't meet me eh?  :D

Lathe on, dude.  ;D

[Norm]

Looking good Steve!

Can you show me a picture of the dust collection system you use with your lathe? I'm wanting to fab up something for Patty's mini and maxi lathe.

[Dan_Shade]

my lathe dust collection is a broom!

[SwampDonkey]

my lathe dust collection is a broom!

Mine to, along with a shovel and 16 gallon Shop-Vac when it's all said and done with. Stove comes in there someplace. :D :D

[Patty]

I really appreciate the step by step tutorial.......with pictures!  8)

The bowl is beautiful, Steve, keep up the good work, old man!  ;)

[BcWoodWorks]

I really appreciate the step by step tutorial.......with pictures!  8)

The bowl is beautiful, Steve, keep up the good work, old man!  ;)

:D I didn't have anything to do with that old man comment. Oh man, what have I started?

[Burlkraft]

Looking good Steve!

Can you show me a picture of the dust collection system you use with your lathe? I'm wanting to fab up something for Patty's mini and maxi lathe.

There is no way to have good chip collection. I had chips in places a guy shouldn't have chips  :D  :D  :D

They were all over the shop. That's why I have floor sweeps. I have a 5" hose on a stand for sanding, that works good  ;)  ;)

Let the chips fall where they may  8)  8)  8)

BC........Sharp tools my friend....There is no substitute for razor sharp tools  ;)  ;)

[BcWoodWorks]

They don't make grinder wheels coarse enough to sharpen my mental tool, Burl. Especially not razor sharp.  :D

[LeeB]

If we're lucky enough we will all get to be 'old man' some day. (old lady for you gals out there) Merry Christmas all.

[Burlkraft]

Okay here's what went on today









Lots of sandblasting! I did form the outside shape of the bowl with a large semi-round scraper.

This also cleared up a lot of the tear out from the large gouge.






Filling the big cracks with blue rocks








This is my rock crusher some 3/4 plate, round tube and an old king pin.

This thing will crush anything  ;D

Tomorrow I'll epoxy the cracks.







The other day I broke the handle on the 3/4 bowl gouge.

Today Jill made me a new one  8)  8)





Here's Jill workin' away at some quilted maple.







My faithful shop companion, Rhino

[Patty]

The bowl is awesome!  8)   I do not understand the sand blasting....how is this done? And where do you find the blue stone? So many questions............
1) At what point do you switch from turning the bowl to sandblasting the bowl?
2) How did you break the handle on your knife...I am guessing my arm would break long before any handle would. Nice handle by the way....Jill did a real fine job.
It looks like you two spent the day the same way Norm & I did yesterday...playing in the shop. It is great, isn't it! I made a rolling pin using the badboy lathe, while Norm worked on a couple cutting boards. Then we switched and I went to the mini-lathe and made a small table lamp spindle post thing  : while Norm wrestled with the big lathe. What an awesome day! Glad to see others enjoying eachother in much the same way.  ;)
3) So will you remove the blue rock dust from the bowl next or leave it in the cracks for added strength? We need more pictures please. 

[Burlkraft]

I am done with the rough turning. next is to do some fine finish turning, but because of the large checks in the log part of the piece the sides were starting to flex. So I pulled it off the lathe and sandblasted the the natural edge and the bark inclusions. Sandblasting cleans them up without destroying them.

Then I filled the backside of the checks with CA glue and with crushed blue rock I filled the checks from the inside of the bowl. I know ......clear as mud  :  :  : Today I'll use epoxy to fill the cracks and hold the blue stone in the checks

I got the blue stone at Burnies Rock Shop in Madison. I have no idea what it is.

When the epoxy has dried then I will finish turn the inside of the bowl, turning off the excess epoxy and blue rock.

All I can do today is put the epoxy in and wait 24 hours for it to dry. I'll get as many pictures of that as I can  ;D

Jill and I usually spend weekends in the shop together during the winter. That way she can keep an eye on me and I can sharpen tools for her   :D  :D  :D

Today I will be cutting some Bird's Eye slab wood into turning blanks and she will be on my lathe turning them.

[Burlkraft]

 



Unblasted natural edge







Blasted natural edges

[Jeff]

Awesome.

[Patty]

That's what I was gonna say! Great minds...............

[pasbuild]

Lookin good 8)  I hope the eye blanks turn out better then the boards did

[LeeB]

I wanna see some pics of your sand blaster.

[Left Coast Chris]

Very nice Steve!   You are really brave to not wrap something that fragile while hollowing.   Sharp tools...... 8) 8)

Question:  If you were to attmept to sand it at higher speeds on the lathe after you hollowed it, how do you avoid having the edges next to big cracks/openings round off?     That has been my challenge along with keeping the fingers in tact of course with gaps like you have there....

[Burlkraft]

I try to do as little sanding as possible, but it is inevitable  :  :  :

I have an indexing head on my lathe and with this one I sanded the last 2" of the rim by hand with the head locking every
5 ° .

It was a lot of work, but any type of power sanding will show as round offs.

My hands just ached yesterday after all that.

It really hurts when ya get sandpaper and fingers caught in crack or a void, don't it.

I always try to sand in reverse too  ;D

I'll get some pictures of my sandblasters .Nuthin' special really

[SwampDonkey]

Sanding is hand cramping work for me. Also, ash is bad for cuts on 90 degree corners, like glass. Also, the sanding really dries the hand pores and kinda makes your finger tips loose some feeling. :D

[BcWoodWorks]

Good to see Rhino still joins you in the shop as well.
...Sounds like a great weekend to me. *Nostalgic moment*

Excellent work as always, Steve.

[Don_Papenburg]

 NO No you do not want dust collection for the lathe . If all of your shavings depart the lathe area  how will you burnish your turnings?    I use my shavings to put a real nice sheen on my turnings .  it works better than 0000000 steel wool.

[Lud]

Goood looking bowl , Steve.,  How about describing your epoxy process.  I've had a few failures where it didn't set up even when i thought I was making a hot batch.

[Burlkraft]

I'll have some epoxy pictures today. Didn't get much done yesterday as it was got to the movies day.

Jill's back at work today and I'll be in the shop. My epoxy should be hard and ready to be turned off  ;D ;D

[Warbird]

Holy cow, BK.  That is AWESOME.  Thanks for sharing all the pictures.  What is the bowl measuring right now?

[Burlkraft]

The bowl is about 22" across

We had a major setback yesterday  :-\  :-\  :-\

I was turning the epoxy off, things were going well and then the inevitable catch

A big one too  :  :  :

I'll have to let it set for a while so I can gather myself and get back to it without making firewood out of it.

Maybe this afternoon I'll give a sand job and now I'll have to do more epoxy  >:( >:( >:(

[Warbird]

Doh.  That sucks.  Did it come apart?  This is still an amazing project. 

[Brad_bb]

Yes, very interesting to watch the progress.  Thank you.

[Burlkraft]

I just got in from the shop and although it does not look like I got much done, it was a lot of work.

I was using 32 grit trying to repair the damage. Some sanding was done by hand and some by hand with the lathe turning.

32 grit makes some serious dust   

It did not break apart or anything like that, but now I have this 50 cent piece sized chunk taken out of the inside of the bowl.

I don't believe I can just turn it out as it will make that section of the bowl too weak to support the rest. I'd have to turn it all thin!        That ain't gonna happen, so now I gotta try and deal with it.

We are on our way out to meet friends for dinner. One of the few I have left before Jill cracks down on me and my diet.

I'll post a picture tomorrow morning of the chunk and we'll have a "how to fix it" whazzit  :D  :D  :D

[Dave Shepard]

Just glue that 50 cent piece in the hole. Nobody will notice the mistake. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

This is where a little inlay work comes in handy. Sanded smooth and like it was always there. ;D


Dave's got the idea.

[Don_Papenburg]

My buddy Armin always said that some of the neetest feature on his wood work where the C.A.S.T.     Creative Ass Saving Tecniques or ways to hide his goof ups.

[beenthere]

.................We are on our way out to meet friends for dinner. One of the few I have left before Jill cracks down on me and my diet.
.......

No, you still have plenty of friends left.  ;D

Maybe one of Tom's $1 coins will fit the divot. ??

[WDH]

Yes, you have plenty of friends here, so don't be so hard on yourself  ;D.

[Burlkraft]

Been working hard on the bowl, even if it don't look like it  :  :  :



Here it is all epoxy'd up.

I'll attempt to get it back on the lathe. It has moved quite a bit, so it's not exactly round  :















Here it is about as good as I can get it.







Things were going fine, The epoxy was peeling off in nice ribbions and then all of a sudden



WHACK








I worked on it a bit and it's not so visible, but it's too deep to turn out and to big to ignore  :D  :D  :D

So we need to come up with sumpthin' to put in there. Got any Ideas?  It's approx. 1" X 1" X 1/2" Deep









I started working on the outside today. I have the final shape, I think.

I have more epoxy to do and a lot of sanding  :  :

[metalspinner]

Make it a feature.  Carve it into a knot and fill with your epoxy and stone mixture.  Maybe carve another "crack" from the center of the blank into the carved catch.

[Gary_C]

One thing to do is mix a wood filler to get the right color and fill it  and then smooth it out. It may take repeated fillings and some time to get it dry so it doesn't shrink any more.

Or make a template and use a router and collars to cut out a patch of your choice of shape and then glue that in place. Just like those butterfly reinforcing inlays that are used on tabletops.

[SwampDonkey]

Got any red maple to match grain with? I've patched butternut before and I challenge anyone to find the tear out spot. You'll find it possibly, but not without looking at the end of your nose. ;D

[Patty]

The blue stone you used in that piece to sandblast is really very pretty. You could accentuate that blue... go back to the stone shop to see if you can find some matching or even contrasting stone to set in there. After setting it, you may then want to sand the stone down to blend in with the wood a bit, instead of looking like you glued a rock in there.  :  Or you could use some of that blue stone dust to put in there and then polish it all together like was mentioned earlier.

The bowl is awesome, by the way.  8)

[Burlkraft]

Jeff is sending me a little piece of his collection to put in there.  ;D  ;D  ;D

I am going to go do some sanding now  :  ;D

[Warbird]

As Al Bundy said, "There ain't no mix up a sander can't fix up!"  Well, maybe that ain't true but there you go.    I still can't believe you managed to turn that thing at all. 

[Burlkraft]

Jeff sent me a coin to put in that big gash in my bowl.

It was a Wisconsin / Arkansas logging camp 5¢ coin


I had to "modify" the hole to fit the coin, but it looks good







Just waiting for the epoxy to dry now

[Jeff]

Here is a close up of that coin.

[pigman]

Steve, I will give you at least 5¢ for that bowl.

[OneWithWood]

That Pigman, he is always overpaying for stuff  :D :D :D ;D

[Warbird]

Nice coin!  Looking forward to seeing the completed product.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah nice coin, musta been for the commissary. They just used barter/labour here back in the day, no special coins. But, neat idea.

Coming along on the bowl nicely, the coin will make some extra conversation over the piece. 

[Gary_C]

Here is a close up of that coin.

It's good that you took a picture of that side cause nobody is going to se it again.   8)

Course you could have sliced in two and saved the back side for the next repair.  :

:D :D :D

[Burlkraft]

Here's an update on the bowl............



"Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground"
                                                                                  James Taylor










































Everything was going fine. I had the inside done. I took the bowl out of the jaw chuck, turned it around and put it in a vacuum chuck. Turning off the rest of the waste on the back and shaping the foot was going great. The next thing I see is the dog jumping, 5 pieces of bowl flying across the shop. I saw one zip above the dog and the next below. She ran for cover        I just stood there in amazement for a few minutes and then the air was quite BLUE for a time  >:(  >:(  >:(
It came apart right at the center of the pith of the log. It broke right at the base of all 5 burls.

All I have left is firewood.

Sorry Jeff  :'(  :'( 

We was gonna auction this bowl off to raise some funds. Ya gotta pay for them hats and shirts up front ya know  :  :

I'll look around for something else, but right now my spirit is broken......... smiley_sick smiley_sick smiley_sick

[Reddog]

 :( glad no one got hurt.
More epoxy needed ;)

[Dana]

What a bummer after all that work. Maybe you could make some trays or.... out of the pieces?  Still thinking, maybe get one of our blacksmiths to work up an iron base for each one.

[Patty]

Geeeesh Steve, I am real sorry about this.  :(

Am I being too gullible in that it could be glued back together again?

[Warbird]

Awwww man.  That sucks.  :(  Glad no one, including the dog, got hurt.

[pigman]

I will cancel my bid of 5¢   ;D

[beenthere]

Bummer
However, epoxied in a frame just as pictured would make a good mosaic. Might just capture the "moment" when "all hell broke loose".  ;D

Check Rhino, as she might be carryin some important pieces buried in her fur coat. 

[Dan_Shade]

it would also make a good table top, like you did with those guitars!

It would definately make for good conversation.

Like my old shopteacher said, "there are no mistakes, just new opportunities" 

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah man, that's too bad. I think you and me were half expecting it to blow at any time with all those cracks opened up. Makes for some exciting moments when she does go I suspect.  I could use that dog on another project. ;D  ;)

[Mooseherder]

Man that smarts. Ouch :(
At least Rhino still loves ya.

[backwoods sawyer]

Have you considered using super glue rather then epoxy? It soaks into the wood and has better holding power then epoxy, just my experience. 
Next..

[pasbuild]

look at the up side, its a lot EZer to pick up now then when ya started

[metalspinner]

That blows! >:(

By the looks of it, the wall thickness seems thick enough to mount the smaller pieces and still end up with something.  I know it's not what you want, but sometiomes you just need to go with it... :-\

Glad to pooch is OK.

[WDH]

Bummer  :-\.

[Lud]

That's a DanG shame.    Sometimes it helps running a band of shrinkwrap or packing tape  around the outer edge until they stabilize.........a little late for that comment now ...but for the next time, eh?

[BcWoodWorks]

Wow Steve...

What speed were you running 'er at when she exploded? Did you catch any of it when it went?

Glad Rhino is ok; though I doubt even a .50AE round could pierce that coat of hers.  :D

Stay warm pops.