End Grain on the Lathe

[Burlkraft]

Nice job Bob  8)  8)  8)

[Patty]

Pasbuild, your bowl was awesome!

I like the therapy as well, and you get to create something to boot. Bonus!

I put some Watson oil on the bowl and it brought out the interesting grain patterns. Thanks again for the wood, you guys, I really have been enjoying it. 

[Lud]

Y'know Patty,   It helps if you burn in some beeswax after the oil, right?  And be sure to spin it both directions and hold your buffer rag tight so the heat helps the wax/oil soak in a bit.  Then you'll have a nice , soft gloss. ;D ;D ;D

[turningfool]

great job patty!..perseverance and lots of pointers from the members really pays off doesn't it?

[Patty]

Lud,

I wish I had read your tip about the wax before now. I was going to do just what you said, then changed my mind and went for the polyurethane instead. Now I kinda wish I had gone the wax route.  :-\    Bummer

I guess we'll see how she turns out in the end.

Yes, TF, this place is awesome for good advice and kind words.   

[turningfool]

Patty...I kinda have the same dilemma in the bottom of this tiny box elder bowl i am working on,even with super sharp tools and light cuts ,you still get some tearout

[Lud]

So 17" is tiny................hmmmmmmmm :D :D

[turningfool]

I turned that one on the outboard set up..spooky at first..also turned thi







s monster hollow form this morning,had some figured ,but not too figured wood i had to use up. This one was 16" in diameter when completed..but bigger isnt always better,as you can see by this tiger maple bowl of 4"

[CHARLIE]

Patty, endgrain tearout can be a difficult problem.  The wood fibers don't have any support. One trick that helps some is to brush on a heavy coat of sanding sealer and then take light cuts while the sealer is still wet.  The sanding sealer helps support the fibers.  Sometimes I have good luck by cutting the wood by pulling the the gouge and not pushing it.  For endgrain turning, I use scrapers on the inside.  On the outside you might try what is called sheer scraping with a regular skew (you use the skew like a scraper but lightly pull the skew over the wood), but do it lightly.  Another trick with punky wood is to make up a solution of 50:50 glue and water and soak the wood in it. Then let it dry. The glue hardens the punky wood and helps support the fibers.  I've never tried it before but Minwax makes a product called "Wood Hardner".  It soaks into rotten wood and dries fairly quickly and making the punky wood hard.   

[Lud]

Charlie,  you say it so well.........you could be a commentator on the "Turning Channel"   !! 8)

[Patty]

Great advice Charlie. Beats using sandpaper for sure.......but I was amazed at how well the sandpaper did work. I imagine because the wood was so soft, it allowed me to sand it down rather quickly.

Your bowls are beautiful, TF.

[turningfool]

patty...if at all possible ,you should try to hold your bowl gouge handle really low too..it really helps those super light but very important cuts..ty charlie..will try the wet sanding sealer method,and show more pics of the end results

[CHARLIE]

Sometimes I'll take a bowl gouge with a "fingernail" grind on the tip and turn it sort of upside down. Then I start in the middle of the inside of the bowl and lightly put the top edge against wood and pull it toward the rim of the bowl.  So......you are not using the tip of the gouge for cutting, you are using the top edge of the "fingernail" grind. With a little practice, this technique can leave a very smooth surface.

[Patty]

Gosh I wish you all lived less than 2 states away.  :    Perhaps a video is in order here! Visual aid is so helpful in this type of discussion.

My method of trial & error pretty much sucks, but I sure do have a good time.  ;D

Yesterday I worked on a bowl that Woodbowl sent up a few years ago. I believe he calls them "dough bowls" or something similar. I had never seen sweet gum wood before, much less worked with it. My goodness, after 2 hours of heavy sanding I am beginning to see some progress. The wood is very pretty, and some of the hardest wood I have worked with. Right up there with white oak and black locust. Today I intend to finish the sanding with some steelwool to smooth it out. I am anxious to see the results.

It is great to be back in a shop again.  8)

[Radar67]

You should get something similar to this Patty.

[CHARLIE]

Patty, here is a pretty good article on the differnt ways to "Sheer Scrape".  It would be well worth your time to practice this technique. Sure cuts the sanding time.

http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/shear-scrapers.html

Here's another article from the same site concerning preventing end grain tear out. It prety much says the same thing I did but suggests using paste wax or lacquer.

http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/torn-grain.html

[Patty]

Thanks Charlie, I appreciate your good advice.

Woodbowl's bowl is sanded.







my little end grain bowl is finished also

[Fla._Deadheader]

You are getting the hang of sanding, Patty.  8) 8)

[Patty]

Why thank you Harold. How nice of you to say so. 

[SwampDonkey]

Looks real good from this angle. ;D Sanding can be a real chore. I know, try butternut. Sand, sand and sand some more. :D

What did you sand the dough bowl with? Now, if you'll had a nice piece of maple, you could turn out some nice butter trays. ;D

My grandmother and uncle made a lot of butter over the years from Jersey cows.   

[Patty]

We made our own butter when I was little at one of the places we lived. We had two cows, one jersey for the cream & butter, and one holstein for the milk. With 5 kids to feed, we used up all the milk and cream every day. I wasn't old enough to do the actual milking, my brother & sister got that chore, I was the one who crawled up into the silo and threw down the silage for the cows and feeder calves we had. Then I had to go up into the hayloft and throw down bales of hay.  Hmmmm...now that I think about it, I should've been doing the milking while the older ones did the heavy lifting! :D

[Lud]

My older brother had "allergies" to hay dust so I was always stuck in the top of the barn at the end of the elevator when we made hay. 

I thought he was just allergic to work.......haven't changed my mind in 50 years. :D :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

My brother's accuse always was  he had to go to the washroom. After about an hour you'd go looking and he was sitting watching TV eating cookies. Mom always said, his ass had the grabs. :D

Patty will get a kick outta that one. ;D