The Forestry Forum

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Charlie's wood turning club was given a downed cherry if they would cut it up. So they began to saw it up into useable pieces.

It was a terrible sight to see.  The gasoline fumes so thick you couldn't breathe and sweat pouring from every pore.  Chainsaw Charlie cuts the pith from a cherry log he just finished cutting to turning stock. He's blowing the socks off the stihl chainsaw with his souped up, highly polish handled,  high-speed paint Craftsman!  It's the roller bearing chain break and Ming Dynasty chinese ceramic clutch that seems to give him the edge.

DanG Tom!!! That's bad......  You're still trying to get back at me for getting you in trouble when we were kids. Ain'tcha?! :o

Sure looks like is trying very hard at that, Charlie.

No it aint "the end", I heard somebody threw a yoke on em. I think they call the one on the right "Babe"

Shouldn`t that say ... THE ENDS.  :D

Take a look in the back of that pickup. I didnt think you would need that much gear to cut up one downed tree, so I did an image scan on the pic to try to see what all they were carrying in there.

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Jeff, you must've gotten that picture on our way out to the log. That was our lunch. ;D  Here's the Whackettes of turning blanks we came back with 8) 8)

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D#*n nice firewood ;D

Charlie,
Do you carve those down on the bandsaw in some particular fashion in order to get what you want out of them before putting them on the lathe?

Greg, by the time I finish trying to turn something out of it, it'll be too small for firewood. Might make a good toothpick though or firestarter wood.

Kevin, there's two ways to prepare a 1/2 a log for bowl turning.

1. If it's too thick to cut on the bandsaw (mine only has a 6" throat) then, you cut the length of the log to approximately the size of the width. Then lop off each corner with the chainsaw and you will have an octagonal. Mount a faceplate on the flat side of the log (not the bark side), mount on the lathe and true it up round. Then start turning the bowl.

2. If you can cut it on your bandsaw,  cut a circle out of 1/4" masonite that's a little smaller than the size of the width of your log (I have 6", 8", 10" & 12" masonite circles), find the center of the disk and put a screw through it. Find the approximate center of the log on the bark side and screw the masonite circle to that center of the log. Place the flat side of the log down, with the disk on top onto your bandsaw table and cut just outside the disk all the way around the log (the disk is just a guide). You now have the log cut into a circle. Mount the faceplate onto the flat part of the log (not the barkside), put on the lathe and true it up. Then turn the bowl.

You would turn the outside shape of the bowl first and leave the bottom thick with some wastewood. Then remount the bowl blank with the faceplate on the bottom wastewood and hollow out the bowl. Take the bowl off the face plate and mount the top of the bowl into a bowl chuck and finish the bottom.          

We have a place up hear in Alaska called The Great Alasken Bowl co.   Thay made a very cool lathe like I have never herd of other than thers.  It's a shaft with a 1 1/2 inch lag bolt on one end and a big moter on the other to tern it.   Thaytake a 1/2 log like Charlie's and drill a 1 1/4" hole in the flat face and turning the lag very slow hold the log to it till it's on ther good.   Now is the cool part!   Thay turn it about 100rpm to make the first cut on the ruff log.   Thay pick the right size cerved knife and hook it to a hinge on the lathe and swing it into the log and it cuts a perfict round pass 1/4" wide in a radious the shape of a bowl.   The ruff log drops off and is sold as a planter box.   Now thay grab the next size smaller knife speed the thing up a bit and run that knife in and it cuts a bowl off slick as all get out.   Change to the next knife and the next and get 4 to 8 bowls from that 1/2 log in a mached set in about 15 minuts with that lathe thay made! ;)   If thay cut into a knot it just makes it look all the better even if it makes a hole in the bowl.
Andy

   OK, OK, now go back up to the 6th post in this thread- looky there at those bags of GREEN veg..could those be FRESH PEAS!!?? 'I remember when' certain persons were talking about a canopeas for offloading wages. Has the quality of life come forward since those days??   lw

Yep LW, those are FRESH Peas for the workers. Only Tom serves Brand X generic peas with the white label and black writing to his off loaders.  I think he pays about $1 a case for them. >:(

I have some pictures and video of an old "bowl mill" working. I will start a thread over on the general board and post the pics and video.