My Turn

Sean made this from an oak cutoff. The exterior was simply cut with a bandsaw; then Sean carved it. He hollowed the interior on the drill press, cutting hole after hole (I think he said sixteen or eighteen) with a Forstner bit. The interior burning is deliberate, done with a torch.

Sean has three more of these blocks to play with. He elected to hollow a second on the lathe, as shown below. He says Jean-François also wants to make a bowl like this.

I wonder what Sean is working on here.

I love that Sean makes use of scrap wood. I also like to use wood that most other turners wouldn’t look at twice. Nice scrap he’s got here, eh?

Jean-François decided to replace the broken ailanthus bowl, so he has turned another for his trio. Here, he has finished the exterior and is just turning the interior to the final wall thickness.

He still cannot leave the ailanthus, though. He turned another bowl, this one face grain in orientation. He tried texturing the exterior with a wire brush again, but he didn’t like how it looks with the grain running sideways, so he used the Arbortech over the brushing.

This left a thicket of fibers, so he used a torch to remove them. He then rubbed water all over the bowl to prevent cracking from the heat. He used water that was white with acrylic paint from finishing the exterior of the trio of bowls, so the rubbing left the exterior various shades of gray.

Siegfried’s day wasn’t a great one for photographs. He spent all day on sanding the interior of his box elder vessel. A lot of time went into constructing and refining what he calls a “linette” (I made the spelling up), an apparatus for supporting the drill while he sands the inside bottom of a deep vessel. It allows him to swing the drill back and forth while preventing it from walking. Once he got the linette made to his satisfaction, it was a matter of very patiently sanding and sanding and sanding again to get the bottom as smooth as a baby’s bottom—his standard for finish sanding. He did finally achieve it; just touch the inside, and you’ll see. Or take my word for it.

I began my turning day by hollowing the sugi (Cryptomeria) bowl. I was quickly presented with a design opportunity. (For those not in the know, this is what woodturners say when things don’t go as planned—i.e., when things break. Perhaps other professions use the same term . . . ?) Yes, I got a catch that pulled the bowl from the chuck, and when it hit the wall, the natural edge became a little less natural. (Or maybe differently natural.) I finished the bowl and went with the flow and similarly enhanced the rest of the edge. It’s pictured below. Can you tell which is the original break?

Jean-François thought there should be a document of me actually working, so he took these photos. Now that my turning is documented, he says I don’t have to turn anymore. He is always looking out for me.

I brought the sugi bowls back to my room with me last night. The smell of Japan was with me all night.