Well, I have finally started to work a bit of the Australian timber I purchased while we were there. It has taken me forever to get my shop in order as I had to incorporate all of my father's tools into an already fairly well stocked work area. Then I had to get the electricians to add several outlets including a few 220 outlets for the larger machines. I also had to get my framer to build a woodshed so we could get the timber out of the garage! It is mostly organized now so that the wood is on shelves or stickered somewhere and I am trying to work a bit during each week to see what I can make. I started on the lathe.....
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| This is a piece of Jarrah I had shipped from WA. The inset is a piece of packing material from a container ship. We think it's from Southeast Asia somewhere. It was cut in on the ornamental lathe and then turned on the rose engine. | The bottom of the same piece showing the larger end of the insert with a different rose engine pattern. |
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| This is a small cup I turned on the rose engine. It's WA Sheoak, I believe. | Here are a few medallions I turned just to explore what the rose engine would do. Also Sheoak. |
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| These are a couple of small bowls I turned with some really small burls I harvested off a tree that was knocked down by a neighbor's logging operation. | The wood is red bud and the bowls are two to three inches in diameter. |
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| Another bowl from the Possum Trot Wood. This one is about four inches in diameter. | A defect in the burl made it pretty interesting and a little unstable to turn! |
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| Here's a larger bowl from the red bud burl. This one was tough to turn into a round form and I advanced on the learning curve with my lathe a bit as a result. | A figured jarrah bowl. This piece of wood had a crack in it, but I managed to get it turned anyway. |
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| This piece of jarrah was really nice, but had some fairly large splits in it. | I had to cut this piece off of the burl I used for the bowl in the row above as it was severely out of round. This piece cracked so many times it's got several ounces of glue holding it together, I think. |
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| This box is from walnut my father planted at Possum Trot and the red bud burl we cut down there last spring. | The worm eaten top.... |
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| A bowl of Australian sheoak. This is the largest so far at 10 1/2 inches in diameter | Another cup from the rose engine. This is from an unknown bit of wood a friend gave me. It came from a shipping pallet from Southeast Asia. |
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| A seven inch diameter, lace jarrah bowl | Same bowl from the side. This is the finest grain I've seen in jarrah so far! |
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| This is the whole run of boxes, eight in all from walnut my father planted to redbud burl I harvested, both from Possum Trot. This was a fun project! | A twelve inch bowl in sheoak from WA. |
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| A carving project I started one night at the cabin. This is some more of my Dad's walnut and if you notice, it's a double mobius strip! | An African blackwood, ornamentally turned cup. This is a little over two inches in diameter. |
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| A six inch bowl of curly jarrah with a Brazilian rosewood rim. The small crack in the side at the bottom was filled with brass filings. | I turned a couple of Brazilian rosewood bowls and then put them on the rose engine. They are about four inches in diameter. |
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| Another jarrah burl bowl ... this one about six inches in diameter. There was a worm hole in the blank and a hidden inclusion that was loose! | This bowl scared me to death as I was turning it. The wood is musk burl from Tasmania. It only grows in old growth forest and is a very limited resource. I was thrilled when I finished with the bowl gouge and could sand. |
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| One of the characteristics of musk burl is the folding of the grain. It almost produces a liquid appearance. The bowl is about ten inches in diameter. | A sheoak bowl with a rose in its center... This is about eight inches in diameter. |
