Last week I processed a couple more of the rough turned Sycamore I mentioned in Log to Bowl, Wood Unknown. There are so many interesting grain patterns here, I’m a little sad I don’t have that many more pieces left.
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Log to Bowl, Wood Unknown
Earlier this year I was able to get ahold of a few pieces of an unknown species of wood. I quickly rough turned them back in April and placed them in to paper bags with shavings to dry.
Tonight I took one off the shelf, weighed it, and found it had stabilized. Ready to turn!
There is a lot for the eye too look at, that’s for sure. There was a little tearout but not too bad. Polar water for scale 🙂
I don’t know what kind of wood it is, so if you recognize it, let me know. Here’s what it looked like in log form.
The new lathe is a pleasure to work on. Vibrations are greatly reduced and it simply does not bog down. It also has Reverse, which I’m finding very useful for sanding to a nice smooth surface.
I have a few more of pieces of this wood and now I’m excited about what they’re going look like.
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Skymo Radio Mount
Facebook ads – yeah they work.
Last week an advertisement popped up for a radio mount for my truck which caught my attention. It hangs from a cupholder and doesn’t require any drilling or modifications to the vehicle. For the past 8 months I’ve had my radio sitting in a less-than-ideal spot and previous searches didn’t reveal this option.
It arrived yesterday and I was quick to get it installed. It’s perfect! It even works with a phone holder I have in the same cupholder. And no rattling!
So if you’re looking for a non-invasive way to securly hold your radio, made specifically for your truck model, check them out. Skymo Radio Gear Company.
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Dead Lathe; New Lathe
Last weekend I went to fire up the lathe to process some newly acquired logs and the lathe stopped lathing. Well, it spun but wasn’t happy about it. Lots of noise and heat, I just had to shut it down and say goodbye.
Not thriled with the prospect of the cost of a full-size replacement (or getting one into the basement), I opted for another benchtop model. But this time I went with a Jet, one with a more powerful moter and about 60% heavier.
Welcome to the Jet 1221VS!
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RV Breaker Check Valve
We own a 2024 Forest River Shamrock 233s and recently encountered a problem I figured would be good to record a solution to.
This year whenever I went to flush (clean) the black tank with the flush inlet, (clean!) water would start to flood the bathroom floor. We were in a rush to get packed up and checked out, so we cleaned it up and didn’t inspect it further.
Fast forward to last week when we were on the road. In our downtime I did some reading and learned about the existence of the RV Vacuum Breaker Check Valve – specifically the cheap plastic version they put in campers which often breaks. And the symptoms were exactly what we were experiencing.
This little thing sits up under the bathroom sink in the Shamrock (and Roo).
I ran to the hardware store to quickly bypass it, with 1/2″ NPT nipple and elbow, just to get us temporarily up and running.
Note – only do this as a temporary measure, and only when you’re using a separate hose to do the flush. Without the check valve, if the campground pressure were to drop, bad water and/or vapors could siphon backward into your fresh water.
I then immediately ordered a non-plastic version, and installed it when we got home. Here’s to hoping we never have to think about this again.
As a side note, we had also recently noticed unwanted odors in the bathroom of late. I suspect this was the culprit.
Hope this helps anyone else having that problem!
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Bottle Opener
Last year I received some curly cherry wood. It’s been air drying and over this long weekend I decided to give a small piece a turn.
It’s great looking grain, for sure. I’m glad I have several more pieces and will be looking to use it on nicer items in the future.
As far as the shape goes, I messed up a little while turning so it’s about a half inch shorter than intended. I think a longer neck will more closely resemble a beer bottle.
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Cherry with Character
I rough turned this Cherry bowl several months ago and it has been drying in my basement since. I didn’t have high expectations for the finished bowl because it just looked a bit plain.
Happily, this turned about to be incorrect – it has far more visual interest than I expected.
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Wooden Passive Speaker
A friend sent a video to me a couple of days ago, showing someone making a “passive speaker” on the lathe – one of those horns (for lack of a better term) you place your phone into to amplify the sound.
I’ve had a piece of Cherry sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now for which I just haven’t had the right project. This seemed like a great use.
I started off with this piece, maybe 6″x6″.
After 3.5 frustrating hours Wednesday night, I completed the shape – inside and out. It was an incredibly frustrating experience on my lathe, trying to hollow out the horn into end-grain, when the piece was this long and I don’t have any support other than this small chuck.
The next step, after work on Thursday, was the nerve-wracking step of taking a saw to this nicely shaped horn! It isn’t perfectly symmetrical, but is close enough.
It’s starting to actually look like a thing!
The last piece was to flatten the bottom of the rear portion so it doesn’t roll. I adhered a sheet of sandpaper to some plywood and quickly ground down a flat bottom. Nice and stable.
The best part, finishing, was done with a 1:1 mixture of pure Tung Oil and citrus solvent. I’ve applied one coat so far, and it’s looking great. Sounds pretty good too!
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Larger (Cherry) Bowl
Over the weekend I finally turned one of the Cherry wood blanks that has been drying in my basement for over 2 years now. The blank was on the larger side, and I didn’t want to waste a bunch of the wood, so I decided to try a taller bowl than usual.
I think I found the limit, height-wise, of a piece like this on my lathe. It just caused too many vibrations and too many tool marks. To top it off, there were plenty of knots and soft-ish spots inside.
Better luck next time.
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Elm
I recently turned a small Elm bowl/dish. The knots and cracks were a little bit of a challenge to deal with. I wanted to keep them in the final result so I filled them with dark brown CA glue.
Decent results, lots of character to this one.
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