Small Plum Wood Box

 

Here's a small Plum wood box I turned today. It measures 3 inches high and 2.25 inches in diameter. It was wet sanded up to 400 grit with butcher block oil. Feels like satin to the touch. There's a textured detail on the bottom and a blue glass marble knob on top. There are a couple of small patches of bark inclusions. I cut ring details on the bottom.

Small Plum Wood Bowl

 

Here's another Plum wood bowl, 4.25 inch diameter and 1.5 inches high. Wet sanded up to 400 grit with butcher block oil. This one has a notch in the rim where there was some rotten wood. There are bits of bark inclusions in places (the very dark wood). Very nice, all natural colorful grain. I did a little textured detailing on the bottom. This is nice wood to turn. Fruit wood is hard but cuts nicely on the lathe.

Plum Wood Bowl

 

Here is a 6 inch diameter, by 2 inch high Plum wood bowl I turned on my lathe last week end. This is wood from a small Plum tree in my yard that was killed by disease. There is a small amount of spalting in this wood, as well as a bit of "fiddle back" grain. There is also some bark inclusions on the sides, bottom and rim. The color you see is all natural. There is no stain used on this bowl. This bowl was wet sanded up to 400 grit with a butcher block oil containing citrus oil and  mineral oil.

Plum Wood Lidded Box

 

I made this Plum wood lidded box today. I have some funky Plum wood from a tree in my yard that died this year. I cut it up and set the usable pieces aside for wood turning. This box was made from a couple of small piece of that wood. It measures just over 2 inches in diameter and 3.5 inches tall. It had a loose-fitting lid with a finial. I made a detail ring on the inside of the lid as a decoration using my home made texturing tool. Fruit wood generally is nice for turning. It cuts well and has nice grain. This was wet sanded up to 400 grit, this time using a product called "Butcher Block Conditioner". It contains citrus oil, mineral oil and natural waxes. I'm trying this as a new wet sanding and finishing oil. I'm liking it so far. Wood turners call lidded things like this a "box". So, if you turn a bowl and make a lid for it, it's then called a box. There was a split down one side of this that closed up once I hollowed out the interior. You can see it in the second photo. This came out rather well, I think. I can't wait to try turning a larger piece of this wood. 

Christmas Ornament

 

Trying something new: Woodturning an inside-out Christmas ornament in spalted Maple wood. It measures 4.5 inches long and 2.25 inches in diameter. It's a bit difficult to explain how this is done. I need to make a video showing the procedure. Essentially, 4 long blocks (square on the ends) are temporarily glued together, then turned with my ribbed design. Then it's taken off the lathe. The blocks are pried apart, turned 90 degrees so that the ribbed design is on the inside, then glued together permanently. Then I turn the outside. It's tricky and a bit difficult to do but it came out OK. This was my 2nd attempt at this. The first one came out OK but doesn't look very good. Below is another shot of the same piece.