Small Walnut Wood Canister

Here's a small Walnut wood canister I turned two days ago. This one measures 4.75 inches tall and 1.25 inches in diameter. That's a blue glass marble on the knob at the top. Wood provided by my friend Ned Lycett, a great guy, master bonzai expert, and old and dear friend. Thanks Ned! I've a bunch more of this wood so there will be more of these beautiful wooden items coming in the future.
This was wet sanded with mineral oil, then burnished with its own wood shavings. I cut a 3-legged "foot" at the base of this canister. Beautiful wood. A real pleasure to work with. 
I'm getting a new band saw in a few days. With it I hope to cut into a lot of Maple and Eucalyptus and Pear wood I've been wanting to turn but didn't have band saw big enough to work with the logs I have. I'm looking forward to getting into this wood. Hopefully, I can make some larger bowls this Summer. Stay tuned. 

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Walnut Wood Bowl

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Here's a Walnut wood bowl I turned today. It measures 5 inches in diameter by 2 inches tall. The wood was given to me by my friend Ned Lycett. Thanks Ned! This wood is a dream to turn and so beautiful. Finishes nicely. This was wet sanded with mineral oil and then given the final finish with high speed wax polish (a mixture of alcohol, boiled linseed oil and carnuba wax). I'm not a big fan of high gloss finishes on my turnings but thought I'd try it on this one just to see what it looked like.

Small Teak Canister

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Here's a small Teak wood canister I turned today. It measures 1.75 inches in diameter and 3.75 inches tall. My friend Ned gave me some Teak last week, so I thought I'd try turning something out of it. Nice wood. Very hard. Finishes nice. This was wet sanded with mineral oil and burnished with wood shavings.

A Mulberry Bowl

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My brother-in-law, Eric, gave me a big chunk of Mulberry tree, almost like a big burl. This was green (wet) wood. I thought I'd put a chunk on the lathe and see how it turned. The lighter sap wood on this piece has a pearl or satin sheen to it. The darker heart wood has interesting variations in the grain. What's not sap wood nor heart wood is a yellow color. I'm wondering if these colors will change as the bowl dries out and sits for a couple of years. It's not a bad wood to turn. This piece, being green, warped a bit. However, took it off the lathe periodically and gave it a minute in the microwave and let it cool. I'd do that a couple more times then put it back on the lathe. This was wet sanded with mineral oil, then burnished with its own shavings. The bowl measures six inches in diameter and 2 inches high.

 

Small Mullberry and Walnut bowls

This week ends turning. I got a big hunk of green (wet) Mulberry this week, along with some nice chunks of Walnut. Thanks to my Brother-in-Law, Eric and my old friend Ned. Big thanks guys!
The Walnut bowl is the dark one. It measures 1.75 inches high and 3.25 inches in diameter. It was wet sanded with mineral oil and burnished with its own shavings.
Moving from that bowl, in a clockwise direction, There's a small Mulberry bowl with lots of knot and wavy grain, very wet, freshly cut wood. Just to see how it would turn out, I put some on the lathe. After shaping these into bowls I put them into a microwave oven for a minute a couple of times which took out quite a bit of moisture but they were still damp. By the next day they're drier but still wet but warped a fair amount, in each direction. Still they have a certain charm in their warped state. I expect them to warp further still.

 

A Small Walnut Bowl

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This is a small Walnut wood bowl, 2 inches high and 2.25 inches in diameter. Wet sanded with mineral oil and burnished with wood shavings. Walnut is such a nice wood for turning and it has a beautiful wood grain. Just a pleasure to work with. This one was turned from a small scrap of wood from a bunch that my good friend Ned gave me. He gave me some old Teak wood as well. Thanks Ned. I'm sure some nice stuff will be coming up in the future.

Another Sycamore Box

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Here's another Sycamore lidded box. This one measures 3.5 inches high and 4.75 inches in diameter. This is another end grain turned box. It's almost the same diameter as the branch used to make it. It was wet sanded with mineral oil and burnished with wood shavings to a satin like semi-gloss finish.