Old man, new turner, maybe new idea

[macdaddy]

I took the plunge into turning. I bought a cheep lathe off the back of a Cummings truck. I turned a spindle first just to see how it worked. Then I wanted to jump right into a bowl. So I went to the firewood pile and picked a 3" diameter piece. Then it hit me. It is already round. So I mounted it and gouged out one end. Then I made a second one and decided to make bookends. The whole project only took one hour with about 20 minutes of turning. It looks rustic but it was pure fun to make. No worries about a major chip out for I could always throw it back in the firewood pile. Also no turning the bottom of the bowl and no parting tool needed. I hope the pictures made it with this thread it was my first attempt at uploading pictures.

 

[Eaglesc]

Gee and all this time I thought natural edge stuff was difficult.

 

[DaveO]

I like it, cool idea. What kind of wood is it??

Dave

 

[macdaddy]

Dave, it is a very different kind of wood. It is a Bay tree. It is kind of like a wild Magnolia tree. The leaves are not as wide as a Magnolia but they stay green all winter and it has big white flowers in early summer. You have never seen these trees in Wake County or the mountains for they only grow below 100' above sealevel. I live about 20 miles form the coast at 90' above sealevel. North Carolina is the farest northern range of this tree but Florida is loaded with this species. The wood is very white and about as soft as pine. It does have a great ability to bent without breaking. A few years ago we had an ice storm that bent several of these trees over 90 degrees and they are still growing and still in that bent over posture. I'll try to take a picture of this next week and post it. This summer I had a State Forest Ranger come out to my place to write a Forest Management Plan for me, by the way they do it for free, and he said there are 3 species of Bay tree, Loblobby Bay, Red Bay, and Sweet Bay and I have all three species on my little 5 acres. I hope this wasn't too long of an answer.

Steve

 

[DaveO]

Sweet Bay - Magnolia virginiana. White flowering, light undersides to leaves, very common ornamental treee/large shrub
Loblolly Bay - Gordinia lasianthus related to Camellia sp. also know as Tea tree. White flower, green leaf underside
Red Bay - Persea boronia. Yellow flowering, leaves have a spicy "bay-leaf" scent when crushed

All are pretty wide spread across the state of NC and south along the costal plains

Sorry I'm a plant geek :-D


Dave

 

[Splinter]

Steve, Nice idea for book ends and paper clip holder. Dual functionality. :eusa_danc
Good to see another "Coastie" trying the spinny thing. :lol: