Box elder (Acer negundo) turned

Here is a Sierra chrome with a Box Elder (here Manitoba Maple) turning. Very nice reds in the natural wood. There were a few tense moments turning around the knot in the centre.

Lignum vitae turned

Got a pen turned from this wood and really like the look of it. Great color. My pictures really do not do justice to the colors. My son is finding the wood goes from shades of brown to shades of green when the Lignum he is turning is left in the sunlight. It will be interesting to see if this does the same. The pen is coated with Lee Valley Beeswax polish.

Lignum vitae

We have been trying out Lignum vitae for turning. Lee Valley carries some in 1 x 3 or so by several feet long. Source unknown as far as we know. I was also given a piece by a relative who had been in Jamaica as a missionary. The slice he gave me is the cut from a log.
I cut this up cross grain and have stored it for now but will get to it soon. The other photo is of a "weight" which my son is making for his turntable. It will look quite nice when it is done.

Think I have found my niche!

I have really enjoyed these first few months of learning to use my lathe and turning a few pens. The pens are getting better but I need some micro clothes for finishing. People say they look good. That is encouraging. My son has made several now from moose horn and they do look good!

But for me, cutting up wood has become a very high point of interest. This past Saturday I found a piece of Box Elder (Manitoba Maple here on the prairies and Acer negundo botanically). This particular piece proved to have a lot of red through the centre and I had a great time cutting it up into pen blanks and a
group of 1" short slabs that might work for turning. This piece had been in a tractor garage for 5 or 6 years so was very dry and hard!
I have also cut up dried Siberian Crab (Malus baccata var. baccata) as well as green winter cut and Silver Poplar (Populus alba) which I cut off the tree about 10 days ago and still green.

So now I am on the lookout for trees which might make good sources of pen blank wood. We do not in this area have a wide selection of hardwood so I need to be on the look out for special trees and let people know that I would like a chunk if they cut anything down. Maybe I need to advertise on some of the garden forums for chunks of wood!

On this and that

This past week I received a package of woods from Figurewoods in Delaware. A nice selection and more work to be done. Also spent some time in the shop cutting up some blocks for blanks. Pictures illustrate Siberian Crab wet and dry cut, Silver Poplar, Mayday (Prunus padus), and mango from the root of a mango tree in Cuba. I cut the blocks into 1" and 3/4" squares with lengths somewhat variable. Now to wait for them to dry. Also had done some caragana earlier. There are about 3 shoe boxes and then some done. I am going looking for other trees to cut as well.
Also had a good visit with a fellow pen turner and acquaintance from near Prince Albert, SK. He had brought along some of his work and I was very impressed. Mostly cut from Deer, elk and moose antlers and then turned to a very nice finish. I forgot to ask if I could take some pictures for my blog!

Pen wood surprise

Here are a few pens I have turned recently. The 2 on the right are from laminated bamboo! The laminated bamboo is cutting boards I found at the Habitat Restore and a clearance store. I really like the feel of the pen with vertical lamination's. The horizontal lamination was easy to work and finished very nicely as well.

Some new pens and problems

Caragana brothers and sisters.
Some very nice patterns!

This past several weeks I have been trying to get into the shop more often to do some turning. There have also been some new woods added from unusual places. I have found a new source of good hardwood and even some unusual woods at The Habitat Restore. The local store gets hardwood door samples from closeouts etc. and sells them for a very reasonable price. I paid $3 Can for about 12 X 12 inch doors and chose hickory and birch this trip. They had lots of oak and cherry doors as well. Even though the doors are usually coated, they cut up and turn quite nicely. I could not believe how hard hickory is! No wonder it gets used in bats. The outside frame is 3/4 inch and if there is a centre raised panel it is 5/8. There were even solid doors of laminated cherry for instance. Each paneled door makes 12 to 15 blanks plus there are lots of odds for other projects.
The hickory centre panel worked very good to make my first perfume applicator. Here is a good pdf of the kit.

One thing which has been disturbing is the darkening of pores in the wood with finish sanding. This really shows up in the very light woods. My answer is that I have been sanding over the bushings and transferring filings to the wood. It takes a lot of learning to get this process right.

Still, this is a very satisfying thing to be learning and working at!