20" Fiddled Soft Maple Platter

Some years ago a friend and arborist was paid $1500 to remove this fallen maple from a front yard. He used a chainsaw mill to saw 2"x23" slabs from it. He gave a couple to me. I finally turned this platter from a piece. It turned and sanded well. Rim is about 11/2" wide with two small beads. I used 75% alcohol and 25% Behlan's medium walnut dye to give it a wash coat of color and pop the grain. I then sanded it back with 400 and 600 sandpaper. Two coats of Formby's gloss ting oil, steel wooded back. And two coats of Mohawk gloss lacquer. I think I may have to see if the rest of that board is hiding some more surprises like this one.

Attachment 327471Attachment 327472

Beautiful piece Bob. Lots going on in that piece.

What a great piece of wood! And I like the look of the raised bead inside the rim - I've done that on some of my platters, but just one bead.

I suspect you didn't turn that on your mini lathe.

JKJ

What is "Ting oil",and how do you "Steel wooded" something back?:):):)

As the son of a violin maker (I only ever made one) I would have to agree that that piece would have made a fine fiddle. It did make a fine platter.

Pretty piece of wood, great job!

Great job...The wood is amazing...

Outstanding job, beautiful wood.

Bob, this is spectacular! 23" is a very large blank to work with, especially when it's that thin. How did you go about mounting it to turn the recess for the chuck? Also curious about the method you used to finish-turn the bottom. Vacuum chuck?

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Originally Posted by David C. Roseman

Bob, this is spectacular! 23" is a very large blank to be work with, especially when it's that thin. How did you go about mounting it to turn the recess for the chuck? Also curious about the method you used to finish-turn the bottom. Vacuum chuck?

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David,
It was very stable wood considering the width. Very little movement. Held on a 1/4" tenon and bottom and turned off using a 4" pvc pipe. Didn't need much of a tenon because it was soft maple and tool resistance was fairly low. My vacuum pump is a Gast with a JD adapter plugged into my Robust.

That's a very nice platter, Bob. I like the wood, too.