Siberian Elm

[Doug Herzberg]

I've had no shop time since Scott Snyder and I cut down this Siberian Elm a couple months ago, what with family visits and summer chores for SWMBO. Finally escaped and managed to get these done. I'm not much for the NE forms, but I got several pieces that just cried out for it. The canister is fresh off the lathe and turned green to finish, which I may regret soon. I let myself feel a little pride as I finished the southwestern pot on the lathe with some French polish. I've been working on this form for some time and have not been satisfied until now. But, as we all know, pride cometh right before the catch with the PARTING TOOL as you're cutting your masterpiece off the lathe!!! I don't even know how I did that.

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Everything is just BLO for now, except the pot, which looked a lot better before the catastrophe. I need to sand and get a finish on.
I have a lot of this wood left, if any of you local guys still want some. Sorry about the photos. I need to back up and work on depth of field.

[charlie knighton]

like them all, Doug....the inside of the cap/top is outstanding

[David C. Roseman]

Very nice, Doug. I actually love natural edge items made from Siberian Elm because of the unique "spikey" character of the bark.

David

[Scott Snyder]

Hi Doug,
Haven't gotten to any of the crotch pieces you gave me that day but I remembered you were interested in an olive crotch. I've got one for you if you're still interested.
Scott

[Roger Chandler]

Great grain patterns in all those Doug! I especially like the NE bowl!

[Doug Herzberg]

Thanks for the comments. As I expected, the lid on the canister cracked because it was green and dried too fast. The goal that day was to do something, not necessarily do it right. The wood isn't bad to work with and has great contrast between the sap and heart woods. I think I'll rough some out and let them dry in the fridge kiln. Scott, I'll check in with you in August, if that's okay. Traveling off and on right now.

[Scott Snyder]

Doug,
August will be fine. Enjoy your travels.
Scott

[Marty Tippin]

Fridge kiln??

[Doug Herzberg]

Fridge kiln??

Marty, search "refrigerator kiln" on this forum for several threads on using an old fridge to dry bowl blanks. Most use a heat source, like a light bulb, and some have air circulating fans. My experience is that light bulbs burn out at the most inconvenient time, so I'm looking into small electric baseboard units for the heat source.

[jwjerry w kowalski]

Doug, I especially like your natural edge bowl, for this not being your favorite thing to do, you nailed it. The south western pot is my 2nd pick, This elm looks a lot like the camperdown elm tree my neighbor had me cut a few years ago, it has the beautiful browns like this wood, it's a tree that grows about 20ft wide and 20ft. high. By the way I use a homemade kiln like the one you described with a 100 watt light bulb and a small fan, made mine out of plywood, and it works great, takes about 3 weeks to dry my turnings, and harldly ever any cracking.

[Dok Yager]

Nice bunch of pieces Doug! I agree that the southwestern pots are Tough to get right, I have yet to do it.

[Michelle Rich]

you should be proud of all three...

[Eric Gourieux]

Did you fix your parting tool damage, or are you hiding it? You did a great job on all of these. The bark on the NE bowl is outstanding.

[Doug Herzberg]

Did you fix your parting tool damage, or are you hiding it? You did a great job on all of these. The bark on the NE bowl is outstanding.

Eric, since it is an end grain turning, when it caught the bowl pulled away from the chuck and a small piece of what should have been the bottom of the bowl stayed with the tenon. In addition, the bottom of the bowl checked under the stress. I sanded away most of the tearout from the catch, then grabbed a bottle of CA to fill the checks. The spout had broken from the CA bottle and it poured out, ruining the finish and in the process gluing my wedding ring to my finger. No pictures of the bottom - it's too painful, and it's not repairable. It was a real keystone cop moment, with just one cop (me) in the room. Wedding ring is at the jewelers now. The form is copied from one posted by Brian Kent a few months ago, to give credit where credit is due. Not an exact copy, but close.

The NE bowl is just slightly off center, so the bark tilts away on one side and is perpendicular to the sides of the bowl the rest of the way around. It stayed on well, though, all credit to the wood itself and to Doug Thompson's fine 5/8" U channel gouge and my D-Way CBN wheel. I appreciate the kind words from everyone.