An American Elm platter that ended up as a wallhanging

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I rough turned this piece of American crotch wood Elm in May 2006, a part of a very large White Elm that had succumbed to the Elm disease, I was hoping against knowing better that it would not change shape too much, anyway I was proven right that is was going to distort, and boy did it ever.

So not knowing what I really should do with it, it sat and sat and then a couple years ago it got a split init as well, darn , so it sat some more, but I did like that feather and the eyes in the crotch, what to do what to do .

So a couple months ago I decided to smooth the top surface and sanded it, not easy with this severe warp in it, wiped on some Tung oil and let it harden then as I was going to add some more finish I noted that I hadn’t gotten all the tool marks out, we then had a couple of weeks out of the bitter cold here and went to Cuba, Nice, back again and by then the finish was hard enough to be able to sand it all off again .

After that I added two coats of Polymerized finish to the top and one to the bottom, also on the bottom side I left the tenon as by then, I had decided it was going to be a wallhanging .

So sought a fitting hose clamp and twisted a keyring in/on it and had a try, OK that worked, now the split had to be made to stay where it was, easier said than done, as I had filled the split earlier with a coffee ground and dark wood dust mixture, the platter had shifted a bit and the two sides of the split where not even anymore, so I had sanded that down before all the finishing work.

So by now I thought that the use of a bunch of staples would be a good idea to keep things in check, (time will tell if I was right or not ) so made a bunch of staples and drilled the real small holes and drove the staples in, added a bit of CA to all that and hung the piece on the wall where LOML Anny liked it to go.

I made some pictures, kind of hard to do such a large piece in my photo booth, and also made one where it is hanging on the wall .

Comments welcome as always

1 Elm wallhanging.jpg 2 White Elm.jpg 3 White Elm.jpg 4 White Elm bottom.jpg 5 Wall hanging.jpg

[Toby Bouder]

Sounds like you put a lot into this one Leo. It does look nice in its location.

[charlie knighton]

very nice, Leo new day, new adjust......like the hose clamp, works for me

[Thomas Canfield]

Interesting story. Do you date your pieces when you turn or when you finish? This one had a big gap in time. You also did not give the size and thickness. The grain and visible side do make a very nice wall hanging, and the back treatment - who is going to take it down and look.

[Steve Huffman]

Looks great to me as is. It sure twisted for sure, but that makes the wall hanging interesting. I don't think it would have the same affect just plain ol flat on the wall. I like what you did there with this Leo.

[Reed Gray]

A potato chip for a wall hanging.... I have had several, but never kept one...

robo hippy

[Len Mullin]

Very nice Leo, I love your ingenuity, who else would think of using a hose clamp and staples?
Len

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Sounds like you put a lot into this one Leo. It does look nice in its location.

Thanks Toby, Yes I tend to keep going at it when I have put time into it, as it is a hobby and not profit motivated so more time is just that, the outcome is what counts

very nice, Leo new day, new adjust......like the hose clamp, works for me

Thanks Charlie , yup we can change the look to whatever rotational position we like

Interesting story. Do you date your pieces when you turn or when you finish? This one had a big gap in time. You also did not give the size and thickness. The grain and visible side do make a very nice wall hanging, and the back treatment - who is going to take it down and look.

Thanks Thomas, yes I normally date the pieces when they got rough turned, like this one 05 06, which makes it May 2006, than when I return it that date gets put on it, not having returned this one I left the original on it.

Oh yes forget that, the size is just over 19” or 50cm, and the main part is a bit more than 3/8” or 10mm with a thinner edge

Looks great to me as is. It sure twisted for sure, but that makes the wall hanging interesting. I don't think it would have the same affect just plain ol flat on the wall. I like what you did there with this Leo.

You are right Steve, as a flat disk it would never have Anny want to hang it up on the wall I expect, but than you’d never know with women

A potato chip for a wall hanging.... I have had several, but never kept one...

robo hippy

You know what they say robo, no picture, it didn’t happen

[Sid Matheny]

Lots of work went into that one Leo but well worth the effort!!!

[robert baccus]

You do very nice and weird work Leo---don't dare change.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Lots of work went into that one Leo but well worth the effort!!!

Thank you for looking and replying Sid, I do appreciate it , You know I’m kind of hard headed when I have made something, I do want to have it properly finished, even if that means doing it all over, and here my wife Anny did like the look of it, so it was well worth the extra work, you know having to look at something you made, that isn’t done as good as you could have done it will bother you to no end, at least it does me

[Leo Van Der Loo]

You do very nice and weird work Leo---don't dare change.

Haha , Thanks Robert , You know all you see from me is mine in all ways, never trying to copy anything or anyone, so yes I assume I do go outside the usual or conventional, but I’m quite content with that, at 73 (in a couple of weeks ) there is not much of a chance of me changing in how I look at things and work if I still am able to do that

[Ryan Mooney]

Makes a pretty darn nice wall hanging. I'm afraid I'd have burn piled it I think it looks a lot nicer where it ended up

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Makes a pretty darn nice wall hanging. I'm afraid I'd have burn piled it I think it looks a lot nicer where it ended up

Thank you Ryan , I do agree, but it did ever so slightly pas my mind, (the heating option ) but got discarded just as fast, the wood was too nice to do that IMO

[Doug Herzberg]

That looks like it was a lot of sanding, Leo, and well worth it.