Fly in for Tea

Fly in for Tea
This piece recently won 3rd prize in The kawerau woodskills catergory in artistic
120mm Square
More pictures can be seen at www.timberly.co.nz under sculptural

Buckeled Cherrie

Description: Read description of Sunday Cherie ,This one I stained black and sanded back Buckled Cherrie
Made from Flowering Cherrie (Kanza)
10 inches high
A few months back I had a telephone call asking if I would like some flowering Cherie.
My reply was can I come know. Being a Sunday morning I took my chainsaw along just in case .I arrived to find two trees that had been trimmed over the years to form a large burl like mass on the top.
Asking the owner if I could borrow his ladder I was able to lop bits off in woodturning size chunks .A bit of a mission as the trees were not only close to the house but a boat the owner had been working on for the last 10 years was 2 feet from the trees .Hence why he wanted them removed.
I had loaded all the bits on my trailer when who should arrive but a woodturning mate that only lived 2 houses down the road .He had been woken by the noise of the saw after having a hard night out .He was coming to give the noise maker a tune up, his comment started off as what the hell do you think you are doing this time in the morning, in mid sentence I lifted my helmet.
Waking up to the fact it was me a b…. hell it could only be you Scott you so in so could be herd half way down the road
On the way past his letter box I left a couple pieces of wood as a piece maker.
At our club the story has been told a few times by my friend each time increasing in humour.
I went home and spent the rest of day roughing out semi enclosed hollow forms .
They were all turned cross grain or I should say grain that went all over the place.
Thinking they would stay uniform in shape I turned them thin.
I was wrong they all look like dried prunes,
Amazingly enough everyone that has seen them likes the organic appeal
I hope the judges of a competition I have just entered like them http://www.manukau.govt.nz/default.aspx?id=8271
This is a Juried competition my first such event
Competing against all art media we shall see how woodturning fares
Gordon and Dick have also entered so maybe one of us will at least get selected for the competition

Comments welcomed

Pohutakawa Platter

Pohutakawa Platter
22inches Dia its not often you get a piece of Pohutakawa without defects, cracks, bark intrusions or dozy spots
I wet turned this to about an inch thick a year ago.
Hopefully I have done the flowers justice as the tree when in bloom is the most amazing site, a crimson haze projects from the tree the colour is so over powering.
What gave me the idea to place flowers on the piece is the day I turned this platter a package arrived from Singapore airlines and on the box was what looked like a close image of the Pohutakawa flower.
I scanned the box and then photo copied onto tracing paper and used as a pattern
The finish is lacquer, it’s not before time I think I have finally (touch wood) nailed the spraying so I am 99% happy with the
Finish, 6 coats were applied sanding with 800 grit between each coat
This piece of wood was as hard as nails and was full of silicone as it came from a tree that had fallen at the beach.

The roots of the Pohutakawa tree can grow over surfaces while it searches for soil and moisture. The Pohutakawa tree can grow up to 20m high and 35m wide. The leaves are dark green and shiny on top and a silvery gray underneath. In New Zealand the Pohutakawa tree grows bright red flowers every December so it is sometimes called the New Zealand Christmas tree. The Pohutakawa tree can live for thousands of years and are usually found near water.
http://www.timberly.co.nz/links.htm I have added a link on my web site to a description of the Pohutakawa .There is also information on a lot of our natives that might be of interest to wood hunters
Comments welcomed
Cheers

Rose wood waves 2
Some time ago I posted a progress of this piece.
Took a while but it is finally finished
This time 35 bowls were turned in a piece of Rosewood.
I have entered this into the Kawerau Woodskills competition under Traditional woodturning .I maybe pushing it a bit but it is traditional to me any way
The frame is made from mahogany and stained
I could maybe go one more row of bowls but as you can see in the attachment I had to cut the corners off the waste timber to get enough swing.
When I had my 1000 made I ordered the rail to be 2 inches lower than standard, I wonder if Rob could make me one with no rail and a swivel head know that would enable me to do some big work
Finished with 12 coats of lacquer and buffed, the effect of looking into a pound and wondering were the bottom is was achieved.
Each bowl was turned and sanded down to 800grit with Danish oil before proceeding to the next The oil prevented the sanding disc heating up to much and the Velcro going west. The oil seemed to speed up the sanding as well.
394 roofing screws in total were put in and taken out in the process.
As you can imagine the balancing act took a while between each set up
The most lead used was 7kg/ 15 pounds when the corner bowls were turned.
I think I may have bent my tailstock shaft as it doesn’t line up with the head stock like it did .DAM not much but enough when I bring the 2 together the tailstock is lower by a couple of mm .I wonder if my warranty has run out !
I will add some more pictures of the how to on my web site in the next couple of days I am trying to figure out how to fit all the pictures in the gallery.
There is something about this piece that is masculine; I can see it hanging in a library or men’s club
I am quite chuffed with this piece
Comments welcome
Thanks again to Michael Werner who, got my off centre juices working
Also thanks to Gordon for taking the picture
Sorry I forgot to measure the piece before sending it away

Rosewood waves 2

35 bowls were turned in this piece of rosewood ,finished with lacquer