One Sunday, I had a very good day - while I wasn't back to normal, the pain level was much reduced and I wasn't having balance problems or dizziness. I decided to turn something while I felt good and grabbed an odd-sized piece of spalted maple; getting back on the lathe after over 2 months of being off it felt good, even though I'm a relatively new turner. This bowl is what I ended up with. I had similar problems with the wood tending to disintegrate rather than cut, but it was far less than with the large bowl. I tried using a scraper after the majority of it was hollowed using spindle gouges - I guess it worked, but it was S-L-O-W and I don't think it's a good technique for removing much of anything. I have an undercut lip and just completed finishing it tonight. Again, I used several coats of wipe-on poly followed by a wet-sanding and a few coats of wax.
I think I'm going to use the small piece of spalted maple left over from this bowl to make a coaster the next time I feel up to using a power tool. I know it's kind of a waste using spalted wood to make a coaster, but that's about all I can think of that it's big enough for...
