Bought a Bandsaw!

I've been searching all over for a bandsaw in order to cut up wood to put on my lathe. I posted a WTB ad on Craigslist in a last-ditch effort to get one used and avoid dropping a grand on a new one. Got a response and went to look at the machine tonight. I'm now $50 poorer and the owner of a 14" Powermatic bandsaw, model 143. According to somebody who owns the same model, it's from the early- to mid-60s. I'm really surprised at how smoothly it runs, especially considering the condition it's in. It has high and low speeds for cutting wood/metal, with speeds ranging from 40 to 3000 SFPM. There's currently a metal cutting blade on it, albeit extremely rusty. In fact, the entire thing is rusty. The top door doesn't close right, but I'm sure I'll be able to figure out a way to make it work better. Switch doesn't work (you plug it in and it's on) and the cord insulation is really broke up, but I view both these as relatively minor problems.

Here are some pictures of my new acquisition. (Please excuse the mess in the background - it's currently against the shanty sled and fishing cart that's had crap piled on all winter in the garage right now.) Dunno how I'm going to get it into my basement - thing weighs a freakin ton.  Got a bit of work to do before then though...

Spalted Birch Bowl - March, 2011

A friend gave me a segment of birch log some time ago.  I got a strange look when I got so excited at the fact that there was mold growing on the ends.  Took about forever to cut up with hand saws, and I blew up the first blank 3 times, finally managing to salvage a saucer out of it.  I figured out what I was doing wrong and turned the second one to about an inch thick.  I soaked it in denatured alcohol, then wrapped the outside in brown paper and let it dry for about a month - it was then bone dry.

After re-turning it, I was very pleased.  It was a consitent 1/4" thick all the way down the side and had the absolute best finish I've ever put on a piece of wood.

I went to turn the bottom off and ran into a problem - my cole jaws weren't big enough to fit around the outside rim.  No big deal - just bring up the tailstock and use the cole jaws on the inside, expanding just enough to grab and turn the bowl.  Worked perfectly... until I turned on the lathe.  Before touching the bottom with the gouge, I heard a popping sound and my heart sunk - the bowl had cracked down the side!

After considering my options, I ended up gluing it together with cyanoacrylate.  It went back on the lathe and I sanded for about 728 hours one Sunday afternoon to remove the excess glue and staining.  The finish was back to being nearly perfect and the crack barely visible, even though the bottom of the side is a little on the thin side.  (You can see light showing through some areas in places in the pictures.)

Now to get the bottom tenon off.  I built a donut chuck out of some scrap plywood and mounted the bowl in it.  (I'll most likely post on this in the future.)  It's something that I've been meaning to make for quite a while, but always put it off.  This chuck allowed me to access the bottom of the bowl and remove the tenon used to grip it during shaping/sanding.  I recessed the bottom about 1/8" so it sits on a narrow ring and added an extra reverse curve near the bottom.  I then sanded the whole thing as smooth as the rest.

It's finished with a coat of boiled linseed oil, then several coats of wipe-on polyurethane.  I sanded between each coat with a scotch-brite pad, the equivalent of about 400-grit sandpaper.  Carnuba wax was then applied with another scotch-brite pad, wiped off, then another coat of wax applied.  After it hardened, I buffed it by hand with a paper towel.  It's exceptionally smooth and has a satin finish.

The best part of all is that the crack which I spent so much time trying to repair to be as nondescript as possible is all but invisble.  Even knowing exactly where it is, the light has to be perfect in order for me to be able to see it.  As soon as the BLO went on, the crack basically disappeared!

This is one of my favorites of all the bowls I've turned.

Weed Pots - April 4, 2011

I got back on the lathe today and produced these.  I got the idea from watching Russ Fairfield's YouTube video on wax finishing techniques, he presented a similar type of thing and called them weed pots.

They're made out of a piece of a cherry branch a local business trimmed early last summer.  The grain is different than in other cherry pieces I've turned with splotches of different colors.  I took pictures from three different angles on each to show this.  Maybe it's from freezing?

They're both finished with paraffin wax; the larger has a coat of carnuba wax on top of this, which made it smoother and looks nicer.  I really like not having to spend a week applying wipe-on poly, though don't believe this will be nearly as durable.

This is the first one I turned - I think I like the form on this one better than the second.

This one is slightly larger and ended up with a trumpet shape for the top.

Pear Pen Cup - February 2011

I made a pen cup as a gift for a friend of mine, whom I'll be seeing later this week.  It's made out of a pear branch, finished with wipe-on poly, and had carnuba wax applied with a 400-grit scotch brite pad.  I was very pleased with how straight the grain is.  You can see the dark pith still in it off-center, but it's solid and seems as hard as the surrounding wood.

A problem I had was when hollowing the inside, the gouge kept vibrating - you can see some of the ripple at the bottom in the one picture.  The black felt on the bottom serves two purposes - one is to pad the ends of any pens/pencils and the second is to cover up the ugly bottom on the inside.  Just could not seem to get it to smooth out no matter what tool or technique I tried... :(