Three in a 'Row'....

Good news is I didn't screw things up too bad after all (last post). In fact, all three of these bowls turned out way better than I expected!

So, bottom line is there really is no bad news here.

Because there were three bowls harvested from one log, I thought it might be nice to post a photo of them 'before' the log was cut:

Followed by the finished bowls in a number of different poses all in a 'row':

It's really hard to adequately describe how the grain in these pieces 'popped' during the finishing process. Truly amazing!

The finishing process ultimately used one coat of wood conditioner, one coat of Danish Oil (the step that almost ruined these bowls for me), and three coats of wipe-on gloss polyurethane varnish. I didn't use furniture wax/polish on these bowls because the polyurethane finish was so smooth, there was no need.

And there ya have it!

On to the next project!

DWR

I Think I Screwed Up!!!!

How so, you say? Especially when everything was going so swimmingly according to plan? 

Well, the finishing process can be touch and go depending on what the wood looks like after testing in a small area. The problem with juniper like these bowls are is that there are so many different hues in both the sapwood and the heartwood.

The first step in my finishing process is to treat the wood with Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner. This conditioner does just that....conditions the wood in preparation for a stain being applied. 

My usual finishing process doesn't involve using stains, but I like using the pre-stain conditioner anyway because it seems to help stabilize the red color of the heartwood in juniper. 

However, this time, after applying the pre-stain conditioner, the sapwood was more yellowish than previous pieces of juniper I've worked with. So, I decided to try and tone down the yellow in the sapwood just a tad by applying a coat of Danish Oil 'natural' which has a slightly amber hue to it when cured. This is where I think I may have screwed up.

Let me explain. 

Before I applied the Danish Oil, I followed my own standard operating procedure of applying a coat of dewaxed shellac in order to help seal the grain of the wood so I wouldn't have to use so many coats of varnish later on. 

Ok, so far so good.

After I sanded the shellac layer lightly, I applied the Danish Oil to each piece. 

Aaaaaand this is where things started to go south for me. The Danish Oil I use has varnish in it, but it's never....not ever....glossy. This was waaaaay too glossy!

Even after curing overnight, the Danish Oil refused, I say REFUSED, to dry. So, it was off to the wonders of Google search to do some research.

Bottom line? My Danish Oil was too old. Plus, it had gone through at least two winters in sub-freezing temps much of the time. In my research, I found out any petroleum based finish for wood that sits too long and/or goes through significant weather changes (like heat in summer and cold in winter) will...not...cure! End of discussion!

Some pros out there recommended sanding down to bare wood and starting over. Others recommended trying to strip as much of the finish off as possible by using mineral spirits/paint thinner. The latter option sounded much better (and a HECKUVA lot easier) than the first option.

That's where I am right now, and hoping I didn't, in fact, screw up too bad.

DWR

The 'Finish' (See What I Did There?) Line is in Sight....

A couple of days ago, these bowls entered into the fine grinding phase of this project using the Kutzall 'medium' grit grinding wheel to take down the rough edges and ridges left from rough carving.

With most of the rough edges and ridges taken down, I realized I'm probably going to need to invest in a 'fine' grit grinding wheel in the not too distant future. The 'medium' grit is great for taking stock off relatively quickly, but it does leave swirls that are difficult to sand out. They aren't easy to see in the photo, but believe me when I say they're there.

The next step in this phase required finer sanding. My weapon of choice? My DeWalt random orbital sander.

This was another 'aha' moment in that a standard 5 inch random orbital sander works great on less contoured surfaces, but to get down into the bowl, itself, was a problem. Here's another instance where an investment in a smaller 3 1/2 inch random orbital sander is required. I had one at one time, but it was pneumatic (required a gigantic air compressor and even that couldn't keep up). The one I'm looking at now is electric.

After finishing sanding with the random orbital sander, all three bowls needed finish sanding by hand. Starting with 120 grit and ending with 220 grit gave these bowls a 'smooth as a baby's butt' finish ready for the final finishing phase. So, I packed all three bowls using an old towel and trundled myself up to the other building where finish varnishing takes place.

Through a lengthy period of trial and error, I found that the best way to prep pieces for final finishing in order to get as much fine sawdust out of nooks and crannies and off the main surface is to use mineral spirits. Even though I used my air compressor to blow off residual sawdust and a rag to wipe off even more residual sawdust, it was amazing (once again) to see how much is still there for the mineral spirits to remove.

All done, and beginning to look more and more like they should when all is said and done.

Tomorrow, a coat of wood conditioner will be applied followed by a coat of dewaxed shellac followed by the first of at least three, possibly four, coats of hand rubbed gloss varnish.

The 'finish' line is, in fact, in sight......

DWR

Quit Hogging Those Bowls.....

I've often wondered why woodworkers who do this kind of work call carving out a bowl "hogging"? Seriously, can anyone answer that question? Anyone?

But I digress....

Today began the process of hogging out the actual bowl depth on those blanks from the previous post.

The tool used in this process is an angle grinder with a handy-dandy ArborTech Turbo Mini-Planer attached. 

While this tool doesn't remove stock as fast or as aggressively as that carving disc I talked about yesterday, there's really nothing like it to be able to get down into these bowls like this tool does.

In order to hold the slab stable while carving, that work table in the photo above had to be used because the weather today didn't cooperate like it did yesterday. So, there was no outside work to be done.

Inside work is ok, but it sure does make a sawdust mess all over the shop! No dust collection system works very well either because the planer on this angle grinder tends to throw shavings (not dust) all over and in every direction. That push broom is 30 inches wide to give a little perspective.

Oh, well....just need to devote more time to clean-up at the end of the day.

The work table is basically a trough with two 4x6 inch planks placed against the outside edges of the table on the inside of those edges. That leaves an open area in the middle that most pieces fit down into. If their shape is too irregular, they can be weighted with different heavy metal pieces (axe head in the photo, for example) to hold them steady while I'm working.

After about one hour and hands going numb from vibration and tight gripping of the angle grinder, one bowl is 'hogged' out and kinda sorta shaped in preparation for fine tuning and tweaking everything:

Another hour and the second bowl suffered the same fate:

This is why I love working with juniper. The pieces are like a box of chocolates (to coin a phrase from Forrest Gump)....you never know what the red heartwood will look like until you get down into it. I'd say these two pieces are a score!!

Taking a break to feed my face and rest up a bit for hogging out the biggest slab (looks like an aircraft carrier without the conning tower). 

That one's going to take a bit longer to do because it's so much bigger than the other two.

Wish me luck!!!

BREAK'S OVER!!!!!! GET BACK TO WORK, YOU SLACKER!!!!!

Back at it....

Large bowls like this one take longer to hog out because of their size.....DUH! But, the red heartwood getting exposed is a trip in and of itself, and this bowl didn't disappoint, for sure. 

I should have quit for the day at this point, but I just couldn't resist going the next step on this bigger bowl.....fine grinding and sanding. In order to do that, the turbo mini-planer had to be changed out, and a 4 1/2 inch Kutzall grinding disc/wheel put on the angle grinder. 

From there, it was a matter of smoothing every single surface of the bowl as much as possible. I also found out this wheel is really good for getting into nooks and crannies without destroying the piece.

I think this bowl is gonna be a winner!!

This stage in the process is always so gratifying because this is the point where they begin to look like they should and the work put into making them seems so worthwhile.

It's supposed to be colder, windier, and snowier tomorrow than it was today. So, it looks like another inside Ted's Shed work day. 

DWR

Carving and Shaping Begins.....

What an absolutely gorgeous day today! Warm temps, little to no breeze, sunny skies. It really doesn't get any better than this to make some serious sawdust, especially outside!

After cutting three bowl blanks from the juniper log featured in my last post, the work of carving and shaping began. 

The tool I use to get the bark off (usually juniper bark falls off after being exposed to the elements for a time....this bark was still attached) is my angle grinder with a very aggressive carving and shaping disc tool. I don't really care for this carving and shaping disc tool because it is too aggressive for my liking. The carbide teeth grab and pull if the user isn't super vigilant, and vibration is a real issue when it comes to physical fatigue using it. When it wears out, my next one will have more than the three teeth seen in the photo for sure!

Setup for doing this kind of work is a snap with the two logs on top of some pallets I now use to semi secure the log blank I'm working on. Someone somewhere suggested using sandbags for this purpose, but I'm finding debarked logs work very well, too, and that's what I went with.

Once the bark was removed, some of the yellow sapwood also had to be ground off. The photo below shows all three bowl blanks with almost all the bark removed along with some of the sapwood. The ends getting ground down to a rough shape was also part of this process.

Flipping them over revealed the bottoms needed to be planed down at least another inch in order for the bowls to be stable and not tip over while in use. That step happens this afternoon....I'm on break for a bit!

Break time is OVER! 

I originally thought taking off one inch, or so, would do it, but ended up taking off almost two inches in order to get them as stable as they need to be.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.....the router planer in the photo above is one of the best tools in my shop, especially for working on irregular shape pieces. 

In this instance, though, I was lucky because the slab was flat on the side that's eventually going to get hogged out (bandsaw sawmill). That made securing the piece really easy.

So, in order to secure the piece, I used deck screws through a scrap 2x6 I had laying around. First, I secured the 2x6 to the piece on the part that will eventually get hogged out with one screw. That way, it didn't matter if there was a hole from the screw because that would get carved out anyway. The 2x6 was then secured to the work surface with two screws, one on each end of the 2x6. The piece was now nice and secure.

From there, it was a matter of taking off as much as needed to make the piece sit solid on a flat surface when done (the one on the left in the photo below).

To get a similar height on the next piece, all I did was place that piece (the one on the right in the photo above) to be done upside down next to the completed piece, and scribe a mark at about the same height that will be the limit to how much I'll take off with the router planer.

From there, I did the same thing with the third, and largest, piece, and now I have three bowl blanks that I'll be hogging out tomorrow, weather and my own physical aches and pains permitting.

Methinks these are gonna be some really nice bowls!!!

DWR

Decisions....Decisions....Decisions

There are times I just want to slap myself up alongside my head and quit being so indecisive about some of this stuff.

The slab discussed in the previous post is just under 60 inches long. The question that bugs me is how many bowls can I get from it?

If it's 60 inches long, that means I can make four bowls that are 15 inches long. Or I can make three bowls that are 20 inches long. 

Too anal? Yup.....

I needed to think outside my own restrictive 'box', and just ask ask Katherine what she thinks.

Thank goodness I did.

Her idea was to make one bowl 24 inches long. That leaves a slab 36 inches long. If that slab is divided by two, VOILA....there will be two more bowls that are each 18 inches long.

Or so I thought.

Not to worry, though. The chainsaw kerf will shorten the bowl slabs just a tad, so each of the bowls will be slightly less than the measurements cited above.

But the end result will still be pretty much the same.

Next step is to mark the slab:

That wasn't too difficult....especially since the measurements don't require perfection.

Next step involved setting the slab up so the chainsaw blade wouldn't go into the snow. Luckily, I made a simple sawbuck a loooooong time ago that works perfectly for stuff like this:

And the final step was to actually make two cuts to get a total of three bowl blanks/slabs:

Now comes the fun part....carving and shaping. That's gonna have to wait awhile until it warms up a bit, hopefully later this afternoon.

Only time will tell, but I think these bowls are going to turn out really nice.

DWR

It's Been a Looooooong Time Since My Last Post....

 2017.....that's how long it's been since I my last blog post. Should I be embarrassed? Naw! I've been posting on Facebook instead.

This project, however, requires a blog post. 

Why, you ask?

Because it's the start of a series of posts in which juniper bowls are being created from a previous project that kind of went bust (more on that later).

Anyway, in May, 2016 Scott Shaeffer was kind enough to mill a juniper log for me. The thinking was that the center cut would make a beautiful fireplace mantle for some friends of mine. 

Choosing the log was the easy part especially since Scott had the forklift needed to pick it up and place it on the sawmill without having to heft it ourselves.

This was a very straight juniper log....something one does not usually see in juniper.

The reddish/purplish heartwood was amazing!

This is where the "later" thing I mentioned earlier comes into play....reality is this was a green log, and it warped. I had to cut it into four pieces and hope it could be salvaged!

But that's really not the subject of this blog post, though. The excess cuts around it are! 

Scott, in his magnanimous generosity, told me I could have the excess he'd trimmed off at no charge. Of course I jumped at that offer, and those pieces are the subject of this blog post.

When it comes to creating bowls from rough slabs, rounds, and/or cuts of wood, one must consider how deep the bowls need to be, how wide they need to be, and how long they need to be. One of the slabs Scott let me have is 5 feet long.

What appears to be the 'bottom' of this slab (the side that's flat on the table) in this photo made stationing the piece easy. It just had to be stabilized so it wouldn't slide as it was being planed with my router planer sled. Here's a photo of the slab 'right side up':

It was also longer than my router planer table, so I used a piece of masonite to accommodate the extra length in order to move it as needed as planing progressed. One side of the masonite was smooth allowing me to move it as needed on the table. The other side was 'rough' which prevented the slab from sliding and causing some pretty nasty gouges from the router.

Setting up the planer to take off the least amount possible took some time, but eventually I was ready to rock and roll!

After I don't know how many passes of taking off around 1/2 inch of sapwood on each pass, I decided to stop for the day.

Tomorrow, weather permitting (it's supposed to get cold.....REALLY COLD), I'll use the chainsaw to slice this 5 foot slab into smaller blanks that will become bowls. 

GAWD, I love working with juniper!!!

DWR