The Woodshop Shed

Mothers Day 2020 Woblet

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


An addition to my collection of “Vessels Emerging.”I could show you the process photos. I don't know where they went. I shot all the photos with my phone, and these ones, along with the half-dozen or so more you don't see here, came straight out of the phone into the computer. The earlier process photos – of which there were only a few – went to the Cloud, and I had to dig them up. I downloaded them (I thought) into the folder these ones went into. They weren't there. When I went back to the Cloud and hit the downloaded files button, the Cloud told me they were gone. Oh well. I'll describe them.There was the photo of the stick I started with.It would be here, with a tape measure across it, showing its length at about 15”. The woblet, ultimately, came in at about 10-1/2”. Not my tallest, but, I'm pleased with it.I would point out that it's a rather gnarly-looking stick, with a handful of branch stubs sticking out of it. I would also tell you that I believe it's the very last bit of Camphor that I possess. It came, along with all the rest of the pieces I've made from it, from a tree that was in my back yard. The tree is gone, now, as is all of the wood from it, minus what's still in the chuck, as I write this. Something may yet come of that. Stay tuned.I would then tell you about how it was a stick that had been lying on the floor at the foot of my table saw for I don't know how long, and that I really didn't know what it was. I had it in myownbadhead that it was, maybe, Cape Chestnut. It wasn't. How do I know? I had to cut the ends off for mounting between centers, and, the moment my Japan saw began digging in, there was that aroma. It's Camphor. This stuff smells wonderful. Almost medicinal.That out of the way, I began turning what would become the top end, towards the tailstock, into a cylinder. And, when I had bored the top of the bowl portion, I took a picture, and would have put ithere.I finished the inside of the bowl, and a fine finish it was. So, in the interest of having that, at least, to show off, in case it should break and come to nothing, I shot a photo of that smooth, shiny interior.Use the fourth gallery photo, to aid your imagination, here.I proceeded to the outside of the bowl. And, when finished, having the same trepidation about it failing, I got a photo of that, too.They were very nice photos, all, I assure you. That's the sum total of them. You're welcome.I knew, going in, that I was going to tilt it in the chuck. I found out, shortly, that I had somehow forgotten how to do so properly. I really had a much more delicate stem-with-knuckles item, in mind. There was that pith, you know. I'm well-acquainted with the pith, as you know, having made several of these goblets. Almost from the start, I found myself mixing this really fast epoxy from HF, and shoring up the weak spots, wherever I found them.I could call your attention what appears to be a crack in the second knuckle. I could tell you the funniest story about why that's there. I could say that I had turned and finished the bowl; turned, and finished the neck. all on the longitudinal axis; I could tell about that first foray into making it wobble, and point out how the first eccentricity looks a little weird because I was trying to remember how to do it; Then, about how, after having finished that section, for what it's worth, the missing knowledge began to return, and I went on the first knuckle; About how, at 1600 RPM, the whole shebang was doing quite nicely, all the way trough the second knuckle, and the third. Then (here's the funny part), I took out the tilt, to take the rest of the stem to the base. And, I'd say that, in this condition, it's not wobbling, but for the eccentric bit, mid-stem. It's spinning like a charm. The mass of the Thing is, after, on the longitudinal axis. I could say that it was while it was in this sturdily-spinning condition when it made up itsownbadmind to break at the second knuckle. I'd point out, with photos, which I didn't take, that the pith had nothing to do with the break. It broke right across the solid wood. The cup, and the first two and a half knuckles hit the floor, and I caught it on the first bounce. No notable damage. Then, I'd talk about how I decided, today, that I'd gahead'n finish the stem, and the base, and put it back together, using that really fast – 90 second open time – epoxy, after finishing the bottom. I could tell you all about this.But, I won't. You don't need to know. You probably don't even see the thing that looks like a crack in the second knuckle.I could, also, tell you about how, just now, in the proofreading, I found a comma out of place, and felt the need to fix that. But, I won't. You already know how anal I am.Thank you. And, I apologize.

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