Left: Wormy, spalted maple; 7 3/4" x 3 1/4"
Right: Spalted curly maple; 4" dia. x 3 1/8", 1/16" thick.
Center: Wormy, spalted apple; 8" x 5 3/4" x 2 1/8".
One day while working on a set of goblets, my
7 year old son came out to the shop and insisted on helping me.
It would seem that I became a bit distracted!
Actually, the idea for this turning project came from the British
magazineWOODTURNER.
While clearing land to build our church in '94, I found a dozen old
fenceposts leaning against a red oak tree at a fencerow corner.
Checking with the farmer from whom we bought the property, I found
the posts had been there for about 25 years.
In turning this project, I discovered that 25 year old osage orange
is EXTREMELY hard!
Tagua nuts are the seeds of a palm tree native to South America. They are
composed mainly of manose sugar; and when first harvested, are edible. After
being dried, they become quite hard. Until the advent of celluloid and then
plastics, they were the mainstay of button manufacture in many parts of the
world.
Vegetable ivory has also been used for Japanese netsuke carvings, and for scrimshaw
work. Tagua nuts are very hard for carving, but turn quite readily using ordinary
woodturning tools.
The smallest vessel in the photo is 3/4" dia. x 1 3/8" tall. The vessel on the
pedestal is 1 3/8" dia., and is 3 1/4" tall overall. The pedestal is grenadillo,
and has a loose ring at its' base.
Left: Globe - Banksia Pod, finials - Brazilian satinwood (pau marfim).
Center: Globe - Spalted maple, finials - Black walnut.
Right: Body and finials - black walnut, top and bottom caps - maple.
American black walnut, Ceylon satinwood, maple, caviuma, black
cherry, amber wood, East Indian laurel, sapele.
Background is American black walnut, Bee's wing golden narra, ivory wood,
black cherry, maple, Honduras rosewood, sapele, East Indian laurel.
Sapele, English beech, Australian lacewood, black cherry, holly, pear
American black walnut, purpleheart, white oak, ebony, bee's wing peroba rosa,
aspen, maple, bubinga.
American black walnut, paldao, prima vera, imbuya burl, makore,
sweet gum, persimmon, planetree, black cherry, white oak, Brazilian
rosewood, caviuma.