Turning a Burl

Wow! Awesome! Incredible! Exciting!

Our Tuesday morning turning with Anne was at Ray's yesterday. Ray turns burls - large growths on the trunk of a tree.. The grain appears in swirls with wonderful patterns. The colours in the Brown Mallee burls we chose, vary from a soft and reddish brown through to a rich cream. As pointed out, you don't know how your bowl will turn out until you start , when the design emerges from the wood itself. My bowl revealed a winged rim with the most superb natural edge. As we worked the edge, breaking off the bark, little spiky bits began to pop into view which I found really exciting. Cleaning them off was done with a wire brush. The "bits" reminded me of the middle stem of a carrot and the thick root type growths you sometimes see growing out from the central core.

Turning the burl was like rattling along a 4 x 4 track compared with travelling on a tarred freeway. It was jolty and tough but oh so satisfying. Oh dear think I have a problem, need a program to help with this addiction. Hi my name is Susan. I'm a wood turner!

Tools used for the burl bowl were: bowl gouge (which I bought from an old chap at the club called Harry) which gives a lovely cut, especially after Ray demonstrated how to resharpen it, reverse end scraper (think that's right), skew chisel, sanding blocks and an electric sander with different screw on graded disc ends. After sanding we brushed on a varnish with an old toothbrush then rubbed it off right away. Don't think I was quite quick enough with mine. Alison managed two coats on her smaller bowl. I did one and need to go back and do a second before we tackle the inside next week.

Ray and his wife were so hospitable, not only giving up their time but also providing Alison and I with a delicious lunch. Their place is lovely, one and a half acres of conservation type plot, where Ray has been clearing paths leading down to a little dam and eating area. They have alot of birds who visit them on their deck.

The Australian wood turners I have met have been so generous with their time, advice, skills and even their materials. I feel lucky to have met them all.

The burl continues next Tuesday when we tackle the inside. I cannot wait to work the rim with it's striking white edge and hope to do the inside justice because the outside just looks fabulous.

The latest club newsletter puts me down as a volunteer to help with the next kids class in the December holidays. It would be fun and good to return some of the time others have so freely given to me, especially Anne. My daughter Shona is desperate to have a try so it would be good if there was a place for her. Need more hours in the day to get into the garage and onto my lathe. First job - Christmas gifts. It's a good feeling to make something for someone.

Rushing a job doesn't work well in wood turning. I tried to complete some pens that I wanted to sendback to the UK with my cousin as gifts and had a disappointing Monday night session. However, failure is seldom wasted if used

as a constructive learning curve and the following week I managed to turn out - with help, advice and some amazing pen blanks from Vince - two very beautiful and yet very different pens. The wood used for the first is dark and strong and the grain on the other almost shines out from the wood. I was very proud of them and have ear marked who they will go to for Christmas. Vince has made two end pieces - his magic mushrooms - for assembling the pens. I've borrowed these clever stoppers for the week. The metals ends make use of an embedded coin so the pen doesn't sink into the wood when pressing the pen pieces together. I will have to make myself a pair when I get the chance.

My mum has a birthday trivet heading back to her with my cousin, who has been here on a trip. The grooves around the edge are created with wire (held between two pieces of dowel) which burns into the wood. The centre is turned from corian which is a type of kitchen work surface. It is not nice to turn compared with wood but when finished offers a spot for hot items to safely sit on. The finish on the trivet is incredibly smooth and the base is as interesting to look at and feel as the top surface. My cousin and her friend had a wood turning demo one evening in the garage where they watched the creation of a little honey dipper on my lathe. We went up Mount Tambourine to visit craft shops and an early Christmas market but were surprised to see virtually no wood turned products.

So much happening, so little time. I made a set of 3 wine bottle stoppers for my cousin’s birthday. Jennifer is here at the moment for a month so lots of outings and good times. I also made something for my mum’s birthday and was very pleased with the finish on it. This last Monday night I made the most exquisite (even though I say so myself) little vase out of a banksia nut. It was fun to work with. It offered a different textures experience. The outer is quite soft and brittle and tends to crumble away but the core was very hard. The first cone (it seems more like a cone than a nut to me) I tried to turn (was aiming for a set of coasters) was rotten inside so it got tossed out. The next one was too small in diameter for coasters so Ray suggested a vase - actually he suggested a matching pair but I thought that was tad ambitious! He gave valuable advice, introduced me to a jam chuck and helped with the parting off.

This week saw the arrival of a lathe. Yes my own lathe can you believe. This woodturning seems to have a life of it’s own, with me as a happy passenger. Anne told me she had a lathe in mind for me and the next thing I knew, I was in a conversation that went something like this: “ I have a lathe for you. It was Bill's but he can’t use it now. Come on Wed at 12 and have a look at it.”

So Wed came and Grahame & I went round to the club to see it. It was under the clubhouse and when we arrived Anne, Ray and Vince were under there too. Our conversation continued with: “ Here it is. It’s a Carba-Tec, variable speed, swivel head. We’ll make sure it’s got all the bits. Have you got a trailer? No - don’t worry Vince will drop it off. We’ll bring it tomorrow at ten”. At this point I mentioned I wouldn’t be home as we were going whale watching with my cousin. “ What number are you? 6, fine, we’ll just pop it in your garage”. And so the deal was done and true to their word, Vince, with 2 helpers, delivered it the next day when I was out and we returned to a lathe!

It needs a clean up and some WD40, which I haven’t had a chance to do. I am of the view that once I start making things I won’t be able to stop. I am last to leave the class every Monday night as it is, so I can feel some long sessions coming on…. Can’t wait to get set up and started. The kids asked what I would call the lathe. We reckoned “Chuck” was a good name : ) Anne brought the “bits” around for it and some boxes of wood. Need to get the storage baskets I bought at a garage sale out and start sorting it all. So, watch this space. Christmas presents first I think.

Ray's burl turning got pushed back unfortunately as I had some teaching days then my cousin arrived but we have rescheduled for 2 weeks time so that’s great. Everyone at the club has been so helpful and great at sharing their knowledge. They all have a favourite tool that they seem to do most cuts with. For Vince it’s a skew chisel and his inlaid work is just beautiful. Ray loves his detail gouge and for Anne it’s got to be a bowl gouge. New members keep joining and us newies have become regulars. It’s the quickest 3 hours of the week on a Monday night. Nigel has a shop at the club, which I looked into this week and bought a pen mandrel. Need to go over pen making again so I can make some at home. Wish there was more time each week to see what everyone else is making. Sometimes we all make the same item, other times we are all off at tangents. The banksia nut stirred a bit of interest. Alison is keen to work one next week.My tool collection is growing, housed in a lovely tool roll Grahame and the girls gave me for my birthday.

Will leave you with a pic of a banksia nut and my vase. Next time, it will be me at my lathe!