Continuing with the Spalt

[KimG]

Another two creations from the current stock of spalted Beech, all three are now in Shirley Norman's gallery in Little Haven, hopefully someone will feel they must be their's!

First is a small Bowl, about 7 inches or so across with a bead and cove arrangement around the rim, this has a very nice feel in the hand, as does the incurved and slightly undercut rim.
The finish is shellac, buffed to a high gloss with the Chestnut buffing wheel system, this time though I have the newly acquired large dome mops for the interior, the difference is striking in comparison to the smaller mops as the large mops have a greater overall contact and outer edge speed, which in turn leads to an easier task of controlling the overall result, the finish in this bowl is as good inside as it is out, and though I have come close to this with past bowls, I have had to work with great care to get it, but with the larger mops I found it faster, easier and better.

Although it doesn't show as well as the hollow form, the bowl is the equal to the HF as far as finish and gloss is concerned.

This is a more "classical" shaped hollow form, again, like the first one I kept it a little more weighty than previous forms I have done, and I must admit, it does feel very nice in the hand.

A buffed Shellac finish again, the form is about 6 inches tall.

 

[Brianp]

Lovely pieces. Hollowform proportions are, for me, just right. I'm always impressed at the glossy shine!

 

[Nippychippy]

Beautiful work and lovely finish

 

[Grahamshed]

Beautiful work as always Kim.
The guy at my local turnery yesterday asked me 'who are you to question others' ? ( taken out of context) but I am going to do it anyway
Just going by the hollow form picture I can see I have to ask if it might not have been better if the lip of the opening had been undercut to make it thinner / shapelier?
Bl@@dy cheek I know

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Beautifully turned, but to me the spalting has gone too far to be attractive.

 

[KimG]

Thanks for the comments folks! No problem asking me anything Graham, always happy to supply an answer!

The depth of wood at the opening is about 6mm which follows right round the form apart from being slightly thicker at the base, two reasons for this, the spalted wood is a little less strong, so I did not want to end up weakening it by going too thin, plus I wanted it to have a certain weight in the hand. Had I made the opening timber thin, that would have given an impression that the whole thing was thin, until you picked it up, and until you stuck your finger in and felt either a step or a gradually increasing wall thickness, bot of which would then have detracted from the original impression, as it is it is more "honest" in that, what you see is what you get.

The spalting patterns are not as pretty as some pieces Phil, I agree, but you gotta got with what you got!

 

[Grahamshed]

Fair point Kim.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Beautiful lines, very pleasing to the eye and a great finish too.

 

[winemaker]

Nice Bowls, good finish

 

[Dalboy]

Both look well turned. Personally I like the spalting on these.
Not a lover of the bowl shape but the hollow form is just right for proportions. Would the entry hole on the hollow for look a bit better if it was rounded over to the inside.
Hope you do not mind this

 

[KimG]

Cheers Dal, I don't mind at all mate, blimey, I have handed out enough opinions of my own in the past!

I am assuming you mean having the opening curved instead of square and sharp edged (?) certainly something to consider, but quite a lot of years ago when I was turning table legs for a local furniture company, the owner sent a set I had made back, they were all made in Pine by the way, so not the easiest timber for what I am about to describe! He said that the flats and coves, or more accurately the junction between them were too rounded, the edges should be sharp and crisp, and it was this that differentiated between hand made and factory turned, now when I say rounded, it was pretty slight, nevertheless, he required crisp details. Of course I immediately redid the legs and took to heart the advice/request, but it has stuck with me since and as such I have always, (perhaps somewhat unjustifiably in certain cases) had an aversion to any detailed features not being sharply defined, at least to the extent that I could achieve it, as such with these openings, it was as much that philosophy as any design consideration that motivated the end result.

 

[procell]

I like both of those. I the spalting is a little overpowering but not enough to spoil the pieces. the finish is very good as usual.

 

[Dalboy]

Cheers Dal, I don't mind at all mate, blimey, I have handed out enough opinions of my own in the past!

I am assuming you mean having the opening curved instead of square and sharp edged (?) certainly something to consider, but quite a lot of years ago when I was turning table legs for a local furniture company, the owner sent a set I had made back, they were all made in Pine by the way, so not the easiest timber for what I am about to describe! He said that the flats and coves, or more accurately the junction between them were too rounded, the edges should be sharp and crisp, and it was this that differentiated between hand made and factory turned, now when I say rounded, it was pretty slight, nevertheless, he required crisp details. Of course I immediately redid the legs and took to heart the advice/request, but it has stuck with me since and as such I have always, (perhaps somewhat unjustifiably in certain cases) had an aversion to any detailed features not being sharply defined, at least to the extent that I could achieve it, as such with these openings, it was as much that philosophy as any design consideration that motivated the end result.

The thing to do is turn another one wood need not matter and try rounding over and see what you think. If nothing else it will be fun.

I can understand that in some cases like legs that a nice crisp transfer from one feature to the next is required.

It is more of a case whatever suits the item being turned.

Mind you I must get out and do some more hollow forms as I spent today having a clear out of the wood shed, must put some photo's up

 

[KimG]

The thing to do is turn another one wood need not matter and try rounding over and see what you think. If nothing else it will be fun.

I can understand that in some cases like legs that a nice crisp transfer from one feature to the next is required.

It is more of a case whatever suits the item being turned.

Mind you I must get out and do some more hollow forms as I spent today having a clear out of the wood shed, must put some photo's up

Good idea! I will try that for the next one.

 

[Paul.J]

Lovely pieces Kim