Not so good, can't make an apple :(

[Tazmaniandevil]

Just to prove you're not alone. This was my best effort ever from about 18 months ago.

This was also when I first started experimenting with shellac, and made the mistake of applying it while the lathe was spinning. I even showed the torn grain.
Chin up.

 

[KimG]

For smell I drill a small hole in the base and stick a clove in it, it works for apples and pears.

 

[procell]

There must be something strange about me as I found turning my apple for the pierced challenge to be fairly simple. I did leave a small bub on the top to look like a snapped stalk and the bottom was a bit of work to sand the end grain smooth but I was happy with the end result.

 

[Grahamshed]

If you made two would it be a pear of apples ?

Coat

 

[woodfarmer]

Its on my 'to do' list as well, as is just about everything else you can think of.
Looking forward to seeing the Acacia branch when you get it down, lovely looking wood.

This is where it came off

the haul

and the yew cut on its way to becoming blanks and bits.

 

[Grahamshed]

If you stuck one of those branches in the channel and gave it a tiny little push with your left toe....... I could pick it up on this side

 

[Woodchips2]

I found the best guide was to put a real apple on top of the headstock so you have something to refer to when turning.

Regards Keith

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

That's what I've just done. Bit of oak burr,,,oh the figure is stunning. Got the the top right but haven't yet parted it off so it'll have to wait till tomorrow now.

This "just observing natures curves up close" works really well I have to say.

 

[Grahamshed]

just so long as it doesn't end up like Apples apple.

 

[woodfarmer]

If you stuck one of those branches in the channel and gave it a tiny little push with your left toe....... I could pick it up on this side

It is all one branch

hope the bottom bit will make some small to medium bowl blanks.

 

[Woodmonkey]

That looks very much like robinia (false acacia)

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Right then. Got the kids to bed and managed to finish off the apple.

I've done a few now and they're all wrong as many of you have experienced. Tonight I decided to let Mother nature be the guide a la the design discussions. So in these pics from left to right:

oak burr turned tonight having copied as best I could the real apple (gala) in the middle. In particular I feel I got the top curve and dimple about right. Not quite as rounded as the real apple and because I parted it off, the bottoms rubbish as no reverse turning. The darker oak apple on the right is one I did a couple weeks back by just hallucinating an apple ie no input from any kind of model. (And as you can see its totally wrong, more like a half pear in fact).

The surprises were, the rounding over from the body to the dimple is much "flatter" than you'd expect and the dimple is way deeper. The stalk by the way is just a real twig that I hand cut and mounted in a drilled hole. Didn't have time to turn a stem.

The darker oak on the right is yet more of that 1987 hurricane wood batch. What a difference in shade to the burr on the left. You'd hardly know they're the same species would you?

Interesting design experiment I must say. That design thread from the other day is really affecting the way I approach the work.

 

[Woodmonkey]

There is a fungus which affects oak trees called beef steak fungus (fistulina Something) which imparts a lovely chocolatey brown colour to the heart wood (just before it rots it away!), I suspect that is what you have there Bob on the piece on the right

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

well that would make perfect sense because that tree had been down and dead for nearly 30 years. I got about 20 foot from the butt upwards and its got radial cracks almost to the core except for only really low down. (where the trunk was thickest) So a lot of it has regrettably ended in the wood burner.

When I first started turning it I thought it was going like bog oak.

 

[Richard Findley]

IMHO the depth of the stalk hole (for want of a better name) is what lets most wooden fruit down.

Looking good Bob. My only suggestion would be to make the widest point about 6mm above centre.

Cheers

Richard

Ps I love brown oak!!

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

thanks Richard. So with the widest point higher than centre it gives a higher "shoulder". Like a granny smith more would you say?

Do you reverse turn yours with a screw chuck?

And what do folks use for the opposite end of the stalk, the little sepal type leaf end.

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

The one in the middle is very good. Looks very lifelike........

I reverse chuck the apples on a screw chuck using the stalk hole to mount. Stick a bit of router mat between the apple and the screw chuck to help prevent damage. Some folks stick a clove up the bum end to finish them off.
I use random twigs from bushes as stalks at the top end.

 

[gregmcateer]

Bob,

That's a massive improvement - well done. Now we're all going to be out there trying to make apples !!

Richard, I tried your link to your WIP and couldn't get anywhere - Does Richard or anyone else know how to get it?

TIA

Greg

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

Pop the fruit-wip-t38385.html at the end of ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/ to make https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/fruit-wip-t38385.html mate. That should do it.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

The one in the middle is very good. Looks very lifelike........

I reverse chuck the apples on a screw chuck using the stalk hole to mount. Stick a bit of router mat between the apple and the screw chuck to help prevent damage. Some folks stick a clove up the bum end to finish them off.
I use random twigs from bushes as stalks at the top end.

The first time I turned apples I did it with a screw chuck using the method you describe. It turned fine for the first side but when I reversed it I couldn't for the life of me get it to run true. So I've been turning them using the simpler parting off method since and that simply doesn't produce a proper finished piece due to the lack of the underside dimple.

So I guess I need to get good at screw chucking or I'll never crack it properly.