Woodturning Mesquite Vase – Rough and Tough From Green To Finished
In case of viewing difficulty, this video is also posted on YouTube and FaceBook.
I picked up this mesquite in Arizona over a year ago. Shortly after bringing it home, I rough turned and partially hollowed it. I only partially hollowed it because I was still working on my hollowing rig at the time. I regret not hollowing it more while green and a little softer.
I sealed the wet wood with Bowl Save from Craft Supplies USA, a PVA based wood sealer and let it dry.
Once dry and harder, I finished hollowing and then finished the outside. It is difficult to show hollowing since the real action is inside the vase – out of sight. I use a USB borescope camera on the hollowing rig. The camera moves with the cutting bit. Even though the bit is inside the vase, it still shows the relative position of the cutter and the outer wall of the vase on the screen.
For those wondering why the hollowing video segment is so poor. The tool is marked on an transparency covering the screen. What you can see is a camera shot of my small screen including the transparency. For you tech savvy people, I challenge you to find a better way to show this setup.
The vase is five inches diameter and six inches tall finished with walnut oil.
For the steady rest, please see my video where I review it.
Woodturning – My DIY Steady Rest Is Still Steady
Enjoy!
18 years ago I went from a mini lathe (making small stuff) to a Powermatic lathe. Was told by many that wet wood would rust my new expensive lathe. So I obtained lots of cut logs/wood and let it dry in Colorado air. Now many years later I am turning this dry and very hard wood. It is tearing me apart and am using tools not generally used. If I had to do it over, I would have rough turned the wood when wet. This comment is only intended on those that are reluctant to turn wet wood.
That is indeed a sad story.
Thank you for sharing it.
Alan