At the beech!

Any woodturners here? can you turn driftwood?

Lucky you, great find!

You can turn driftwood but you’ll need a lathe with a big swing (large diameter capacity ) to turn that.

At the beech!

Deliberate?

I live next to a beach 🙂 and the amount of stuff washed up staggering.

Show us your finished product:-)

Someone has already made a reindeer head out of it!

PeterStarkiss – Member

You can turn driftwood but you’ll need a lathe with a big swing (large diameter capacity ) to turn that.

I only have a basic/cheap Clarke wood lathe, so its going to be cut into reasonable sized chuncks, which in itself is a bit of a shame as the markings look amazing.

The core look in good order too.

alfabus – Member

At the beech!

Deliberate?

LOL, I wish, but no 😉

There is a huge burr, on the other side, so should be interesting to see what it looks like.

Someone has already made a reindeer head out of it!

Or a two fingered salute (how well do you get on with your neighbours)

You’d need the big wheel at wigan Pier to turn that!

The bit of driftwood I picked up for displaying scarves turned out to be really beautiful on the inside. It hadn’t been in the sea long and hadn’t dried out much.

Not sure what it was, but it had lovely orangey streaks in it.

Is that ‘green’ wood? how will you season it so that it can be used for turning?

There is a huge burr, on the other side, so should be interesting to see what it looks like.

Nice. Might be difficult to turn though, as it could fragment.

Is that ‘green’ wood? how will you season it so that it can be used for turning?

theres no reason to dry wood to turn it – lots of fun to be had turning wood when it leathery and wet then letting it distort and tear as it dries

Nice. Might be difficult to turn though, as it could fragment.

Thanks for the warning Mike, what I have learnt so far, is that most wood I turn, has something hidden to scare or surprise me with 😉

Turning is like Russian roulette. a friend spent weeks on an expensive peice of wood, had almost finished it, only for it to split. He’s had other peices fall apart in the lathe.

it would be great if you did regular updates like on the shed/brickie thread. i’d love to see what you make of it.

Looks a bit like a horses/cows head with the nose to the left and the knot as the eye.

Looks lovely, make it into a bench/seat for outside?

Looks a bit like a horses/cows head with the nose to the left and the knot as the eye.

Looks lovely, make it into a bench/seat for outside?

Its got chainsaw damage 3rd the way up, you can just make it out in the pic, so its going to be cut up, well that my thinking at the moment, but like most things, I will think on after the compulsory cuppa* quote has been hit, before I make my first cut.

3x cuppa’s to every cut seems to be my average with wood this size 😉

Just delineates the nasal area! Look forward to seeing what appears from the block.

Ski,
Sounds like you’ve done enough turning to know every cut is different.

I’ve succesfully used cable ties on the outside diameter of workpieces
when turning bowls to hold it together where there are natural holes, softer patches or bark sections.

[Upade]

First cut done, after many compulsory cuppa’s!

first cut by scotiedog, on Flickr

Left over stump looks good, might just leave that as is!

garden feature maybe? Still thinking? by scotiedog, on Flickr

The wood is not as rotten as first expected, result!

Not much rot! by scotiedog, on Flickr

Found a pebble well wedged!

wedged! by scotiedog, on Flickr

Some amazing markings all the way through the wood

Going to work on the cut parts this weekend a little, thinking some simple bowls, will see how they turn, but so far, its looking better than I expected, early days mind.

The markings are “spalting” caused by fungus. Can create excellent patterns, after turning and burnishing danish oil brings it out really well.

Looks like it may be beech, (no pun intended)

The markings are “spalting” caused by fungus. Can create excellent patterns, after turning and burnishing danish oil brings it out really well.

I was going to say exactly that. I haven’t turned any spalted beech but I’ve made a few things out of it including a jewlery box. Just oil to finish so that the black of the spalting contrasts really well with the light wood.

I have turned a few spalted bits in the past, your are right about giving it contrast, this was the first bit I ever turned.

IMG_2785.JPG by scotiedog, on Flickr

Working on some bike bar plugs that are made from hawthorn, which look amazing too.

be careful of that spalting, it is beautiful but as said before it’s a fungus and can be (not saying it will be) but can be not good for your lungs.
I’d love a piece like that but doubt the wife would take the train home from the beach! i found a piece in welsh wales and ended up with a third being good to use.
look on craft sites and ebay for sabilisers, not the wheely type, its a chemical you can soak spalted wood in and it makes it more stable for use.
often used for guitars

You could turn it on a setup like this if your lathe is not big enough.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4qB6n1cm04&feature=g-vrec[/video]

I’ve not done any turning for a while (but used to do loads)
I’d say tread carefully until you are confident it isn’t going to split and fly off the lathe.
I know two wood turners who’ve had stiches in their faces are chunks of wood have flown off the lathe and whacked them!
Nice find though, Spalted beech can look awesome with a bit of Danish oil on it.
My other bit of advice with re-claimed timber is watch out for hiden debris, my Dad recently found a Bolt inside a piece of wood – the tree had completely grown around it –

Have fun – creating stuff from wood is nice.

Yep, I have had just one block of wood come away so far, I stop more often now and check for splits. I also dont stand in front of the lathe now when it starts up.

I am more worried about the dust getting into my lungs tbh, so have been using a good quality face mask to filter the wood dust.

The biggest headache is finding lead shot in good wood, as it stains the wood badly, it also seems to be quite common with the wood I collect from the coppice I work at!

I have been using this formular, once I have balanced and done the rough work:

diam in inches x RPM = must be between 6,000 – 9,000

Not sure if this formular works on larger blocks as the largest thing I have turned is 10 inches so far.

Looks like Ash might be cheap to get soon too 😉