Elm Burling

I have been extremely lucky to find someone with an Alaskan Mill
to slab the burl for me, I cut off the bits that were sticking out and have started to cut them up and rough out some bowls, one piece that  was protruding was the remains of the trunk.
I didn't have to push the chainsaw mill so it looked easy it was my job to put wedges in the back side and stop the piece already cut from dropping down.
We first cut the top flat that gave us a tapered piece then 2 at 100mm thick and 2 at 75mm thick all the rest was cut to 50mm thick and that was about 5 pieces so in all about 9 pieces and some bits, the good man who did the cutting took 2 for his efforts.
Now they are all sticked up in a pile drying, that is with 2 sticks between each slab to allow air to pass through and the drying to take place
I have been cutting up the bits and rough turning bowls, it is a learning experience, as I am turning them it is good to see the colour return but then quickly fades again as the surface water dries out.
I am unsure how much movement will occur during drying so have been leaving plenty of thickness, I have weighed each one and written on them the weight it has only been a few weeks and already I can tell the difference in weight.
The smaller ones seen here are what I cored from inside the bigger ones.
 

A round wheel

The hardest part of creating a round object is getting it round,that is round without flats or lumps and bumps that you can feel more than see, and from what I can tell I have done it.
The old wheel has finger holes on the back side, well not holes but slight hollows to improve grip, I was unsure how to do this but thought I would see if just sand paper was enough, I wrapped some course sandpaper around a plastic pipe of about 70mm diameter and it proved to be just right, I marked around the outer edge of the wheel an even 40 points determined by the 10 hollows on the 1/4 of old wheel I have I then cramped straight edges across the wheel so I could sand a hollow on each side of the wheel this entailed moving my straight edges 20 times but stood in the garden in the warm sun on a cold winters day listening to the birds sing what could be better.
 
After all the hollows were sanded out I was back inside the man cave with the router and a large radius bit taking off the corners with the fear that I may get splintering from the wood being under tension, I got a good result and very little sanding was needed.
Next I will give it a coat of 2 pot epoxy treatment with the hope it will prevent worm attack then a coat of polyurethane.

Getting around to it.

I was asked at the beginning of the year to make a steering wheel for an old Chevrolet truck, the truck is a mess and standing in a barn on a farm, the farmer says he will restore it some day but to me its a challenge so I am now getting around to it with the hope it will eventually be used for its intended purpose, the original wheel is now in 4 pieces and riddled with wood worm, I think it was hickory and it must have been steam bent as its not laminated and its not made in sections.
The farmer gave me a block of wood 1m X 70mm X 150mm it had a reddish look to it very straight fine grain that I think is maranti, I have taken 27 pieces off the side and thicknessed them to 2mm successfully with no break out, the wheel is 457mm over all diameter.
I have cut some 18mm MDF using the router to 420mm diameter using a 12mm cutter so the inner cut is 408mm I then doubled up on the MDF and once the glue was dry I flush cut the 2nd piece to match the first, I am wondering if the 37mm difference between what I want and what my jig is will allow for the spring back of the lamination (tomorrow I will know).
The 12mm of cut the router cutter made has allowed me to lay up 6 2mm pieces using epoxy, today it all went to plan for the glue up using a fine tooth spreader I was able to spread the glue very even and at a minimum so there is very little squeeze out and I kept it a very clean job, always best when using epoxy.
My plan is to make 4 and depending on the amount of spring that happens tomorrow will tell me how to make number 3 and 4, when I glue them together I intend to stagger the joint on the 1/4.


The first layups have become the inner pieces of the wheel I have increased the outer diameter of the jig and am now in the process of laying up the outer pieces then its a matter of bringing them all together.