16 Days and 4 Turnings

 That has all happened so very fast, I did not realise it is only 16 days since I finished the last rocking chair.

This piece of wood was given to me and I was told it is Matai, swamp Matai so its dark colour is due to it laying underground for a long time, there are a few cracks in the wood so I have been lucky that the wings have stayed intact, the size is 80mm high and from wing tip to wing tip it is 230mm wide so it is probably a bit high for its width.

The wood was a pleasure to turn apart from having to constantly glue up the cracks.

I then took the chainsaw to a big piece of kauri I had been given and out popped this, again there are a few splits or cracks and some worm holes but it is very nice kauri so I did not want to waste it, some of the growth rings are 1mm apart which means the tree grew 1mm in girth in that year, the wood as I was given it shows it is a long time since it was cut up so like the matai above it must be very old.

The diameter of the bowl is 190mm, the thickness of the block would have been about 95mm before I started to turn it and I consider this too high for a bowl of this diameter so I set up the bowl saver cutting device I have and took the lid out from inside the bowl, in this picture it shows just how the lid was before I cut it out so the knob on top of the lid was inside the bowl.

The lid and the bowl I consider to be 2 turnings as there is just as much work in making a lid as there is in making a bowl.

The finish on all these items is Osmo Oil, I find that with the high solids product I only need one coat of the oil.

There was a piece of pohutukawa on the floor that I had been moving about each time I cleaned up I have no idea where it came from but it was very dry being dark in colour it is old wood or should I say its from an old tree and as a difference from the pieces above there was no cracks or splits making this piece of turning a pleasure to work with.

Its size is 245mm from wing tip to wing tip and 65mm high, making bowls with wings involves a lot of hand work and most of it is sanding, finishing with a 400 grit sandpaper.

This piece of turning is not square, the original block of wood was not square so after the initial turning and cutting off the unwanted wings I trimmed it keeping it out of square.

I am very fortunate to have such wonderful wood to play with.

 

All Native Chair Finished

 I have finished the second chair and I am well pleased that I have done what I set out to do.

I have changed the joint at the back of the arm rest into the back leg with what I think is a more attractive and stronger joint I also kept it more square which I think blends better with the back legs.

At the top of the back legs I have made a softer looking radius that is in keeping with the radius on the inside.

The back braces are made of Tawa so are a stronger wood than the previous chair this made me more comfortable shaping the top of the back braces as per the instructions, the  shape lends a whole new look and being in a contrasting wood just adds to the beauty, I also managed to coordinate some of the spalting in the Tawa into a pattern looking from the back of the chair.

The rockers are also spalted Tawa with a single lamination of Matai, so we have three native woods Rimu, Tawa and Matai.

I started with a board of 50mm Rimu that the legs, seat and head rest came from this has given me a seat that is thinner than I would have liked, I also made a slight upwards roll on the front edge so that looking from the front the seat has a very fine look.

The arms and front legs have been recycled from an old house that at some time had been on fire I know this because some of the wood had charcoal on the outside and there is still evidence of nail holes that I could not eliminate altogether.

The finish is Osmo Oil.