Wednesday, July 11, 2018

The story of a white oak tree

Back in 2015 a friend told me she had some oak pieces in her back yard and asked if I wanted any. "Red oak, right?" "Nope, white oak - it was struck by lightning the other night." "Did that wake you up?" "Yep, it was only 30 feet from the house."

So I went and investigated - by the time I got there most of the good pieces had been split for firewood, but I did manage to get a couple of nice pieces:


I rough turned it, coated it, set it aside to dry and this week set about finish turning it. Here's what it looked like after drying for three years:


I took the picture at that angle to show how much the piece had distorted while drying. It was a real struggle to turn - I used the Jumbo Jaws (tm) to hold it while I turned the foot round - it had ovalized to the point that it was close to a half inch longer than it was wide:


The bowl also had a hole clean through it:

You can see daylight through it!

At this stage the piece weighed 5.15 pounds - heavy!

So I put it on my lathe, used a grinder to turn down the foot, and once that was done, reversed it and gripped the foot with the 4 jaw chuck. Then I used my 7" Makita body grinder to smooth it out enough so that I could begin turning it. The piece was so out-of-round that even a tool as benign as a scraper would cause it to fly off the lathe - can't have that.

After hours of grinding I was finally able to use my bowl gouge and get it to near net shape. Rough deal, I'll tell ya what!

But I persisted and this is what I got:


Top view:


Finished weight 3.75 pounds - still not light, but at least there is over a pound of white oak sawdust in my shop now.

All because lightning struck a white oak tree back in 2015.







23 comments:

ndspinelli said...

"I like oak." Jimmie in Pulp Fiction

The Dude said...

"Say 'what' again!"

Dad Bones said...

Kramer: Is this oak?
Banker: I think it's pine.
Kramer: Pine's good.
Banker: Yeah, pine's okay!

A soft piece of pine probably wouldn't do too well on your lathe, SG. Anyhow, you created another super bowl that will probably be here until the next ice age when bodies are cold and oak is hot.

The Dude said...

Pine is fine. I like to push what I can work with - I have been trying to get a piece of Metasequoia glyptostroboides, AKA dawn redwood, which is about as airy as weeping willow wood. There is absolutely nothing to it but I think I have a method that would allow me to fashion a round object out of it. Only one person ever said she had some, but she never came back with evidence. The ones I planted in 2000 are now huge, but I am reluctant to cut them down, mainly because I sold that place and moved. D'oh!

ndspinelli said...

We have a lot of white birch up in our neck o' the woods. Makes for good campfires.

The Dude said...

I have turned locally grown birch, some of it quite large, but it invariably split. I only got one bowl completed out of a truckload of logs. Son of a birch...

AllenS said...

birch = the most bestest aroma.

Dad Bones said...

Wow, SG, looking at some of the pictures of the Dawn Redwood I can see why you're tempted to work with it. Good luck!

bagoh20 said...

What's really great about these beautiful pieces you make is that whoever ends up with them from now on through the years will always love them and never discard them, assuring that they will be preserved and valued as wonderful antiques someday passed on down and appreciated by many people. That's pretty cool.

The Dude said...

Thanks, Bags, that means a lot coming from you. What you do is run a real business, I try to make the most of what I have but what I do is just one notch above a hobby. How about you let us see a bit of your work someday, eh?

deborah said...

Sounds like that oak put up quite a fight. Beautiful work, as usual. Do you ever bring back wood from trees that have fallen in the wood, died, and dried in place? Do you often find burls from said conditions?

The Dude said...

It was a bear, that's for sure, deborah, such is the way of woodworking.

Where I walk in the woods is all park land or pretty tightly controlled forests. As such it is frowned upon to carry out anything other than pictures. I have seen a couple of good burls, including one on an ash tree, but unless I get there the day the park guys cut it up there is no chance of me snagging it. More's the pity.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Gnarly. You tamed it!

The Dude said...

It was a close thing, DB&H.

The Dude said...

^@^, not &

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

It beats being a few chunks of firewood!

The Dude said...

Thanks, Evi, and the thing is, if things go poorly during the turning process that's exactly what the scrap becomes. We just don't talk about that...

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

That is a gorgeous bowl. White oak is tough wood.

deborah said...

Mr. Sixty Grit, sir, would you please give us a lesson in cross-grain cutting re strength, appearance, and difficulty in sawing and turning?

The Dude said...

Uh, be a bit more specific, please.

That bowl, for example, has both long grain and end grain as one turns or sands it on the lathe.

Boards are strongest when cut with the grain, weakest when the grain traverses the shortest dimension - that's why those karate guys always smash short, thin boards of pine which have the grain running the wrong way - heck, even a child can break those.

A chopping block, properly made, will have end grain up - they will be laminated out of boards glued together in the same orientation they had when they were in the tree - all the straws will be vertical.

I have a suspicion I have not answered your question.

deborah said...

After I posted, it fleetingly crossed my mind that a bowl would contain both, being 3-D or half a sphere, or something. Yes, you cracked the code and got my question, thank you :)

XRay said...

Its late but great work Sixty. Ii think Bags showed us something a long time ago, can't remember if it was here or over there. I do remember it being beautiful but that's all.

The Dude said...

Must have been over there, as I don't remember seeing it.

And thanks - I appreciate it.