Honest Abe Didnt Cut Down This Cherry Tree

This project started when I was gathering hickory about a month ago at a relatives house.  While pillaging the fallen trees on his property that had fallen victim to heavy rain, he mentioned a cherry tree that had also fallen about two months prior.  My knees went weak. I started to drool a little at the thought of a cherry tree that was ripe for the taking.

Once I located the tree, my knees lost that weak feeling and the lust for a truck load of cherry vanished like a clay pigeon getting shot from station 8.  The tree was severely rotted and under heavy insect attack.  I was able to pull a few usable pieces from the tree.  The following details the rough turning of a cherry bowl.

It will never cease to amaze me what can be created from a rough and seemingly lifeless piece of wood.  Im glad I took lots of progress pictures of this piece so that you can see the amazing transformation from nearly scrap to a beautiful piece of art.

My spur drive hasnt arrived yet, so Im still stuck to using the worm screw in the scroll chuck to start off this piece.  I used two tools for this piece.  The main tool used is my 5/8 bowl gouge by P&N, I also used my hollowing tool for the inside of the piece.

I had initially thought to make a lid and base for this turning.  After getting the piece round and seeing the grain structure, it "told" me "no lid" in a faint voice.



I honed in the shape by bringing in the opening size until I was happy with the bark contrast on the rim at the top. Generally, when a piece has the bark on it, the rough surface of the bark is left.  This is called a natural edge turning.  I tried something unconventional and shaped the bark layer.  As you can see, this gives an interesting contrast to the rim of the bowl.



With the outside shape finalized, I moved on to hollowing out the inside.  I used the scorpion hollowing tool made by Don Pencil.  This is a great tool for hollowing open forms and closed forms alike.



Here are a slew of photos of the piece fresh off the lathe.  I used a new-to-me method to dry the bowl.  I soaked it in a bath of Denatured Alcohol for two days, after which I wrapped the outside in heavy paper.  

Maybe this will be the first piece for sale...That is if my wife doesnt hide it from me when its finished.

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Lathe Cart

Here is the tool cart I built for all things wood turning.  

You know the scene...  Tool pandemonium.  You set out to use your lathe, but first you have to round up all the necessary equipment.  Let me get my face shield, my dust mask, earplugs, tool wrap, chuck, faceplate, and the list goes on.  Next I need to clear off a work bench or cart to put all of these items on. After the time youve spent just getting ready to mount your piece on the lathe, its lunch time, or you get a call and you have to stop what youre doing. A lone tear drips from your eye...  To add to the insanity, since all of your tools are strewn across a bench top, its real work to find what you need.

I got tired of this in a hurry and set out to design and build a rolling cart that would fill the need.  I started by identifying what exactly I wanted out of such an assistant.  Well, first and foremost, it needed to hold tools.  Also, of utmost importance, is a surface large enough to hold a bench grinder.  The only thing better than having someone sharpen your tools for you is having the grinder close by while you are working.  I also wanted space to store essentials like chucks, extra jaws & associated hardware, faceplates, sand paper, air tools, project supplies and other miscellaneous items.

The top surface that my grinder is mounted to is about 44" from the floor. The case dimensions are 30" wide and 20.5" deep.  I have casters on this cart also, so that I can position it for either lathe that Im working at.

I built the case and drawer boxes from 3/4" cabinet grade plywood with 1/4" luan for the drawer bottoms and the cases back.  I used pocket drilling to assemble the majority of the case and drawer boxes.  No, I didnt buy the Kreg jig...I made one.  Maybe Ill explain that in a future post.  

I bought 18" full extension drawer slides off Ebay.  I also bought in bulk since Im planning to add some drawers to my workbench.  The handles and casters I picked up at local hardware stores.  

Helpful Hint:  While doing projects like this, dont forget to check out the clearance and bargain bins. I was lucky and found just enough handles on clearance for this project.  

You can probably recreate the dimensions for this project without too much trouble.  However, if youd like, I do have CAD models available for a small fee to take out the dimensional guesswork.  Just send a message if I dont have the CAD uploaded yet.  Just to let you know, this model is intended to be a guide and is not a fully detailed.  If you require such drawings let me know and Ill accommodate your request.

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