Ticking Sound from my Lathe

Vaughn McMillan

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Wednesday night I was turning a big ash bowl and I started hearing a ticking sound. I'll let the pics tell the story...

Big Ash Bowl 01 - 800.jpg

Big Ash Bowl 02 - 800.jpg

Big Ash Bowl 03 - 800.jpg

Big Ash Bowl 04 - 800.jpg

This was some of the wood I picked up a week or so ago at the local firewood lot. (I had thought it was jacaranda, but it's ash instead. Bonus. And it's about dry...10% or so moisture.) I pulled some more metal out of the blank before I started (that's a whole other post), but the head of this nail was buried a good 3 inches or more into the tree. It had been there a long time.

No bowl gouges were harmed in the making of this post. :p I guess cryo treated powdered metal is harder than 30 year old nails.

BTW, the bowl ended up a bit smaller than it was when these pics were taken. See the pith near the rim in the first pic? By the time I turned that away, my 22" bowl was down to about 17 1/2". Ah well, it's just wood. I hear the stuff grows on trees.
 
I think I would have been inclined to leave the head of the nail when it was visible where it was. I realize when hollowing the inside you would have had to contend with the shank of the nail, but it could have added so much character!
 
Pretty cool story Vaughn. I had a couple of blanks here that after I found the barbed wire buried about 4" deep in the wood had come from the farmer cleaning a fence row.:eek: My Thompson tools didn't miss a beat.
 
I think I would have been inclined to leave the head of the nail when it was visible where it was. I realize when hollowing the inside you would have had to contend with the shank of the nail, but it could have added so much character!

Although I kinda like the idea, in this case it wasn't to be. I still had a fair amount more wood to remove to get the shape I wanted, so leaving the nail would have compromised my planned shape. I also have some finishing plans for this bowl that the nail wouldn't have worked with. I guess I could have put the nail back in the hole after I got things finished (clipping the shank off first), but it's too late now...the hole's full of black epoxy. :D
 
At least it was just steel. I was cleaning up a 40" white oak a few weeks ago and wanted to salvage a 10 ft. log to saw into lumber but saw the tell tale blue stain on the butt. I took a chance and butted off a few feet and the stains looked smaller. I took the block home and applied the maul and low and behold i found 3 ceramic fence insulators with wire. Now if you were to get a tick from one of those insulators I bet it would teach them fancy turning irons a few tricks. :D
 
Every time I turn something anymore, which is little right now, I always check the wood with a metal detector. I've run in to lead bullets, nails and barb wire. :D Always be carful.
 
Every time I turn something anymore, which is little right now, I always check the wood with a metal detector. I've run in to lead bullets, nails and barb wire. :D Always be carful.

When I started on this blank there was wire visible, so I dug it all out. After I removed the wire I used my metal detector, but I'm guessing the nail was deeper than what the detector could sense. :doh:

I've heard of someone running into an anvil in the blank. Makes a nail seem downright insignificant. :p
 
One of the local sawmills that turned me down for milling some "urban logs" stated they once had their mill encounter an engine head that someone had placed in the crook of a tree.
 
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