Chinese elm closed form

michael james

Member
Messages
312
Location
Abq, NM
Started this from a splitting, cracking piece of firewood and it was difficult for me to finish, but it did get done. NOT real wet, not real dry... just difficult. Cracks were filled with black epoxy.

4 1/2 high, ~ 4 1/4 at the widest. BLO, shellac, more BLO. amber shellac to try to get some color into it, a few coats of DO. Sanded back down some, BLO, shellac, sanded and a couple light coats of acrylic spray, then dried, sanded and hit with EEE on the wheel. No wax

Thanks for looking, :wave:
Michael
 

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Looks mighty fine to me, Michael. :thumb: The Chinese Elm I've turned has been some hard, edge-eating stuff. Looks sweet when it's finished out, though.
 
I turn a lot of this wonderful hated wood :doh: :D When turning it, I hate it, I hate it, I HATE it, if is so freaking hard, it dulls tools in seconds, it can ring like a bell when it gets thin, and is just plain not fun to turn...... but when you get done, boy oh boy is it pretty! :thumb:

Nice job on the HF! :clap:
 
That's cool, MJ! It's probably just me, but I'd consider leaving the burn line off of the next one. I hate turning that stuff, but as Stu said, it sure is pretty when it's done. Great job on this one!
 
Those are really great looking.... I've never done Chinese Elm... probably wouldn't know the tree if it fell on me.... but I have some American Elm that has turned nicely and recently picked up some slippery elm from a friend after one of our latest wind storm... it's a nice wood... still pretty wet and green, but nice to work with.
 
Slippery Elm, I'm told, is close to Chinese Elm.

I hear from the Japanese guys that the trick to turning this stuff is NOT to turn it completely dry, let it get to between 18 and 12% and final turn it. When really dry it is like concrete, of course I found this out after I had rough turned and dried about 30 bowl blanks :doh:
 
Thanks everybody! Stu, I probably should pay attention here as there's probably more of this chinese elm than cottonwood around here.... and that's lots.
Question: Will the form, deform?:dunno: or can I prevent that with DO or ???
I guess I better go find a moisture meter.....
Thanks again!
Michael
 
The wet Chinese Elm that I've turned seemed to move quite a bit while drying, although I was doing bigger pieces, mostly large shallow bowls, which are prone to bending anyway. I also had a couple of 18" to 20" bowls from an elm crotch that still moved a lot, fully dry, as I did the finish turning. I'm guessing what it was internal stresses that were released in the wood as I thinned the walls.
 
I'm not talking about "Wet" wood, I'm talking about wood that is almost dry. I would say, depending on where you live, dry wood would be below 10% MC, so if the wood is 18% to 12% it is mostly dry, but not completely dry. If you see some of the traditional Japanese turnings, they are thin, like REALLY thin, I've tried that with dry Chinese Elm, we say Keyaki here, and it is NOT possible. :( When I told the Japanese turners this story of woe, they kind of laughed and said "Well no kidding, NO ONE can turn that stuff when it is that dry, try it when it is almost dry, much easier..." well that is a rough translation. It will move a bit, but not much, especially if it is thin, and if it does move a bit, they say "Well it is a natural product, so that is what you get, if you want a perfectly round bowl, buy a plastic one" :D

Cheers!
 
I'm not talking about "Wet" wood, I'm talking about wood that is almost dry. I would say, depending on where you live, dry wood would be below 10% MC, so if the wood is 18% to 12% it is mostly dry, but not completely dry. If you see some of the traditional Japanese turnings, they are thin, like REALLY thin, I've tried that with dry Chinese Elm, we say Keyaki here, and it is NOT possible. :( When I told the Japanese turners this story of woe, they kind of laughed and said "Well no kidding, NO ONE can turn that stuff when it is that dry, try it when it is almost dry, much easier..." well that is a rough translation. It will move a bit, but not much, especially if it is thin, and if it does move a bit, they say "Well it is a natural product, so that is what you get, if you want a perfectly round bowl, buy a plastic one" :D

Cheers!

Much wisdom there and it makes sense. I went back to this too many times. I'm going to pick up my new $10 moisture meter from Lowe's today.
Thanks for another lesson, humor intact!
Michael in new mexico
 
I'm going to pick up my new $10 moisture meter from Lowe's today.
Michael, nice vase and thanks for this tip on the moisture meter.

I will get one today as I need to stabilize a bunch of Red Fir bark rings to make pens and fly rod handles and it's been a 'by-the-seat-of-my-pants' guessing how dry this bark is.

We don't have any Chinese Elm around here but it is nice looking.

How thick is the Cottonwood bark?
 
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