Red Eucalyptus Hollow Form

Vaughn McMillan

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Here's another one I finished up recently. Ironbark red eucalyptus, HF #7, about 7 1/4" x 4", finished with Antique oil and buffed. This is some hard stuff once it's dry.

HF7aT 800.jpg HF7gT 800.jpg HF7cT 800.jpg HF7dT 800.jpg HF7bT 800.jpg HF7fT 800.jpg HF7hT 800.jpg

Comments and critiques are welcome, as always. ;)
 
Looking good Vaughn, I particularly like the rim along the top edge, sets it off very nicely. The Hackberrys in the other thread are also mighty nice. Wish I had your skill level.

Tony
 
Vaughn that eucalyptus is beautiful. I'm wondering if the wood would make me swell up and sneeze as bad as the leaves do. Can't stand to be in a store that sells anything eucalyptus.

Did you have any reaction to the wood?
 
Vaughn that eucalyptus is beautiful. I'm wondering if the wood would make me swell up and sneeze as bad as the leaves do. Can't stand to be in a store that sells anything eucalyptus.

Did you have any reaction to the wood?
Sandy, the red eucalyptus doesn't seem to be as aromatic as the eucalyptus you often see in dried floral arrangements. The leaves have a slight bit of the smell, but the wood is really pretty benign. I can go into my shop the day after turning it and still smell it, but it's a different smell that whan you'd think of as eucalyptus. Still might bother you though, if you're sensitive to the eucalyptus smell.

As an aside, I worked many years ago selling dried flower arrangements at swap meets and flea markets. My van was stuffed to the gills with arrangements, and you could smell he eucalyptus before you even got in it to drive. I kinda liked it, but I could see how someone with sensitivities to it would go nuts being around it.
 
All of the hollowforms you've been doing are beauties. But this one in particular really grabs my attention. The shape and the wood are fantastic. There are several schools of thought about how the openings should be. Some like them smooth and flowing with the form and some like to add something. I personally like a little design of some kind at the opening and I think you nailed this one. That's one of the prettiest hollowforms I've seen.
 
Hey Vaughn, sweet bowl. A few questions about that Eucalyptus. Was it from a local tree? How was drying it, or was it turned green? The only Eucalyptus (not sure the variety, but it looks a lot like yours) I've had was a devil to dry. It warped, checked, and honeycombed like crazy. I could only get small useable pieces of it when dry, and hard as the devil too, can't imagine turning a chunk of it. Do you have any tricks for handleing it? As you know, it's all over SoCal and AZ. I'd sure like to take advantage of it. Barry
 
Hey Vaughn, sweet bowl. A few questions about that Eucalyptus. Was it from a local tree? How was drying it, or was it turned green? The only Eucalyptus (not sure the variety, but it looks a lot like yours) I've had was a devil to dry. It warped, checked, and honeycombed like crazy. I could only get small useable pieces of it when dry, and hard as the devil too, can't imagine turning a chunk of it. Do you have any tricks for handleing it? As you know, it's all over SoCal and AZ. I'd sure like to take advantage of it. Barry
Thanks for the compliment, Barry. This was local wood (from a tree removed at my office). This species is "red ironbark" eucalyptus, and it turns pretty easily when green, but when it's dry it's like concrete. I turn it green, soak it for a day ot two in denatured alcohol, wrap it in a few layets of newspaper, and then let it dry foa about a month. I've not had too many problems with cracking as long as I make sure there is no pith in the piece. With pith it's the pits. (Say that a few times fast.) :p Also, the sawn bowl blanks and trunk slices will almost always crack unless they are sealed immediately after cutting. I have a few red eucalyptus log sections that I didn't get sealed well enough, and they've turned themselves into pre-split firewood for the next-door neighbor.

I've turned a little bit of another local eucalyptus species, but I don't know the name of it. It's a yellow-colored wood, and it seemed to crack much more than the red stuff I've been using lately.
 
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