Bog Yew vase

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130
I dont want this to sound big headed but i would not reccomend turning a log with rot and lots of splits- but this was a special piece of wood and worth the risk. I had a full face repirator/visor on and i have been hollow turning for allot of years so from experince i knew that it was risky but worth a go

hello folks a friend of mine of the ukworkshop forum sent me some bog Yew- this is what i did with it.

on first inspection of the log i thought that it would make a fabulous natural edge vase due to the shape of it- but then i noticed some splits at both ends and a small amount of rot at one end too so i decided against that idea and embarked upon a vase which would have some natural voids.
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I mounted it between centers with the softest end at the headstock
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I start roughing it out and straight away I find that my gouge is going blunt very quickly- in all during the outside shaping i sharpen my gouge about a dozen times!!
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I decide to use a 6" faceplate to avoid the rot but some screws still don't have any bite so i use all 18 holes.
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here you can see the best end
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a close up of some purple figure
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the winter sun was beaming into the workshop and playing havoc with my camera but heres the rough shape beginning to emerge
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a close up of the neck area
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at this point i am happy with the outside shape but have left extra wood for support whilst I hollow out the top 2/3rds.
i was very aware of not knowing how far in that rot in the base went.
here i apply some lemon oil to the cracks so that i can get some glue in but not stain the wood.
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because of the age of the timber and the voids and the fine cracks i have wrapped some "insurance tape" around the piece whilst i hollow.
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here i have hollowed down to 2/3rds and revealed some of the holes- i've repositioned the tape to allow shavings to get out of the holes thus making my job easier.
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here the outside is sanded to 400 grit but not oiled- i would have liked the base slightly smaller but i was very aware of the strength due to the rot
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oiled now- i will eventually get a satin finish on this piece but until it dries it will stay matt.
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heres the waste block- you can see that i didn't waste much and what i did waste wasn't fit for much
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here is the finished piece
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a big thank you to eugene (boysie39) for giving me the chance to turn such magical stuff.
 
Another wonderful piece and pictorial on how to do it. :thumb:

I have loads of wood in similar state and I will use caution while trying this out just as you mentioned.
 
Another fine pictorial, George. :clap: I've not seen the "oil before the CA glue" trick before. Staining from CA is a problem I've run into in the past. I'll have to try your method. I'm assuming the lemon oil evaporates off and leaves no stain itself. Is that correct?
 
kind of Vaughn- the oil dries very quickly- then the piece is sanded then its oiled all over with the same oil- once dry you can apply any finish you want over lemon oil.
 
Another fine pictorial, George. :clap: I've not seen the "oil before the CA glue" trick before. Staining from CA is a problem I've run into in the past. I'll have to try your method. I'm assuming the lemon oil evaporates off and leaves no stain itself. Is that correct?

You can do the same with sealer as well vaughan. The sealer prevents the glue going into the surrounding wood and staining it.

Lovely piece there George, haven't seen this one before. Looks really good. Does the yew cut anything like 'young' yew?

Pete
 
thank you for your kind comments

this bog yew was very diffrent to work with than fresh yew- but hey if you'd been around for a couple of thousand years you might be a bit arkward to work with too :D the main diffrence was it knocked the edge of my tools very quickly
 
Not knowing the history of the wood, I would have just tossed that hunk back into the forest to finish rotting.
You are to be complimented for sticking with it and finishing up into a unique piece of artistry. Your experience as a turner certainly comes through with that task.
Definitely worth a....:thumb:
 
George,
After seeing the finished product, I'll let you be big headed..:thumb:
Very impressive finished product. Beautiful piece of work.
I think I would have had the same reaction Frank did... not sure I would have attempted that at all.
 
Thanks for the ride George! Beautiful Piece! I take it that since it's called "bog yew" that it was burried in a bog for a while? Also, in your bit in the beginning of the post you said you wore a full face respirator, Is the stuff toxic?
 
hello Barry- yes it has been in an Irish peat bog for a few tousand years- i dont know how long exactly with this piece but its not unusual to get a piece 2 to 3 thousand years old.
All wood dust is toxic to some degree so i always wear my resiprator- the only time i dont wear it is when i'm turning really wet wood then i wear a full face visor.
 
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I really like how you did that and used the tape to help incase things went wrong...........im not sure i would have tried it but i did learn from your post some new things.......thanks Dan
 
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