A Bit of the Ponderosa

Doug Miller

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277
Location
Hardinsburg, KY
Pine that that is. This is a piece I turned a while back but am just not getting finished. Roughly 6 1/2" wide x 3 1/2" tall. 1/8" or less thick from top to bottom. In fact, the center of the bottom will let light through without any problem. This is one of those turnings that if I still had a bunch of DO, I would have done the multiple soak and dry cycle thing ala Ron Kent. Finish is several coats of Seal-A-Cell followed by several coats of Arm-R-Seal. This is another case to show us all that too much under the top coat is detrimental to the finial finish. The buffing wheels pulled the top coat right off. I had to sand it back and start again. No more than one coat of the sealer for me, unless it is going to be the only finish, from now on.


Questions and comments always welcome.
 

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very nice work Doug

That piece came out real nice Doug. I always have trouble with tearing the cross grain a little on soft woods. How do you manage to avoid that, if you don't mind me asking.

Joe Penney
 
Bernie, I had to learn the hard way. I had been using the Seal-A-Cell as the finish and this one got caught in the change over. Never fear, I've learned and now know that I only need one coat before going on to the final finish.

Joe, this is not the common eastern pine. The ponderosa pine is a touch harder than the eastern pines. This particular blank has some pretty tight growth rings as well. There was a very small amount of tear-out at the end grain but all that went away when I started sanding. All in all I'd still call it a really soft wood, but not as soft as the 2x4's that most of us start practicing our spindle turning with.

Wayne, it is pretty soft, turns quickly, and heats up rather fast if you apply a bit too much pressure. When you get thin with it you better be pretty confident with your tool control because you can go slap through it without blinking twice. You won't hear much change in the sound like you do with hard wood. Find you some on eBay and give it a spin. Kind of fun to have your shop smell like a pine thicket for a day or two.
 
Doug,

That's a great looking bowl.

Here's a little know fact. If you smell the bark of a ponderosa pine it should smell like butterscotch. We were out in Custer state park in South Dakota when a ranger told us this. We felt foolish trying it the first time but after we did it once, we couldn't pass a tree without trying again.
 
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