Obscure Stranded Burl Bowl

Vaughn McMillan

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This is a bowl I made out of Obscure Stranded Burl (OSB). It's my first segmented piece since high school, and I was fortunate enough to find some stunning red and black paint-spalted OSB to make it out of. (Partially spray-painted scrap that has been outside for a few years.)

The form is simple, and I didn't get very carried away on the details. The rim is kind of punky, so there are a few chunks missing. (I'll just say it's a natural OSB edge.) No CA was sacrificed in the making of this bowl. It's about 6" or 7" in diameter, and finished with BLO. I'm thinking I won't buff this one.

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So here's the story...

Unless you're living under a rock, you've probably heard we're doing a box swap. With all the joking going around about people making OSB boxes, I decided the box I made was going to have a domed lid made out of OSB, with the outside filled with Bondo painted with black lacquer. Is it turned out, the box idea I had didn't work (I splintered up a nice piece of 8/4 walnut lumber in my attempt) so I went with another box idea, and didn't have a good way to incorporate the OSB as I'd planned. Since I already had the blank glued up, I went ahead and threw it on the lathe to make the bowl just for kicks and grins. I figured it should make for a good April Fools post.

Of course, Don Orr actually did turn an OSB box here:

http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showpost.php?p=272560&postcount=289

:thumb:

Surprisingly, the OSB cut pretty cleanly with a good sharp gouge. (No long curlies, though.) :p The tenon was real dicey though. I ended up keeping the tailstock in place and leaving a "post" in the middle while I hollowed it out because the tenon would have snapped off as soon as I started hollowing the bowl out.
 
Snacks!! That's very cool bud. I'd heard of someone doing one of these awhile back and it was murder on tools. Glad it didn't blow up on ya! :thumb:
 
Vaughn

Along those lines.....

I am building a one room schoolhouse replica, and have not been able to find a school bell at a price I can afford so I was thinking of making a bell out of MDF and treating it with epoxy, then painting it antique bronze. I really do not need a working bell, so that would be fine. Its stable, and with an epoxy treatment will hold paint very well with a fine finish.

Have you tried turning MDF? I think it would be messy, but it seems it would turn ok. I have a lathe but I need a rest, and need to learn how to use it or I would just try it.

Curious in Michigan

The other Larry
 
:thumb::thumb::thumb:

Pretty cool Vaughn! That burl sure turned out nice..

OSB actually does have some interesting grain patterns...
 
Thanks for the comments, all. I'm kinda with Frank on this one. It's sort of cool, but I wouldn't want to see a shelf full of them. Not really planning to do any more of these. For me, this was mostly one of those "Hmm...I wonder if I can turn this?" things, like when I carved my Halloween pumpkin on the lathe.

Jim, it didn't eat my tools as badly as I thought it might. It was fairly crumbly, not too dusty at all, and roughed out in a flash, but I could also get a decent shearing cut if I made sure I was traveling the the right direction. Total turning time was less than 10 minutes, with another 5 or so spent sanding from 80 to 400 grit.

Larry, MDF can be turned, but it's real dusty. I know Stu has turned some for vacuum chucks. Hopefully he can add some specific suggestions.

Barry, this is burl. There is no end grain, silly. :p
 
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