More Red Eucalyptus Stuff

Vaughn McMillan

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I finally took some time tonight and set up my photo rig, so I thought I'd show a few pieces that I've finished lately. These are all made of ironbark red eucalyptus, finished with wipe-on poly, then buffed.

First, a little vase that's about 4" tall and 2 1/2" wide. Nothing real fancy going on in the wood grain...the pith is centered in the bottom, and it was a small diameter branch, so the sides are a combination of sapwood and heartwood. In hindsight I would have changed the proportions a bit, but it is what it is.

Red Eucalyptus 7a C 640.jpg Red Eucalyptus 7b C 640.jpg

Next, a goofy-shaped little pot, about 4" high by 4" wide. I'm not real happy with the form, but it's a pretty piece of wood with some curl here and there.

Red Eucalyptus 4b C 640.jpg Red Eucalyptus 4c C 640.jpg

And lastly, here is a little 2" by 4 1/2" bowl. The foot's a little wide, but it has a lot going on in the wood, so I figured I'd take advantage of the 10-pic limit and show a lot of different views of this one.

Red Eucalyptus 5a C 640.jpg Red Eucalyptus 5b C 640.jpg

Red Eucalyptus 5c C 640.jpg Red Eucalyptus 5d C 640.jpg

Red Eucalyptus 5e C 640.jpg Red Eucalyptus 5f C 640.jpg

This red eucalyptus is spoiling me. I've gotten accustomed to the wild grain patterns. Tonight I turned a bowl out of some dried cherry I picked up this weekend, and although it's a nice enough piece of wood, the cherry was boring compared to the red eucalyptus.

Thanks for looking...comments and critiques are welcome.
 
Gee that sure is nice wood, I too like the first and third ones, the second one is nice wood, but you are right the form is a bit off.

Thanks for sharing! :thumb:
 
That is some awesome wood. Where did you get it? What speed do you turn it? Very nice...and the "goofy little pot" is cool too! The darker spot and the curves give it some character.
 
That is some awesome wood. Where did you get it? What speed do you turn it? ...
The wood was a freebie broken branch at my office a few months ago. Actually, it wasn't quite free, because I used it as an excuse to buy a chainsaw. Speed-wise, it depends on the diameter of the piece -- RPM doesn't mean as much as surface speed -- but since I'm still running with training wheels on, I'm usually somewhere in the 800 to 1200 RPM range. After reading some comments here and elsewhere, I'm going to try speeding things up a bit, but I lean more towards the slower speeds right now. (Too young to die just yet.) :D

Thanks for the compliments, BTW. I'm still learning, for sure, but it's a fun education.
 
The bowl is my favorite of the three. I really like the grain patterns of the wood. I've never seen Eucalyptyus around here. Is that some sort of coniferous?
 
Looks like the set up is working well Vaughn. I love those vases. My first bowl will be one of them little ones like that... when I get around to it! Nice job.

Corey
 
The bowl is my favorite of the three. I really like the grain patterns of the wood. I've never seen Eucalyptyus around here. Is that some sort of coniferous?
It's a coniferous with leaves, and it's used quite a bit around here for landscaping and windbreaks. Here's more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus

In addition to the ironbark red stuff that I got at the office, I've turned one bowl out of another, lighter species (haven't tied to look up the specifics) that I got from a neighbor. It wasn't nearly as interesting-looking as the red stuff. I've been keeping my eyes open for more of it. ;)

Thanks for the compliments and comments, all.
 
vaughn, a few strategically placed 20p pole barn nails would assure you of the remainder of the tree from work;)
 
When it comes to turned pieces I don't mind if all hell breaks loose in the grain patterns. Love that wild grain stuff. Nice pieces Vaughn
 
Hey Vaughn those are some mighty fine looking pieces. You did a great job. Looks like the C-man is working for ya.
Thanks for the kind words Bernie (and everyone else). Yeppers, the C-Man is doing pretty good for me, especially considering what I paid for it (about what a new Jet mini would cost, IIRC).

Someday I hope to have mustard or mayo or gray (Stubby? DRV? Vicmark?), but before I can even think of upgrading the lathe, I need to get some other shop issues worked out, like getting more than one 20 amp circuit to power the whole shop. And in order to do that I need to get the service on the entire house upgraded. Last estimate I got for that was over $4K, although now that the housing boom has slowed down a little bit out here, the electricians might be priced a bit more reasonably.
 
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