# black locust bowl (thanks D Paine)



## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

About a year ago, Dave Paine sent me a block of black locust. I rough turned it while it was still nice and wet, then set it aside in a paper bag to dry out.

It was ready to finish turn several months ago, but I only got around to it in May. What had started out as "a bit on the hard side" dried into something "a bit on the granite side" -- plus it had a nasty way of tearing off long splinters as the end grain turned around. I tried several different tools, all freshly sharpened: shear scraping, pull cutting, carbide tools, the lot ... sprayed with shellac, oiled it ... nothing seemed to fix it, so I ended up treating it with a lot of 60 grit.

I found it interesting that the inside gave me much less hassle -- or maybe I'd finally figured out how to deal with it.

Anyway ... I gave it several coats of Watco Danish Oil (till it built up a film) and let it cure for a week. Today I buffed it with tripoli / white diamond / carnauba wax.

Thanks for the opportunity to turn this piece, Dave -- it wasn't easy, but I enjoyed the challenge and have learned some new techniques.


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Way to persevere. Looks great. One of my first turning instructors would joke "if you can't turn it, sand it into submission" :laughing:


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

dude thats gorgous !!!


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

sawdustfactory said:


> Way to persevere. Looks great. One of my first turning instructors would joke "if you can't turn it, sand it into submission" :laughing:


Thanks! I like the way he thinks :yes:


robert421960 said:


> dude thats gorgous !!!


Thanks!


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## Drac (Mar 26, 2014)

That looks awesome. Never seen the inside of black locust. There were a lot of them up in KCMO and I remember the thorns very well though.

Jim


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## cuerodoc (Jan 27, 2012)

Nicely done! :thumbsup:
Great reward for perseverance.
Really like that grain.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

I am happy to see you completed the bowl. Looks gorgeous. Thanks for the update. :thumbsup:

You have re-inspired me to work on the log section I started.

The members of my wood turning club were almost unanimous that black locust is not worth turning. I think it must be due to the effort. It cannot be due to the final result.

I see you managed to keep the pith and not have it crack. Very well done.


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## ken45 (Dec 12, 2013)

Drac said:


> That looks awesome. Never seen the inside of black locust. There were a lot of them up in KCMO and I remember the thorns very well though.
> 
> Jim


If you remember the thorns, it might have been honey locust, which has 2 to 5" thorns, sometimes bigger. Black locust only has 
Small thorns, usually a quarter inch. They are totally different species.

To the OP, very nice work!


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## DaveTTC (May 25, 2012)

Nice work. Not sure if I will ever have such timber dwon her in Oz but love that you persevered.

Dave The Turning Cowboy


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## scjohnson243 (Apr 30, 2014)

Wow, new guy here, but I *LOVE* that wood! Beautiful


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Dave Paine said:


> I am happy to see you completed the bowl. Looks gorgeous. Thanks for the update. :thumbsup:
> 
> You have re-inspired me to work on the log section I started.
> 
> ...


Thanks Dave :smile:

I know that I took a chance getting as close to the centre as I did (though I think it's a couple of rings out from the actual pith). Just a couple of hairline cracks, they held together fine with a dribble of thin CA -- something visible in one photo.

Thanks once again for the piece of wood -- if I'd collected it locally I might well have given up before completing the piece, but because you'd gifted it to me I felt a higher level of obligation to keep trying.


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