Back again

I have not been posting anything for quite a while and decided to add some of my latest pieces I am working on. I also updated my portfolio with some of my work I have done in 2013, so have a look if you are interested. As quite often happens, we had a big thunderstorm at the beginning of summer in Pretoria and the strong wind uprooted a 'Bergkaree' (Mountain Karee) tree at the place at the place where I work. I took the opportunity to start on a fairly large piece coming from a place where the trunk was already quite rotten. The idea is to see if I can get some special effects from the rotten wood. At the same time I am testing the capacity of my Stubby lathe.

The biggest test for me was however getting the piece of wood single handed mounted on the lathe without a hoist. Adding a hoist to my workshop will have to be one of my next projects. Unfortunately I did not weigh the blank before starting to work on it but I guess it must have been over 30kg, maybe closer to 40kg. It was turned and hollowed and still weighed 7,5kg, measuring 44cm diameter by 26 cm high.

The rotten areas can be seen but I will leave it now to dry before creating some special effects on these areas. For interest sake a photo after completion of the turnning to see all the shavings