hi, alan stratton from as wood turns (www.aswoodturns.com)in our new house here, we have yard full of rose bushes. they are overgrown; they are too big; toomany of them. at least in my opinion. i’m not a rose lover. here’s the root from one of those bushes,past tense. i think there might be something hidden insidethis wood that i need to turn it away and find out what is inside. so, let’s have at it.
the first order of business is to trim offthe excess stray roots from the main root with the bandsaw. slow and careful is the name of the game. now for mounting the root to a waste block. i’m using hot melt glue. i’m worried about securely holding the wood. to provide a degree of support, i’m usinga faceplate threaded to my live center to provide some pressure. then start to carefully cut away the excess.
but, that was not enough, the wood decidedto dismount. maybe i did not get the waste block smoothenough. so. here we go again. i’ve trimmed back the waste block. i’m using hot melt glue again with evenmore glue around the base. then back to work with a small gouge. so far so good, i need to tool the top ofthe vase so i’m removing the tail stock support.
then continue with a small gouge. i’m actually close to getting down to solidwood. but then i took just a little heavier cutand off goes the root for another excursion. what a pain! it seems like the not melt just peeled offthe waste block. hmm. maybe i need more than hot melt for this project. i’m going for ca glue. my medium glue should be perfect.
it’s a bit old - it’s as stiff as thickca glue. let’s get back to work with a small gouge. but of course, it’s just a little off theoriginal axis so i’m losing wood. i don’t have any wood to spare. things are going well, so i’m going to drilla depth hole in the center. then enlarge the opening just a little bitwhen, oh no, a catch and the wood takes another excursion away from the lathe. it seems like it has just pulled off the wasteblock. i’ll put it right back where it came fromwith the medium ca glue.
back to work. whoops, maybe i rushed it too fast. the root leaves again. this is extremely frustrating. let’s try it again but allow more time forthe glue to harden. back to work but again, i’ve lost more woodto the remount. with the exterior done, i’m moving backto hollowing. my new hollowing tool is perfect. but the root again leaves the lathe.
is this root destined to be firewood? or what? after some discussion with my wife, i decidedto make yet one more attempt to salvage something from this little root. this is it, i will finish this vase or itwill be firewood. i’m reversing the vase into the shark jawsand turning a small tenon on its base. then turn down the waste block to allow accessto the base and fit a mortise to the tenon now on the vase. then glue the tenon into the mortise withyellow glue.
most importantly, leave it overnight to harden. ok, yet more wood lost on the outside, i’mretooling the exterior to see what i have left before going back to hollowing the vase. hurray the tenon is holding. a vase is emerging from the rose root. i’m about to stop and start sanding theinterior when i realize that a couple of voids have merged and a section of the vase wallis acting like it is on a hinge. after a couple of attempts to sand, i realizei cannot safely sand the interior. i’ll leave the inside rough.
finally, i’m parting off the vase just abovethe tenon. i don’t dare hold the revolving vase withall the voids and edges. i was going to stop and not cut all the waybut it gave way with about 1/8†left. i tried to catch it but lost it. fortunately, no damage – this is one toughroot. i’m done, that’s it, – no more exceptto sand the base and sign it and apply walnut oil. i guess i can sign it. only people who watch this video will knowhow many times the wood took off on its own
for a short break. this is one of “those†projects wherenothing seemed to work. have you ever had one of those projects onone of those days? we’ll see you again next week with anotherwoodturning video. i trust it will be a better day and betterbehaving project. if you can find it in your heart, please givethis video a thumbs up. then subscribe and tell your friends. always wear your full face shield – youdid just see this project. then keep on turning – no matter what happens.
until next week, this is alan stratton fromas wood turns dot com.