Woodborg wrote:
Upto now i have been turning bowls from large diameter logs, cut either
side of middle to remove heart wood, rough shaped then dipped in the
LDD. My question is for the smaller branches of less than 8" in
diameter. How do you use these, because if you remove the heartwood
their wood be nothing left. I would guess these would be spindle
turned, but do you have to have them completly dried to stop the
different drying rate from middle to out side?
I'm asking this as my dad has a willow tree thats a bit tall and needs
reducing by 50 percent and i would like to make something out of the
small logs because it brings back memories as a small child climbing up
this tree

I use a lot of material that size, for both spindle and bowl turning.
Mostly I will cut it up and dry it first, though I am not familiar with
drying any of the willows. But you could probably turn some nice little
snack bowls from green wood. I like hemispherical snack bowls for eating
peanuts etc while I watch TV. Something that fits nicely in the hand.

Really small stuff you could try twig pots (a weedpot with most of the
bark intact, just the base and the neck ares turned), or mushrooms.

I have a feeling that willow is quite a bland looking wood, so it may be
a good candidate for embellishments like coloring, pyrography, carving,
piercing... Get creative!


--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
http://chipshop.blogspot.com - a blog for my customers
http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/TheToolrest/ - a blog for woodturners