Hi John

I just did the same thing, I had a piece of cherry, cut from the side
of a log, it was the base of a larger branch, had been sitting in the
shop for at least a year, and started to show signs of splitting, so it
was either use it or chuck it :)) (pun intended), but the shape made
it so that band sawing was not an option, so after measuring I drilled
it for the wood worm screw and put it on my lathe.
After having it swinging around and trying to cut the dry end grain, I
thought sawing a lot of the one sided lump off was a good idea, locked
the lathe and cut most of the lump off, sure made a lot of difference,
I just finished turning it, leaving the bark on partially on the bottom
side and having a nice oval top made for a real beauty IMO.
Of course as always you got to be careful and know what you're doing,
when working with power tools and things that cut.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

JD wrote:
With out of round pieces I always start the lathe at zero and speed up
to the point where the lathe vibrates too much then turn it down till
it is possible to place the tool on the rest and hold it still.
And sometimes I mount the wood, lock it and carve off bits with a
chainsaw before ever starting the lathe. I guess that is not turning in
the strictest sense of the word....
JD

wrote:
Hi Dan

Come to think of it, I always seem to START at 0 rpm, it just ramps up
fast after that. GG :))

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Dan Bollinger wrote:
The electronic speed control allows the turner to start at
zero RPM...

JD, I gotta stop by your shop someday and see you turning at zero rpm. Isn't
that called 'carving?' LOL!

Dan