Ash vessel

[Percy]

Currently using a vast pile of green ash logs (from a large tree that we've just felled) for some experimenting with carving and letting things warp as they dry. I'm pretty happy with some of the results - the one in the picture is about 10" diameter. I find if I can get the walls thin enough, then there is no cracking as the pieces dry - it just bends and distorts to make some nice shapes. I've microwaved a few of these vessels to speed the drying up, and it works fine (as long is my wife doesn't catch me)!

[Duncan A]

Wow, that's lovely, and i would never have guessed it was from green wood.
How did you carve the flutes? They look scarily thin to me!
Duncan

[Percy]

The flutes were carved freehand with a gouge before hollowing. The trick I found is to get the depth of the flutes all more or less the same, so you don't blow a hole in the side if you hit a flute that's too deep when hollowing. I found hollowing in a dimly lit workshop with a bright light pointing inside the vessel helped loads when trying to even out the thin/thick spots for the final few cuts.

[Bryan Milham]

I tip my hat to you Sir. Excellent work.

[Les Symonds]

A great little pot...did you get much bother with the ash discolouring (reddening) as it oxidised?
Les

[Percy]

Thanks all. Les - there was a little discolouration over night whilst I was working on it, but once it was finished I think drying it out in the microwave helped to minimise it happening at all. The finished pot has no finish, and has only been sanded inside a little, and the outside is as it came off the gouge, so I would expect it to darken in colour a little. However, the other thin walled pots I've made with the same tree all seem to have kept their colour, so maybe thin walls and forced drying is a method for reducing any reddening?!