More scraps

[bodrighywood]

I make a lot of goblets and when, as happens, the stem snaps or the foot shatters I save the top section and have a box of them. The bowl part is hazel, he stem of the goblet is an offcut of oak that has been ebonised with lemon juice, the foot is a scrap of hawthorn from another box. It is 18" (460mm) tall and the goblet and foot are approx 2 3/4" (75mm) diameter, the stem is 4mm diameter.
Comments critique etc welcome as always.

Pete

[Bryan Milham]

Pete,

I'll give you a comment - 'WOW'.

And a question, how (how) do you turn a spindle that long so straight?

[bodrighywood]

Thank you dr4g0nfly. I turn them with a skew, carefully LOL. If you work from the tail end a bit at a time you can do it fairly easily if the wood is dry. (green wood bends like crazy) Keep the speed down below 1000 or it whips and leave the tail stock in place but only to hold it in position, no pressure. If you need to go thinner or longer then the easiest way is to feed it it through the chuck bit by bit but as this was very thin to start with I had to do it between centres. As long as you go careful and gently it isn't as hard as it looks.

Pete

[Les Symonds]

Hi Pete....a question for you, if you don't mind parting with the occasional trade secret! What's the process for ebonising oak with lemon juice? I fancy having a go at some sycamore bowls with ebonised rims and had been thinking of using a spirit stain, but the finish on your goblet, especially the depth of colour in the stem, looks to be just the thing!

Les

[bodrighywood]

Soak some wire wool in lemon juice for a couple of days then paint the liquid on the oak. The ferric acid (or whatever it is called) reacts with the tannin in the oak. Whether it will work with sycamore or not I couldn't ay, worth a try.

Pete

[Les Symonds]

Thanks, Pete...it don't want to stain the sycamore, just the oak so that it gives a high contrast to the sycamore. I'm going away for a few weeks at the end of this week, so doubt that I'll have much time for turning in the next few days and this idea will have to wait until I return, but can't wait to have a go.

Cheers...Les