Author Topic: Whats the newby been up to - Oak and Birch platter  (Read 1494 times)

Offline Tero Uotila

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Whats the newby been up to - Oak and Birch platter
« on: September 07, 2019, 02:00:04 PM »
This is what I've been up to lately. A 35cm(14") platter with oak and birch.
I like it as such, but the birch in the middle is unfortunately blackened and ugly.
This is the maximum size I can fit in my lathe, wanted to try a big platter and wanted it to have some carricter, so I glued together leftover strips of oak and birch.
Tell me what you think!

Offline bodrighywood

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Re: Whats the newby been up to - Oak and Birch platter
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2019, 04:45:18 PM »
Be curious to see how it ends up. Even if dry the woods are so different that you could end up with an interesting sheped bowl or a slit one.
Apart from that it looks fine to me.

Pete
Turners don't make mistakes, they have design opportunities

Offline Les Symonds

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Re: Whats the newby been up to - Oak and Birch platter
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2019, 05:16:00 PM »
There's an attractive contrast between those two timbers, but as Pete says, they might well move against each other.....the oak is quite hard compared to the softness of the birch.. So fingers crossed that they spoil things for you.

Les
Education is important, but wood turning is importanter.

Offline Tero Uotila

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Re: Whats the newby been up to - Oak and Birch platter
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2019, 05:25:37 PM »
I'm hoping it'll turn out good. I've done some pieces like this and after few months at the house they've stayed in shape. This one is so big tough that I'm not so sure.
I just like the contrast between these types of wood, i don't really know anything about mixing woods, I just do and find out. After all, I'm a beginner and noone taught me so I just do what seems fine and learn as I go :)

Offline The Bowler Hatted Turner

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Re: Whats the newby been up to - Oak and Birch platter
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2019, 10:47:29 PM »
Tero what Pete and Les were on about is called differential shrinkage, it is where one material shrinks at a different rate to another, in your case two different timbers each having a different rate of shrinkage. This works the other way as well, as timber sucks up the moisture from its surrounds different timbers will suck up differing amounts, this expansion and contraction can cause a glue joint to fail or the wood on either side to fail. But you may be lucky.
I would say that although I quite like your platter and looks to be well made considering the lenght of time you have been turning it appears that one of your glue joints is not so good as the others. Apologies if that is not the case.