Playing with a free burl:)

[scottp55]

Thanks Brian...Will do.
Funny...I was thinking about you twice in the last day
First when I realized on that small burl, that the bug dust was so tightly packed...I should NOT have brushed it off...maybe burning to a golden marshmallow color fading to black with my mini-Blazer torch, and THEN brushing it off might have looked cool!

THEN trying to think how to leave the option of seeing both sides of the burl...and how you would do it without screws or glue...I thought of a slab side rolling cart that would be strong enough independently to rest the burl on top. Got a 8/4 eight foot length of one side live edge Quilted that tapers pretty much the same size as the smaller bark side of the burl. Thinking 2 slab shelves with housed through tenons and wedged into the sides would be strong enough to prevent racking(Maybe).
Need to grab that slab(all the way in the BACK), and take some measurements.
It would be by my back atrium doors where I critter-watch at least couple hours a day...so it would get a lot of use.
26" is a very good height for for binocs and camera with the wheelchair, and bottom shelf would be loaded with heavy coffee table books for ballast

Between the casters and the burl height...I can make it on the Desktop!!!!

[scottp55]

Gotta go trim the carrier board and then cut it off, if I want to work on the base today.
More later on old CA failure/cedar end grain testing/ and why I left the .375" depth as a finish cut.
Just a few pics for now straight off the machine yesterday.
VERY much a learning experience
Time to warm the spindle up and jig this
scott

[Bobtail Farms]

Scott,
Presume you are referring to me. It could have been yellow birch. When I come across burls, I seldom am concerned with species. However, I can be more selective when bringing them to you. Camille likes what you've done with them. As to the one burl being too low for the Grand Canyon, I can certainly provide you with some thicker should you want. Are those carved whales in the photo? Were they made using those Chinese TBNs you recommended to me (and which I find work well at a good price)? I've located a couple of models on Thingiverse, but although realistic have too much undercutting IMHO to come out well when machined on a 3-axis machine. I do especially like the ones in your photo.

agreeing with other commenters: certainly look forward to seeing what's next.
regards,
Brian.

[Jerry Carney]

Scott, what was the toolpath time for this carve?

[scottp55]

Hey Brian,
No...I bought the hand-carved whales here in Maine somewhere from a Dry-Ki carver.
You bring me some more burl, and Camille can have her pick of what she likes in the FUTURE....THESE are MINE!!
Thickness was fine with a bare minimum of work with a 2" timber framing chisel....haven't even got into sawing/hatchets/12" drawshave yet

Jerry,
The pocket toolpaths for me skimming were roughly 4:00
The 360 circular arrayed line segment cuts with the Fluting toolpath could be tweaked more as my alternating Start Points got mucked up somewhere in all the variations I tried, and there was a little more air time than perfect. On my test cut in Cedar end-grain I was happy with 1.5,1.5 IPS IF the wood were oiled first!
But, on my first test cut .2" depth on the Birch I used 1,1 IPS, and at 80% completed I manually increased X,Y Feed to 1.5IPS and I got a noticeably rougher cut with more end grain tearout......so at 1,1 IPS the 360 Flutings took 1:16
I found best surface was by Z-Zeroing as normal, then MN'ing Z up .02"...cutting/oiling/ and then MN'ing down .02" to original Z and simply RR'ing.
Sanded it a tad yesterday with 600G...but will hand sand with 400G oil, and then 600G to get rid of any .5"BN marks and bring it to mirror smooth so the "Fire" is maxxed.

Got all the bark off using my smallest deadblow and a wedge shaped piece of Ebony scrap left from making wedges for furniture joinery.
Still some scraping/sanding/burnishing to do on edge....put a coat of my 3D Illuminator/Earthpaint polymerized Linseed/D-Limonene mix on it...and see what it looks like before maybe attempting a VERY light torching to accentuate the worm paths.

I skimmed the bottom .2" to get rid of all the glue squeeze out....and it was still "Plain Vanilla"....decided to skim down .02" at a time(best finish for me)looking for at least an interesting grain pattern(even if no "Flame")...I was just about to quit at .3" of skimming when I decided to go one more....saw a VERY slight figure....and .04" later I stopped where you see in the pic
Maybe help me figure out the "Flame" pattern in any future cuts
scott

[scottp55]

Oh....My oiled end grain 4X8" 20 yr old Eastern White Cedar(YES, I KNOW it's Juniper family) test cut for surfacing, and then the bowl shape toolpath for my .5" Ballnose(center), and a Centurion .5" FEM downcut(LH).

Both cut very decently IF it was cutting an oiled section.
My first dry cuts reminded me of a dry shave with a DULL razor!!
BUT a Fluting toolpath is TOTALLY a 2.5D cut, and on an irregular shape it will leave different shapes depending on the cutter size and profile.
I liked the Ballnose shapes the best(and easiest to sand.
scott

[Bobtail Farms]

Scott:
!
Brian.

[khaos]

I can only imagine just how stunning that is in person!! Perhaps you can make an open coffee table or such with a bottom shelf that is a mirror. Then you would see both sides.

[scottp55]

Thanks Joe
Coffee tables and wheelchairs are generally not good together...besides, it's only about 23" long.
Making a slab side rolling stand with 2 shelves and the slabs will be topped with either leather or cork. That way I can flip the burl as the mood hits me
Ball casters just came in today, so I can start planning the cuts better, as I don't want any screws or glue in this one.
None of my Quilted live edge is exactly the right size, and hate to rip off an edge on 16-18" live edge slab.
Still planning
scott

[khaos]

Sounds great. Keep us informed.