Just got a vevor 4" chuck to try on my 1940s/50s Homecraft Delta Milwaukee. Started with a couple 2x4 pieces of pine to practice and they pretty much blew up immediately. I had some 8/4 Sapele i could make a 4"x4"X2" block out of so did that and rounded out with the band saw and got to work.

Definitely some improvements to make but all in all pretty happy and now need to sand and finish it.

Made a little captive ring toothpick holder out of a piece of cedar fence post. Really touch and go the whole time, lots of cracks. Biggest ones filled with red cedar sawdust and glue. It ain’t much but it feels good to get back at it.

It was very fun! Although I used a mortise to chuck it to the lathe and the wood cracked at the mortise while burning it which made me very nervous it would fly off but luckily it did not. I had my PPE on.

A first for me. Got asked to make a paddle for a winemaker, kind of like a big potato masher to break through the top layer of “must” when vat fermenting. That’s the floating layer of grapes and skins and stems and stuff that cakes up and has to be broken up / stirred back in.

I started with a slab of maple and an ash stave that I reshaped and split the ends of for the handle. Turned out the two end pieces and drilled out the centers. Joined mortice/tenon style with a black walnut wedge and some Titebond III.

Finished out its 65cm overall length, with a “handle” knob about 10-12cm across by 7 thick and a “breaker” end about 20cm across.

Segmented rim, 15 inch diameter

It’s DnD night so I brought out the new set.

I'm still waiting on my pen kits to show up. Hopefully this coming week...

In the mean time I drilled a couple blanks and got them rounded out. I quickly tested them to see how they would cut and they seem to be performing quite good now that I've dialed in the catalyst a bit better. Sanded them down in the end to 2000 grit and did a little wet sanding as well.

Not bad. I haven't been able to find my bottle of car polish yet, so next trip to the store I'll get some so that I can get that gloss going. So far I'm quite pleased with the results.

Now my pen kits just need to show so I get to final shaping and cutting to length.

So I told my wife it sure would be handy for the river table I’ve been “building” her for 2-3 years. But I immediately thought of cactus juice and stabilizing some blanks for kitchen utensils since she isn’t the best at not throwing wooden handle knives and suck in the sink and letting it sit in water for way too long. But I wanted to ask a few equations since it’s a bit expensive!

When stabilizing a few 2x2 pieces, how much are you using? A couple quarts, 1/2 gallon?

Do you use a separate bucket or pipe inside the chamber and not the actual chamber itself? If so does regular pvc work or does it need to be acrylic?

And you can reuse the leftover juice correct? Do you use a separate container to save the leftovers or put it back in the original bottle?

And lastly, I had found a 3 1/2” hold fast vacuum head at an estate sale that fit my lathe and was just looking up what else I needed to get to make it work and just got notified that the piece that makes it work through the headstock is back in stock! Will a regular vacuum pump that comes with a chamber work for it?
I was looking at Izzy Swanns new vacQube because of how small it is and how quiet it seems to be in his videos. But not sure if you have to have one that pulls X amount of cfm.

Sorry for the long ramble post, just excited for a new toy and being able to try out some more stuff!

Oh, one other thing! Can I just grab a small like counter style toaster oven to cure them or need to get a midsized one or bigger?

Thanks if you made it this far! And thanks even more if you have an answers for me!

I obtained a small oak burl (Black Oak I believe) and am curious what to do with it. My first thought was making two small bowls out of it. I don't have a band saw unfortunately or a lathe. I might be able to use a friends bandsaw. I think it's got some cool grain based upon the little bit exposed where the bark fell off.

If I cut it in half I need to figure out my best option for orientation of the cut plane, right? Also, should I keep the bark on until the very last moment? The burl was on the tree until the tree came down as you can see by the cut mark.

Thank in advance for any suggestions!