What shàll this turn into.....

[tombear]

Ok, bit of a weird one here, but only mildly in this parish.

I had a need for more damp sawdust then I'd generated making something in order to bury it in it to hopefully slow down the drying process so it won't crack so I needed to make some. The easiest way was on the lathe with a long thin bit of the sycamore log I bodged the splitting of. The gouges were waiting to be sharpened anyway so I bashed on.

So now I have a rather smooth 22 inch long , 2 inches in diameter rod of green sycamore and no idea what to do with it.

Any suggestions that won't require a trip to A and E afterwards?

ATB

Tom

 

[Rabid]

I would turn it into sawdust.

 

[crosslandkelly]

A priest, hobo reel, pencil case?
Tool sheath?

 

[Robson Valley]

Heavens, NO! Pastry rolling pin. Very expensive.
Having never learned to toss a pizza crust, my biggest pin is 13" x 3.75"
My pizza sheet pans are 15" and I like a rolled and filled edge to the crusts as well.
Also, I make apple pies 6 at a time, a long pin would sure be a big help.

 

[Blundstoned Love]

Green Sycamore? Whatever you make won't it just split?

 

[tombear]

Oh it probably will, I'll try and slow down the drying out down as much as I can but its worth a punt and I need the practice turning.

I like the idea of a long rolling pin, say 20 inch with a taper from the centre out and a hanging point/ knob at one end.

Atb

To

 

[Harvestman]

Don't make a rolling pin if you are married and have a habit of rolling in late from the pub. Wives find them awfully useful under such circumstances, or so I'm told.

 

[Robson Valley]

Very slow drying is the order of the day. Wax or paint the ends. In a bag with damp shavings and monitor for mold.
No sanding until dry. "Dry:" outdoors, under cover, carving woods dry about 1" thickness per year. So, 2" thick
should take a year, just to be on the safe side. The Equilibrium Moisture Content should be 12-14% by then.
Then do the sanding and finishing. The other way to do this is to weigh the blank and keep track.
When it has dried to the point of showing a constant weight, you're done.

Among other things, the wood shop down my street makes canes and hiking sticks, usually 50 at a time.
They assume 12" loss at each end of the sticks.
My oldest western red cedar shake blocks (20? yrs) all show 4" badly cracked ends for 16" good wood in the middles.

 

[Robson Valley]

The best thing about my big pin was the day that the handle shaft rod broke.
I'm in the habit of rolling the pin with my hands and the handle parts were just a nuisance.
Now, I can stand it up in a corner.

 

[Goatboy]

You saw the hanging Victorian rolling pin I posted up a few months ago? Very good, doesn't take up drawer space and excellent for home defence.
Though lopsided very nice to use. Will repost a picture tomorrow if you didn't.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[tombear]

Yup it was the hanging pin you made I was thinking of, but the length of some Italian pastry rollers I saw on the net. At twenty inches I don't think there's a drawer in the kitchen tag could take it!

The three ladles I've soaked in walnut oil and buried in their damp shavings. Now not to even look at em for a month or so . If they split, well they split but I was fortunate with the green beech bits I made,

atb

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

I have hanging shelves for large pots with an 8" space left above the refrigerator top. Along with a couple of 40-50 yr old woks, my rolling pin sleeps there.
Measured, my kitchen drawers are 21" inside, front-to-back. If I had to put the pin in a drawer, 18" length would be most useful for my pastry needs.
If I needed to hang it up, I'm not sure where that place would or could be.

 

[tombear]

I decided to finish it as a pure practice piece and try to get a length of seasoned beech or sycamore and do a proper one at a later date. Lets face it its highly likely to warp and or turn into splinters so I thought to use it to work on my turning. I think I've got the tapers good enough for a user. Anyway here it is.

I rubbed a bit of walnut oil on it and it has a lovely silky feel to it.

cheers!

Tom

 

[TallTom]

Looks good, let's hope it doesn't split.

 

[tombear]

Cheers! It's standing in a not long enough spegetti jar with walnut oil in it and I'm turning it every few hours so the ends are soaking it up. It may do no good but it's worth trying..

Carved a rather fragile and too small bowled ladle from sycamore, when the hook snaps off ill call it a spoon...

Pencil sharpener for scale.

its bunged in the walnut oil at the mo and the walls are quite thin so may deform ather than crack.

atb

tom