Rotten end grain bowl

[Eric Harvey]

started a new project with a really rotten wormy bit of stuff that`s had been in a ditch for ten years according to the friend that provided it for me,its end grain and really soft,have to keep touching up my toll on the grinder,I think the wood is Ash but so rotten hard to tell,the outside which is going to be the bowl is half wormy half rotten,got the outside turned and spigot on ready for mounting to turn out the inside,one thing to note,it is surprisingly hard in places which makes it quiteawkward to get a nice surface,eneded up doing extremely fine cuts till it was round with no waves,so got it mounted to turn the inside and things were going really well,until I hit an extremely soft patch,I`m sure you can guess what happened,big dig in on the soft side,tool through the side of the bowl,then bowl chucked into back of workshop (lucky me),was wearing full facemask so bits that flew in my direction got deflected by the mask,moral here is Always Always Always wear your mask as you never know when things are going to get wild,I will try to rescue what`s left and post  in the gallery later,cheers,

Eric.

[Bryan Milham]

Eric,

We read about these things happening to people we don't know.

You're story brings it to a personal level, thank you for this and I hope proper notice is taken.

[John D Smith]

  
   Eric,
           I am glad you are ok and this proves wear protection at all times also I would like to add Don't turn such Crap pieces of wood some may say this is a challenge but there is plenty of good wood around so use that. I now wait for the flack to fly.

                                                 Regards John

                                                        

[Les Symonds]

 
  .....Don't turn such Crap pieces of wood some may say this is a challenge but there is plenty of good wood around so use that......                                                        

I think that's a bit too subjective as statements go, John. Wood that you've labelled 'Crap' often has the most interesting features, especially if the customer wants a natural, organic look to what he or she is buying. It's up to us as woodturners to develop and use safe means of turning such wood. There's no shortage of tried and tested methods known to us!

Les

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Perhaps a wood stabilisation treatment before turning would be a better way to go and probably a safer way too. Of course you will then have to take extra precautions regarding fumes and dust but you do that anyway. Glad you are OK Eric.

[fuzzyturns]

I've had quite a few pieces explode on me (mostly through my own fault) and, similar to Eric, my protection gear prevented any harm. I do believe, though, that it's each turner's individual responsibility to assess whether or not a particular piece of wood is safe to turn and at what speed. Decaying wood certainly has a tendency to show more character, but there's a line beyond which it's just not a good idea.

[Eric Harvey]

forgot to mention,the bits that came off were the consistency of wet mud