Buffing Wheel Disaster!

 





When you have spent all your precious time on, and poured all your creative juices into a piece, don’t take your eye off the The Beall Buffing Systemball at the last stage and suffer a disaster like this.   This lovely little Copper Beech bowl had swallowed much time with burl problems and metal inlays (copper) to add feature and fill holes! It never ceases to amaze me how much time smaller turnings can demand.  Furthermore, I had already dedicated this piece (and signed it!) to my surgeon who is currently giving me treatments for Arthritis.  Mr Koch, please accept my apologies and eternal thanks!

 

Bottom of Copper Beech Broken Bowl

Bottom of Copper Beech Broken Bowl

Anyway back to that ball, and not taking your eye off it… it was, in fact, a ball that took my eye off the ball as I had tennis (Wimbledon! Go Andy Murray!) playing in the workshop.  In a split second of distraction, the edge of the bowl caught on the wheel and it was instantly ripped from my hands and bounced around the lathe.  The trauma ripped a chunk out of the very thin outer edge.  Now before you say “You could fix that!”, take a look at the last photo.  The sides of the bowl have multiple dents that I can’t remove.  They are too deep and I don’t have enough wall thickness to re-turn them.

Lesson learnt.  I’ll move on, but I’m mighty peeved!

 

Dents in Sides of Copper Beech Bowl

Dents in Sides of Copper Beech Bowl

 

 

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