# Maple Jar



## Gary Max (Feb 1, 2009)

It did not start off to be a jar but that's how she turned out.
I hooked a knot in the inside near the base and jumped the tool---if that makes any sense. Busted the top 4 inchs off the vase and now she's a jar.
Jars have lids.---20 inchs tall with the lid on---the only finish is just oil.
It needs to rest for a couple of days and air dry.
This one has been a fight from the get go and I am glad it's done.


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## Rcd567 (Feb 2, 2009)

Very nice.  And good recover.  

I had a cedar bowl explode on me.  I thought about gathering the pieces, setting it out in the driveway and running my truck back and forth several times over it to make me feel better.  Instead I simply threw the scraps in the wood burning stove.


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## Gary Max (Feb 2, 2009)

Trust me that thought ran through my mind also. I just had so many hours of work invested I had to try for some kind of save.


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## melogic (Feb 2, 2009)

Good save Gary! I like it.


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## TellicoTurning (Feb 2, 2009)

Gary Max said:


> It did not start off to be a jar but that's how she turned out.
> I hooked a knot in the inside near the base and jumped the tool---if that makes any sense. Busted the top 4 inchs off the vase and now she's a jar.
> Jars have lids.---20 inchs tall with the lid on---the only finish is just oil.
> It needs to rest for a couple of days and air dry.
> This one has been a fight from the get go and I am glad it's done.



Gary 
Wood knows what it wants to be... this one didn't want to be a vase.  It evidently likes being a jar.. very pretty piece.


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## great12b4ever (Feb 2, 2009)

Gary I think Chuck is right on target. I always heard that someone asked one of the great artists who did sculptures how he went about making such beautiful works of art and he said something along the lines that his piece of marble already knw what it wanted to be so he just carved off the stuff that wasn't what the marble wanted to be.

Same with your Maple. It wanted to be a jar, so now it is a jar, and it is a great looking jar! :biggrin:


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## marcruby (Feb 2, 2009)

Heh!  You have almost as much fun as I do.  If you put your feet in a bucket of ice while you're turning you will feel just like me..

Marc



Gary Max said:


> It did not start off to be a jar but that's how she turned out.
> I hooked a knot in the inside near the base and jumped the tool---if that makes any sense. Busted the top 4 inchs off the vase and now she's a jar.
> Jars have lids.---20 inchs tall with the lid on---the only finish is just oil.
> It needs to rest for a couple of days and air dry.
> This one has been a fight from the get go and I am glad it's done.


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## CaptG (Feb 2, 2009)

Great save.  Nice looking jar.


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## Gary Max (Feb 2, 2009)

Rob ---I started a pile for you---there's some Maple in it----

Thanks for all the kind remarks I am trying to get restocked from last year.

Oh if you folks want to take a peek at our new web site ---remember I done this myself and we are on dail-up.


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## spiritwoodturner (Feb 2, 2009)

Gary, nice jar, but I have a question for you. Is that a table saw next to the picture of Margie with the orange cap on? It was kinda hard to make it out, buddy...actually, I'm wondering if you have a treasure map or do you use GPS to find stuff in there?!

Just kidding. Really very nice jar. I like the acorn top too.

Dale


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## Gary Max (Feb 2, 2009)

If you are talking about the cover page on the web site- Margie didn't know I was taking that pic or what I was going to do with it. She is standing next to her GO-555 bandsaw ----that's  her shop.


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## Rcd567 (Feb 3, 2009)

Gary,
I see by your website that you turn alot of cedar. I'm going to try to get some and make a few bowls.  Anything specific I need to know about cedar before I start?

Thanks,
Bob


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## Gary Max (Feb 3, 2009)

Bob lets see if I can help a little
I like Deft for a finish on Cedar
If the wood is to dry it becomes brittle.
It is one of the woods you have to be careful about breathing the sawdust.
I turn it fast and take small cuts.
Hope that helps some.


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## TellicoTurning (Feb 4, 2009)

Gary Max said:


> Bob lets see if I can help a little
> I like Deft for a finish on Cedar
> If the wood is to dry it becomes brittle.
> It is one of the woods you have to be careful about breathing the sawdust.
> ...



Gary,
Ft Loudon Electric just dropped 3 cedars in my yard that were threatening their power lines... one was almost 2' at the base, leaning at about 20 degrees over the power line and beginning to rot at the base.. the other two were nice and solid... 

Any thing special about turning green cedar??  

I also have quite a bit of old cedar that was down in the gully behind my shop and I've saved a bunch of it to turn.... it's beautiful wood after I get through the punky sap wood and into the heart.  It's been down so long, the first 1/2-1 inch is almost powdery, and a lot of holes in some of the heart wood, but nice wood to play with.


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## ngeb528 (Mar 5, 2009)

great12b4ever said:


> Gary I think Chuck is right on target. I always heard that someone asked one of the great artists who did sculptures how he went about making such beautiful works of art and he said something along the lines that his piece of marble already knw what it wanted to be so he just carved off the stuff that wasn't what the marble wanted to be.
> 
> Same with your Maple. It wanted to be a jar, so now it is a jar, and it is a great looking jar! :biggrin:


 
I've been trying to get non-turners to understand that concept for quite a while.  When I make a stopper, I let the wood decide what shape it wants to be.

My 1st round of selling stoppers was to the people in my office.  Over the course of 5 weeks, I made over 100 stoppers and no two were even close to being the same.

Glad someone else understands the sentiment.

Nancy:wink:


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## Jack Giovo (Mar 5, 2009)

Gary

Nice looking jar and good save - better to save anything and that you did:biggrin:

Jack


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## bad (Mar 5, 2009)

Gary, two things. First that's a nice jar. Second, the first rule my instructor taught me when I first started learning to turn is that there are no mistakes, just design opportunities. When you caught that knot it was a design opportunity.


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## VisExp (Mar 6, 2009)

Gary, I looked at your site.  I really like the cedar beds you have made.


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## Mather323 (Mar 6, 2009)

Great looking jar.


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## wolftat (Mar 6, 2009)

Great job Gary, don't feel bad about it exploding, you made a great save. I have had maybe a 90% failure rate when I was turning vases so I stopped, some people just aren't meant to do that and then there is you, obviously you are meant to make these. I still want to know what that big log was for.


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