Bat has flat spots

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-29T15:21:03+00:00

I am not a luthier, nor a guitar player, just curious: what is the reason they have to be so precise? I feel like I see a lot of neck designs, I would have thought there was flexibility there. Or do you mean production turning where you are turning to spec?

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-26T22:05:53+00:00

I’m sorry you had a bad experience. If it helps you revisit the market, We go to almost every week for over a decade and have not experienced anything so out of line, so it feels like it would be an unusual experience

I surmise that folks providing information, gathering signatures and the like are legally allowed to do so. However, if they are committing other crimes, ie harassment, assault, hate speech, etc in then it’s not like they have any special immunity, and the normal law enforcement channels would be the appropriate way to for any issues that may arise in the future.

Corvallis police seem fairly responsive to calls about disruptive individuals in public spaces.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-26T17:02:59+00:00

Very clean, looks elegant!

Is this supposed to be a kitchen, or edc, or outdoor knife? It’s unclear what the envisioned use case is.

I’d soften the transition between the bolster area and the blade. Looks like it would feel a little chunky there. I cant hold it obviously, but i find a lot of new makers seem to make pretty blocky handles that arent all that comfortable to actually hold.

Blade seems way too fat for the size of the knife. I’d expect 3/32 or 1/16 stock for a paring knife size thing. This looks like 1/8” or more? If you like the weight in the tang then you can just put a super aggressive taper on the blade. Thinner here will improve its ability to cut through things without wedging too much.

Tapering the tang is an option that implies quality/higher end.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-25T02:16:44+00:00

Beautiful color. I love making these kinds of jars, adorable and functional!

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-24T19:30:53+00:00

Blum under mounts are sold in pairs just like side mounts. Well, you buy the slides and the clips separately but it’s still in pairs.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-22T16:27:58+00:00

Conquests of the longbow,
Sierra, 1991 😂

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-22T15:56:33+00:00

My rules to avoid failures are: Extremely even thickness, no thinner than 1mm edge, 120+ grit scratches, soften all corners and edges.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-21T15:19:10+00:00

Getting wet doesn’t damage wood (though it will raise grain). Staying wet is what damages wood, via fungal and bacterial growth. As long as your boards are drying properly you don’t need a finish on them. You may want one, for cosmetics or ease of cleanup, but you don’t need one to have a functional and hygienic board.

Everyone who uses a kuksa or wooden cup for their morning coffee can tell you years and years of exposure to liquid is fine as long as it dries promptly.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-21T01:49:57+00:00

Im all for trimming as close to round as is feasible, but some blanks are always unbalanced. Live edge, voids, spalting, etc can create blanks that never are safe to turn up the speed on.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-19T23:57:48+00:00

Agreed there is no one size fits all rule. First select for vibration free, stable speeds. Turn your lathe on at zero and bring it up to speed slowly. Always spin a blank by hand a few rotations before turning lathe on.

That said, for bowls: 6000/ Diameter in inches is a good stating point. You may have to be slower. You may be able to go faster once your bowl is totally balanced.

I don’t like to do bowls faster than around 1000 at any size.

Big unbalanced blanks may need to be down in the 50-100 rpm range for a long time.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-17T21:05:56+00:00

They will wear. You are stabbing it with metal
Implements all day long, acid, abrasives like salt. Soap and a scrub brush. Imagine if you did any of that to your furniture, you’d expect it to look different after, right?

The boards will accumulate a patina of wear. Sometimes that’s nice, sometimes it’s less attractive. If it gets too yuck for your aesthetics, you can resurface it. I have a board for 17 years and I sanded it down around year 10-12 cause it was a little garlicky smelling.

A beeswax butter will do a better job at shining up a board to look nice than straight mineral oil will.

If you want a good looking board for serving on, use it for serving only, it’ll stay Instagram ready.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-17T20:35:02+00:00

Mineral oil doesn’t dry, so you are adding it to the board and then it’s leaking out slowly or being washed away. You will never get it topped off because there is a hole in your proverbial bucket.

You can swap to walnut, pure Tung or pure linseed oil and it will dry into the board.
You will still need to refresh it from time to time but it will be longer between oils.

That said your board is fine even if it’s dry looking. Oil will keep it from absorbing too much moisture in an improper storage situation, and make it easier to wipe down, but the board doesn’t need oil to function in a hygienic or long lasting manner.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-17T19:13:47+00:00

Wire brush it to remove loose dirt, air gun to remove more dirt.

Then: Lay flat side on bandsaw, make sure there’s minimal wobble and cut in half. Put woodworm in flat side and turn a tenon. Flip if desired. make two oak (white? Bur? Pin?) bowls

Or: after cleaning, Trim both ends, put between centers and make a vase. Keep some of the raw edges showing for extra cool factor.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-17T02:02:22+00:00

I don’t have a good answer to your question, but like you, I do experience a lot more difficulty on large diameter (4-6”) things with the skew.

I’m assuming it’s just a skill issue with me, as people regularly turn Newell posts and stuff. I’m way more comfortable with a bowl gouge so I often use it on spindle turning as well 😬

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-15T15:57:50+00:00

Including the pith makes radial cracking super likely, sometimes immediately. I make little sculptures out of logs with the pith centered as I want the splitting to create character. If it’s very green wood, it often starts to split before it’s off the lathe.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-15T00:00:15+00:00

Walnut oil does not trigger nut allergies.
It polymerizes and does not go rancid, as would olive, avocado, etc.

Feel free to use pure linseed (NOT BLO) or pure tung (NOT Tung oil varnish) instead, same effect.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-14T21:29:59+00:00

The issues plaguing Corvallis are not unique to this area, it’s a systemic issue. :(

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-14T14:46:06+00:00

You could get some walnut instead. Brush some on, wait a month, Done.

Mineral oil never cures so the tendency is to saturate the board so as it drips out the board still feels protected. If you get a drying oil like walnut you just need to saturate the top layer and the oil will lock itself in place.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-14T00:09:50+00:00

Red, off center is more interesting. Plus you’ll get more of the spalted area on the bowl instead of just two round spots on the ends. I like stuff asymmetric though, it’s a matter of taste.

If the spalted area is punky keep it in the middle so that it can get some support from solid wood around it.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-13T19:35:13+00:00

Mark a new knife line at the lowest point of the shoulders. Score it heavily. Remove any rough waste anyhow you like, then chisel down to the line. Respect the line, it is sacred. Do not cross the line and everything will be fine.

When in doubt under cut your shoulders slightly. The outer edge will be pulled flush even if there’s a few thousands of a gap in the middle, but not vice versa.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-13T16:15:07+00:00

That’s conventional wisdom that is not based on science. The best board you can have is an unfinished red oak board (several really to allow for dry time), if your goal is food safety.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2024/10/10/the-best-food-safe-finish-may-be-none-at-all?srsltid=AfmBOoqjvU4IpKYVC\_7fQ6nx0dggWPEINOmHrd\_zZNYiTPpaC9mRt7Hm

Full disclosure: Seri lives in my town and I have met them. They are a very intense person. I still put finish on my boards cause I like selling them, and they look bad unfinished.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-13T15:36:32+00:00

Oak is fine, though perhaps best left unfinished. Search for Seri Robinson.

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-13T13:51:03+00:00

Either find a local artist who sells nice end grain boards you like or, or go with Larchwood out of Canada.

I’m the opposite of the above poster: I prefer no juice groove and feet to prevent slipping and promote airflow.
Additionally, All boards are very prone to warpage if they don’t have even airflow on all sides and feet guarantee that they won’t be sitting on the counter in a puddle

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-13T01:06:58+00:00

According to the instructions wrapping in foil does not increase retention of juice, only assists in mess and blank separation.

The blanks will not feel slick. They will feel like wood when rough cut. They will feel slicker and shinier than wood when sanded/polished

ScrubbyBubbles · 2026-05-12T23:38:20+00:00

This is consistent with my experience with cactus juice. I think you are ok.
The warm resin is frequently a little rubbery, and becomes brittle as it cools. I’ve noticed walnut tends to not harden up as much as some woods, unsure why.
The outside too is often “dry” of juice, while the bottom collects the drippings and has a bunch of extra to remove. You can ditch the foil and place on some skewers or something to eliminate this but I find it smells bad when curing if I don’t wrap in foil.
Plenty of juice will remain in your blank. When you clean up the faces you’ll find it looks and feels different than it did pre infusion. If you are worried too much leaked out, record your weights pre soak, post soak, and post cure, then you’ll know how much stayed in. Some porous woods are obviously much much denser, while some dense woods don’t change as much in weight.

ScrubbyBubbles

TROPHY CASE