# Shroom mania



## biscobob (Sep 9, 2011)

I hunt, pick, eat, grow and do instructional programs about wild mushrooms so it would be only natural for me to also make them out of wood. Here's a few samples of my handywork. Enjoy.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Now those are cool. I like the 5th pic's with the NE bark. Are those finished with Tung oil? If so do you use pure or polymerized?


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## papawd (Jan 5, 2011)

Welcome and nice work


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## biscobob (Sep 9, 2011)

BernieW said:


> Now those are cool. I like the 5th pic's with the NE bark. Are those finished with Tung oil? If so do you use pure or polymerized?


I use pure tung oil, have never tried polymerized or even heard of it for that matter. I soak the pieces down with tung oil while still on the lathe after final sanding at 220 grit. Let the oil soak in good and then take a dry cloth and burnish the extra oil off. 24 hours later I put them back on the lathe and use 400 and 600 grit wet with oil to get my final sanding finish and once again burnish with a dry rag. Another 24 hours and they get white diamond buffed and straight to a carnuba wax polish. I skip the tripoli buff, never seemed to help with the way I do them.

I don't do everything this way just those special pieces. The NE piece above is Johnson's paste wax cut with mineral oil. Start sanding those wet at 220 grit on and heat them up pretty good during burnishing to glaze the wax into the wood. Can go straight from lathe to buffing that way, it is how I do most of my pieces when in pure production mode.

As a side note I have been able to spray oil poly over both of theses finishes with no problems. I really don't care much for the poly. look though.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Thanks Bob. I just bought some polymerized tung oil from Lee Valley. It is made by Sutherland-Welles. You can go to their site sutherlandwelles.com and read on it. I also ordered some Mollies All Purpose. It is Pure Polymerized Tung Oil – a vegetable oil, Di-citrusol our citrus-derived solvent and beeswax. So it is completely natural but dries a lot faster when applied off the lathe. About the only finish I apply on the lathe is when I do pens. I will also apply some shellac on mini-birdhouses or ornaments. The tung oil I got from Lee Valley has two parts. The first is a sealer and then the other is a top coat. So we will see how it goes.


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## The Warthog (Nov 29, 2010)

I love it! I collect some wild mushrooms, mostly _agaricus campestris_ and puffballs and sometimes shaggymanes. Great turnings, but what do they represent?


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## biscobob (Sep 9, 2011)

They don't really represent any specific species although the little fat ones look like Boletus edulis, commonly called King bolete or Porcini. The wood pretty much decides what they are going to look like.


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## Bulldogg629 (Apr 5, 2011)

Very cool, I like the 5th one as well.


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