Richard Raffan recovers two dishes from a holey blank.

[@firejaywin]

Line of the year - "If you like pushing tools into wood, take up wood carving." Thank you for all your teachings.

[@jimneely4527]

Your explanation of how you work through defects is very enlightening. Thanks for sharing.

[@isaacfisher5615]

Another great video, thanks! Best part was your mentioning that your vision problems will be corrected soon!

[@tomislavtomasicwoodturning]

Love the carving analogy, I'll borrow it 😊

[@oldcharlie5533]

Looking at that lump of wood you had, I would have never thought I could get anything from it .great video. Thanks

[@stevenhansen8641]

Excellent video Richard. Very good camera angle. Live narration excellent. Thanks for the time and effort.

[@MarklTucson]

Just as seeing how you break down blanks, this was very instructive in seeing how you extract useful pieces from a blank that holds unhappy surprises. It was very interesting seeing how you were able to get two very nice looking little dishes from a blank with such a defect.

[@johnnyb95678]

Great watching you save what others might perceive as a piece of firewood. Also really glad to hear your vision issues are getting addressed.

[@alun7006]

Great stuff! Nicely saved from that disaster of a blank.

[@denisraulet]

Bonjour Richard. C'est un véritable tour de force que vous venez de réaliser 👍.Champion.

[@ShevillMathers]

A treat to see how you hold such thin pieces-something not easily learnt from reading about it. Multi-media wins the day once again. Many thanks from Tasmania.👍😁

[@lorriebuxton2041]

I started turning in December I heard from many turners how the wood defined the finished product but I didn't believe it at first but you proofed it thankyou

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

As production turner I normally choose defect-free blanks that don't produce these situations. But when teach I look for blanks with defects so I can show how to cope with the problems arising. Bear in mind that in the long run - decades - it's the shape and balance that ensures a bowl will survive for generations, not any flashy grain.

[@jamescarter8813]

When someone has 50+ years of experience in wood turning THEN they can complain about you not using a bowl gouge on a bowl.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

The problem lies with those who have no idea how much they don't know telling novices spindle gouges are a no-no on bowls.

[@teorebs2091]

Thanks for sharing sir 👍

[@DavidBird-uu8km]

Very nice the grain is beautiful.

[@josephpotterf9459]

Thanks Richard good save

[@jackthompson5092]

Beautiful little dishes Richard. It would have been a shame if you had not been able to salvage some of that burl.

[@Woodturning_Max]

Nice Work 👍

[@billgeorgene]

We only end seal the logs before we mill them. Is that still a good way to prepare the boards that are cut from the logs?

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

Sealing the endgrain helps, but I've found the sooner you convert small logs to billiets or boards the more split-free material you'll recover.

[@dagwood1327]

You could see the dishes when I could not. My focus was the flaw.

[@kenvasko2285]

Well, I thought I've seen it all but no. You've amazed me once more by using what the wood gave you. Usually you do the discovery on the bandsaw, this time on the lathe. At any point did you have doubts you were going to get two pieces out of the blank?

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

It was always on the cards. With hindsight the two parts could have become a flattish box.

[@LAZZY0001]

Many turners would have went with epoxy resin and ended up with buckets of microplastics to dispose of. Im glad you don't go this route.

[@davidshaper5146]

Life's too short to turn crappy wood. I forget who said that, but it's a valid point. Obviously, you made the best of it, but your time could have been better spent.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

John Jordan said Life is too short to turn crap wood. You can probably still buy the tee-shirt from Ruth Niles. This is a teaching video and I knew at the outset this was the likely scenario, reckoning the video should be useful to many hobby turners. And I have two dishes that'll sell for $20 each and maybe more, so not a complete waste of my time.

[@davidshaper5146]

I've got two of his hollowing tools. Thanks.@@RichardRaffanwoodturning

[@WhoGnu08]

Richard demonstrated how to turn lemons into lemonade.