Guest
Unknown quantities of dirt, rocks, and sand do not make for a great turning experience, and I certainly learned a few things the hard way with this one. For starters, the manufacturer of the casting resin, @superclearepoxy advised me to expect resin chipout when turning at high speeds, so I have grown accustomed to intense, hand-scarring resin shrapnel for the first rough shaping passes. (Hence, this was also my first time using gloves while turning.) In the past, I have had problems with carbide bits loosening, but I had never before had a carbide cutter break. So, my initial assumption was that I had hit a rock or a piece of metal, but nope, it was just super hard epoxy. @EasyWoodTools was great and replaced both the carbide cutter and the screw for free. I eventually resorted to an angle grinder to negotiate the dirt, and I knew there was more dirt and rocks potentially inside the piece. While hollowing the piece, I could tell that a significant portion of the material was dirt/sand/and small rocks
