A Little Experiment with Staves

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

I constructed this vessel using 16 compound-mitered staves, but before assembly, I paired the staves together (inside to inside) and turned the pairs as a spindle between centers. The ribs were all created on the lathe before the glue up. Before the gluing, the curved staves were also sanded and covered with tape to protect them from glue squeeze-out. After gluing, only minor clean up was required at each seam on the outside and the inside was turned conventionally. To avoid potential wood movement problems, the base is a floating panel and the top ring of ziricote is constructed with vertical grain. To provide gluing strength, the top ring is attached with a hidden half mortise/half tenon joint (inside the vessel wall). The wall thickness varies – about 1/8” at the seams and about ½” at the thickest part of the ribs.

Curly Maple, Maple burl (the floating base), ziricote, and black dyed veneer, 8” tall, finished with General Finishes water-based Top Coat.

As always, all comments are welcome.

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beautiful piece Malcolm. I really like that one.

[Don Carter]

A beautiful piece, Malcolm!

All the best.

Don

[David Christopher]

that is a very nice piece....great job

[Ryan Baker]

It's a great piece, Malcolm. Why do you call it an experiment? You've done similar designs before.

[Larry Marley]

I like it!
It is interesting to look at and I like that the shapes are all created by the lathe. But then my two favorite turning things these days are
Curly Maple and the "how did you to that?" factor.

Larry

[David Walser]

Malcolm,

I really like the simple lines and contrasting colors of this piece. It's is elegant and beautiful for its own sake. When you add to that the skill and complexity required for its construction, that magnifies everything. Still, you don't need to know how difficult it was to make to appreciate it, and that's one of the things that is so special about it. You made the complex appear simple. Wonderful work.

Please post some additional pictures when you can. That one is not enough.

David

[Dean Thomas]

I always marvel at the things you bring to the table. You take the simple, twist it gently, and provide a fresh look at our world. Like a lime twist to water, it brings a unique flavor-filled, refreshment to my eyes. Thanks for sharing! (I need a "wow" smilie!)

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

It's a great piece, Malcolm. Why do you call it an experiment? You've done similar designs before.

Ryan, while it's true that I've done a few pieces similiar, they've been simple miters, not compound. This also incorporates a floating base.

Whenever I finish a piece, I try to do my own honest critique. With hindsight, I wish that I had used slightly thicker maple, with a little less slope angle (not as steep), so I could have created a little more curve. I think the ziricote top rim was quite effective; even though it's oriented vertically, the wood grain makes it difficult to tell.

[charlie knighton]

very nice, you don't have a picture of maple burl floating bottom, i am curious as to what it looks like toghter

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work Malcolm! Beautiful piece! Appreciate the verbal walk-through on the process. Makes sense and also makes me take another look at the staves - now that I know how you shaped them! Pretty cool - thanks for sharing!

[Mike Golka]

Once again, an amazing peice!!! Well done. More pics, please,please, please.

[Steve Mawson]

I am with the other folks, more pictures would be great. The floating base is a puzzle to me. Very very nice.

[Brian Effinger]

Very cool Malcolm. As others have said - more pictures please. Especially pictures of the process. I've read the post a few times and am still having trouble wraping my head around the process.

Brian

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Thanks to all for the comments.

Guys, sorry, I did not take any still photos of the process. This vessel was done as part of a video lesson on stave construction. I'll probably get in trouble for saying this (self-promotion), but the DVD won't be available for a few more months.

[Keith Palmer]

I really like the ribbed look. I wanted to thank you for doing the demo last month at the South Puget Sound Woodturners meeting in Tacoma. I really enjoyed it, and I have a bunch of scrap hardwood in my shop to try segmenting. I have only been turning for just over a year and have got to start turning more pieces from all this wood I have been scrounging before I run out of room to turn!

Keith

[Gary Kvasnicka]

I really like this piece. I am looking forward to your next DVD, I have your first two, they are excellent. Hopefully in the not to distant future I will produce a segmented piece worthy of pictures. I finally found a 12" disk sander on Craigslist that should help with the glue lines.

[Harvey Crouch]

Beautiful as always. Your pieces always inspire me to push my own limits a little farther.

[John Beaver]

Malcolm, That's really nice, and I appreciate you sharing the technique with us.

This is only a question, not a judgement...
I'm curious if you looked at the design with out the veneer between the staves. While I think it adds to the design, it might give more of a "how'd they do that" to see the staves butted together. It might also be too plain looking.

Lastly, did you flatten the top of the staves on the lathe or before assembly?

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Malcolm, That's really nice, and I appreciate you sharing the technique with us.

This is only a question, not a judgement...
I'm curious if you looked at the design with out the veneer between the staves. While I think it adds to the design, it might give more of a "how'd they do that" to see the staves butted together. It might also be too plain looking.

Lastly, did you flatten the top of the staves on the lathe or before assembly?

John, placing veneer between the staves was my design from the beginning. I wanted to put a dark rim on top and I thought that the dark veneer helped "pull things together". Regarding "turning", the outside top and bottom bevels were turned after assembly. The base was turned and a flat "floating" disc was installed. And the top was shaped so that the top rim could be fitted. The top rim is vertical grain, but it's not just glued end grain to end grain on top of the maple. The two pieces are a half-mortise/half tenon fit so that there is a side grain to side grain joint within the vessel wall. Hope this makes sense.

[Jarrod McGehee]

Nice Job Malcom. That looks pretty sweet. I like the whole idea and design you used. good work

[Jeff Nicol]

Malcom, You are a man of great patience and talent! Your work is always beautiful, thank you for sharing and inspiring us all.

Jeff

[Gary Herrmann]

I'd say you're experiment was extremely successful. Looking forward to the DVD as well.

[Toney Robertson]

That is cool looking. The dark veneer and rim sets it off.

You are always doing different designs.

Toney

[Mike Spanbauer]

Malcom, that is truly beautiful! The ziricote is a superb contrast, and I like the grain appearance as is.

Thanks for sharing!

mike

[Richard Madison]

Fluted without flutes. Very cool indeed.

[Dick Sowa]

Malcolm...I really like the design. I suspect the same technique would work well for a lot of different profiles.

One thing that always impresses me about your books/videos (and this post too!) is how well you explain the details, and how eager you are to share the techniques used. Thanks for another inspiring piece and technique!

[Ben Gastfriend]

Malcom, You are a man of great patience and talent! Your work is always beautiful, thank you for sharing and inspiring us all.

Diddo what he said. I really like the veneer between the staves. It probably would look incoherent with the dark rim and no dark veneer. You never cease to amaze.