walnut hollow form. please critque

[curtis rosche]

here is my first "true" hollow form. it is walnut. 9.25 inches tall and 5 1/2 wide at the top. there is a good bit of curl on the one side as this is a crotch. stupid me put the good part in the middle to be turned out. it does have 2 deep cracks, i turned it wet, and sealed it with poly but i wasnt patient. it is another one done with a bowl gouge only. i poured some poly on the inside and swirled it around,it made it smooth but it looks like there are a couple runs in the bottom.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Curtis - I think you did pretty good for your first 'true' hollow form! Just a suggestion - but I would wait for a few weeks and give this piece time to finish drying out. Then fill the cracks with some type of an epoxy/turquoise mix -or something with a contrasting color. That would save the hollow form and add character at the same time.

Nice work Curtis! You may learn that when you rush things in turning - the end result usually isn't worth all the trouble. Looking forward to your next turning!

[Steve Kubien]

A couple of suggestions....

Get yourself a hard-boiled egg and sit it near your lathe. Make the outside of the form the shape of the egg. Flowing curves are good. Then make the inside the same shape. Sounds easy enough.....

9-1/2" is pretty deep for your first hollowform. Make your life easier and work on some smaller stuff at first. Think around the size of a baseball or softball.

Have fun and be safe.
Steve

[alex carey]

Great job for your first hollow form. I'm with Steve. You need to put some curves and you should probably start small. It's always easier and you can learn faster.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Curtis for you first and with a bowl gouge pretty good. I would have had a flowing form from top to bottom. I would have curved it from top to bottom with the bottom being may 2" across. Slow down. As Steve said and I agree speed is not good and the result generally are not good. Get those hollowing tools going. I thought you had those done and ready to use?

[curtis rosche]

im working the kinks out of the hollwoing tools, they are a bit graby for endgrain walnut right now. but they will be done soon

[Jeff Nicol]

Curtis, you can't get in a hurry to get things done, as you can see what happens with the cracks! It looks like one of them followed a ring shake in the growth rings. If you see these in the wood it is a good piece not to turn. Sometimes when you get the bark off and start into the wood, a big chunk will fly off and make a mess of things. I am not sure why you are struggling with the hollowing tools, swallow your pride and try something that has been recomended to you by me and many others! If you try the simple "OLAND TOOL" and use a 1/4"HSS square cutter or my drill bit cutter you should be able to do a much safer and better job of end grain hollowing. Go to my website and look at the video of the hollowing tool and you can see that it cuts into end grain like a knife through butter! I would think using a bowl gouge to hollow would get pretty scary in itself.

Nice first try, but listen to the forum members, there are some of the best woodturners you will ever meet giving you advice.

Jeff

[curtis rosche]

Jeff. i will try the buying a hollowing tool if my next attempt doesnt work. but actually a bowl gouge is pretty good. i didnt have any catches and it cut pretty smooth. next time you rough out a bowl take some tape and put them on your tool rest so there is 2 inches inbetween the tape. then try hollowing out the bowl with out going out of the tape. its not hard to do. it just uses alot of different cuts.