AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH...sniff, sniff

[Chris Rae]

I was turning my first real hollow form today, and blew through the side of it...:( I think my shape was pretty good and it had a little contrasting collar with a bead at the top. I was trying to get it nice and thin and now it's a jagged funnel and a tiny jagged bowl. I know, I'm a big girl, I'll stop whimpering now.:o

[Mike Minto]

chris, sorry to hear about your 'loss', but join the crowd...mike :o

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Welcome to the "Unintentional Funnel Club" Chris! You have joined a crowd.

[Richard Madison]

Just hate when that happens. Hope you will show us the next one, which I bet will be very nice.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Chris you have just joined a exclusive group. Funnels can be beautiful. Well can't they.:eek::rolleyes::cool:

[Steve Schlumpf]

Chris - sorry about your HF! Guess it's all part of the learning experience but disappointing just the same! No trying to be mean - but did you learn anything as to why it blew up? I've had some blow up because of hidden bark inclusions, cracks, an unintended catch (as if there are ever intentional catches!) and also from reaching around the HF to turn off the lathe! I now have a remote On/Off switch to prevent that from happening again!

About all you can do is grab another piece of wood and get back to turning! Have fun with it! Looking forward to seeing your hollow form!

[Bill Bolen]

Sorry Chris, I know it is a heart breaker as mine has broken for the same reason. The next one will be better...Bill..

[Chris Rae]

Yeah Steve, I know why it blew. I forgot the cardinal rule of turning, don't make it so thin that the inside leaks through to the outside. Gotta make sure the inside stays in, and the outside stays out.

[Jeff Nicol]

Chris, We all push the envelope and try to out do ours selves and others and some times we push a bit to hard! I have one that I was working on that just started to go through, it is red oak and had some nice color in it so I set it on the shelve with just some shellac on it and my wife loves the darn thing! when it dried the part that was the thinnest bumped out and made the vase kind of look like it is melting! Who is to say what is junk or not!

Good luck and keep at it!

Jeff

[Scott Lux]

don't make it so thin that the inside leaks through to the outside

:D I love that! I've always said, "Inner diameter must be smaller than outer diameter." But yours makes it even simpler.

[Chris Rae]

Thanks for the consolation everyone.:) It's encouraging to know that it appears to be a somewhat common occurrence, not just my dumbness. I'll try again on my next day off.

[alex carey]

Yeah, thats definitely annoying. The worst for me was when I was kind of new to turning. I was sanding a piece that was 5 minutes away from being done and when I turned off the lathe it spun off and broke on the ground. It was depressing. We've all had projects ruined, just gotta dust the chips off a try again. There will always be a better piece.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Sorry to hear about that Chris. Does anybody have a suggestion as to what thickness to shoot for? I hate it when things break too.

[Ryan Baker]

I hate that. I've done it too many times. But if you never break a piece, you aren't challenging yourself enough. The good news is that your next one will come out even better than this one would have. All practice is good practice, and every oops is an opportunity for a design change.

[Phil Labowski]

okay, I plan on trying hfs when I grow up and I was wondering about the "inside leaking to the outside" problem. does the form blow up, get cut in half, or just have a slit?
I'm sorry yours died Chris.

[Matt Haus]

It happens to all of us. Doesn't help you feel better but your in the club:(

[Chris Rae]

Hi Phil, my form got cut in half and the top part went sailing away.

[Brian Novotny]

Once you've got the bowl hollowed out pretty good you really need to stop often and use the calipers and take thin passes......going thru the wall is why they invented the laser system, and even with that people still go thru the walls, I think alot of thin turning is just for showing off to other woodturners, with the exception of transluscent pieces, as the ordinary person would probably want something with some weight to it. Solid is good IMO. Going thru the side is something I do when I'm not really concentrating.......we've all done it. and it's part of learning. sounds like you're on the right path!