Amphorae

[Mike Golka]

This is my latest segmented effort, styled after a Greek amphorae. It is a proto type design for the feature ring that I need to tweek the jigs used to make it. Woods are maple, bloodwood, and of course cherry. 14" high by 8" dia. Finish is spay lacquer. Comments and critiques welcome.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very impressive! Classic form! Wonderful colors and your feature ring is great! Very nice work on this one!

[Sid Matheny]

WOW what a beauty!!!

Sid

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beauty Mike. Really like the classic form.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mike,

Nicely done! I like everything about it.

[David Walser]

Mike,

You said that was a prototype? (!) Most of us would be proud to say we'd turned such a nice piece. Can't wait to see the "real thing"!

[gary Zimmel]

Very, very nice Mike!

[Jeff Nicol]

Mike, My brain hurts just looking at all the pieces and the beautiful work you put into this one! I think I would have little pieces of gluey,messy wood stuck all over my shop! I am sure frustration would have gotten the best of me!

Great piece,

Jeff

[David E Keller]

Absolutely beautiful. I love the woods used. I wouldn't change a thing.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Awesome shape Mike. Just love it.

Was most of the feature ring done with a forstner bit?

Quinn

[Kenneth Whiting]

WOW! That's great.

[Richard Madison]

That's a fine looking piece Mike. Am also curious how you get clean, tight joints at the various circular places.

[Mike Golka]

Thank you all for your very kind words. I used a series of jigs with forstner bits along with a few other tricks and tools to create the feature ring.

[Richard Madison]

Mike, it's those "few other tricks" we want to know about!

[Mike Golka]

Mike, it's those "few other tricks" we want to know about!

OK, so I started off with a square peice of darker wood and drilled a hole in the center. I then made a jig to hold that via a peg for the centered hole and at the drill press set up to drill the holes in each corner of the square turning the block 90 degrees after each hole. I made face grain plugs of lighter wood to fit the 4 outer holes and glued them in. Another jig to hold the squares with the plugs and machine a plug out of that. Fill the center hole with a light colored plug. Lastly drill hole in each segment to accomodate the larger plug. Hope that helps. I can post pics of the jigs if any one wants.

[Ryan Baker]

Beautiful work, Mike. That's quite a piece for a prototype. The feature ring is great -- very original.

[Richard Madison]

made face grain plugs of lighter wood to fit the 4 outer holes

Mike I apologize. Should have made my question more clear and more specific. The part about drilling and jigs is obvious by inspection. What I should have asked is how did you make the round plugs to precisely fit the forstner holes? A few thou. too big and they split the matrix, and a few thou. too small makes a poor quality joint. Maybe should have PM'd you about this. Sorry to be a pest.

[Mike Golka]

Richard, no problem. I made a jig to hold a router so the bit center is held at the same vertical center as the spindle of my lathe. With a stop block installed on the horizontal axis to limit the travel one can produce consistant dial plugs with little effort. The setup is very similar to the cross slide of a metal lathe but much cruder. If I have time tonight I'll post pictures of the setup. The router jig is useful for a veriaty of things from fluting to plug making. As I said at the start of the post this was a proto-type idea and the jigs have plenty of room for improvement.

[Steve Mawson]

GREAT, Looking forward to the pictures of the jig setup as well.

[Richard Madison]

Thanks Mike. That's exactly what I wanted to know. On a good day I can turn something within ten thou. or a little less, but would be hard pressed to get within one or two thou. consistently. Looking forward to seeing your jig.

[Don Orr]

Wonderful Mike ! Love that classic form.

[Ryan Baker]

I'm looking forward to seeing your jig too. I was actually thinking of something very similar this afternoon (for a completely different purpose).