Help Designing large vase 7"x18"

[Keith Harrell]

My wife has wanted me to make a vase for our fireplace mantel for some time now. I have a piece of curly maple I was going to use but can't seem to decide on the size.
The round blank is 7"x19"
I was thinking about a urn style that is larger at the top then at the bottom.
I found one on AAW that I like but I feel the wood maybe to tall for the 7" width I have. I thought about using pi=1.618 which I use in flat board work but didn't know if that applied to vases. If it does than the max height would be around 12" tall for a 7" around vase.
She mention wanting two so I need to keep the size down to 7 or 8" around but the height is open and thought one higher would look good.
She also mention that this vase maybe my new home if I don't get my tool budget under control so I thought I would research this project first.

The photo attached is not mine but is Joe Landon

[Richard Madison]

Keith,
FYI pi is not equal to 1.618. You could just print a copy of Joe's excellent hf vase and scale your project from the picture.

[David E Keller]

I you want to get two forms from that blank then I'd cut it in half(two at 9.5 by 7). Then figure out the proportions you want and turn away the excess width. I'd use a glue block on both pieces so as not to sacrifice height from the blank. You can use the example that you like to figure out the ratio of height to width, and that should give you the finished maximum diameter of the piece. Projection the image on graph paper would allow you to roughly approximate the curve as well.

[Dick Sowa]

Another possibility, which I would do if I wanted two nearly identical vases, would be to make them both segmented. With solid wood turnings, you are limited by the size of your blanks. Segmented vessels can be designed to be virtually any size and shape.

[Bill Bulloch]

The 1.618 is the Golden Mean, and yes, it is does apply to vases and bowls the same as it does to flat work. For example: if the vase is 10 inches tall, then a 6.18 diameter would present pleasing proportions; and a bowl with a 10 diameter would look pleasing with a hieght of 6.18 inches.

Where 1.618 is the perfect mean, most of us just use the porportions of 1/3 or 2/3 in our bowl and vise work. This lets us use the mulitple of 3 to determine out porportions. For example: a 9 inch high vase might have a 6 inch diameter ( 9 x 0.6667) and the max diameter will be 6 inches from the base (9 X 0.6667), and a base and rim that is 1/3 or 2/3 the maximum diameter ( 2 or 4 inches).

[Keith Harrell]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm not trying to copy his work but I'm just trying to get the proportion right as it appears from the comments using a 7" round blank would look good at around 12" tall and 19" would not look good at all.
My spelling mistake should have been Phi.
Maybe I should look at a different style if she wants a taller vase.

[Dave Ogren]

Keith,

"The new home" sounds like a urn. These are figured based in one (1) cubic inch for each pound of weight. I gallon contains 231 cubic inches. probably close to standard for making them ahead of time.

Just kidding of course.

Good Luck and Happy Turning,

Dave

[Thom Sturgill]

Bill has nailed it about right.

If you want to do one vase/urn 12", that gives you a max dia of 8" (and use glue blocks to save waste), then you have 7" left. That would allow a max dia of about 4 1/2" to keep the same proportions and leave about 3 1/2" which would let you do a third vase about 5 3/4" tall or a bowl 8" dia and 3.5" tall (assuming the block starts square.)

That could make an interesting trio. Get glass liners and the smaller ones could be used with water for living flowers.