Robert McGowen
02-06-2010, 1:50 PM
I almost always do segmented work and I decided that segmented work wasn’t getting enough accolades here. It seems that hollow forms get much more attention. Knowing a bit about segmented work, but not much about hollow forms, I decided that it would be best to combine techniques on my first hollow form. I thought if I added up everything I had seen done here over the past few years, plus my knowledge of segmented work, you know, combine them, then everything would work out for my first hollow form. Here’s what I did……….
First I got some wood. I spotted this pile of wood in a ditch on the way to work, but I was wearing my best suit and my chainsaw blade was dull. (I keep my chainsaw in the trunk at all times just in case. You never know!) I got the saw blade sharpened during lunch and on the way home, the wood was still there! I stopped and spoke with the foreman of the electrical company crew that was trimming trees and he said I could have all I wanted. I grabbed a nice sized chunk after thanking the foreman and promising him one of my kidneys. One piece of wood really stood out among the boring looking chunks of other wood, which I found out later was mesquite.
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%201.jpg
All the bark and leaves were already off the wood I grabbed and I don’t know what kind of wood it is. Any ideas? I’ll just call it “dunno” wood. I always liked spalted wood, so I thought I would see what happened.
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%203.jpg
After three days, it looked just the same, so I gave up and rounded off the corners on the bandsaw. I did not want it so out of balance that my lathe was walking around the shop, even though it has 600 lbs. of concrete holding it down to prevent this.
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%202.jpg
I could not decide between a chuck, a tenon, a faceplate, or a glue block. I figured a combination of techniques would work here also, so I used a glue block on a faceplate and the faceplate as my tenon and held that with my chuck. Bound to be 4 times better than just 1 technique!
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%204.jpg
The hollowing seemed pretty easy. The hollow form was almost 18” tall, 10” wide, and a consistent 1/16th inch thick.….
…..that is until I had a catch at the mouth just as I was finishing up. I think that it was due to a slight wobble induced by the harmonic imbalance imparted by the glue block-faceplate-tenon-chuck I was using. I decided to save the piece and just turn it into a pencil cup since the top was completely ripped off and lost in 4 feet of shavings on the floor.
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%205.jpg
After admiring my successful save for a while, I knew that I had to dry out the wood and finish turn it later. I anchorsealed it, wrapped it in swaddling cloth, weighed it, and found an out of the way place to store it. I used several different formulas, but based on wall thickness, height, humidity, heat, drafts, and a factor of pi squared, I know that I will have to wait 6.3 years before it is dry.
I guess I’ll go segment something while I wait….. :)
(The above is fictitious. Any resemblance to your personal techniques, whether you are living or dead, is unintentional.)
First I got some wood. I spotted this pile of wood in a ditch on the way to work, but I was wearing my best suit and my chainsaw blade was dull. (I keep my chainsaw in the trunk at all times just in case. You never know!) I got the saw blade sharpened during lunch and on the way home, the wood was still there! I stopped and spoke with the foreman of the electrical company crew that was trimming trees and he said I could have all I wanted. I grabbed a nice sized chunk after thanking the foreman and promising him one of my kidneys. One piece of wood really stood out among the boring looking chunks of other wood, which I found out later was mesquite.
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%201.jpg
All the bark and leaves were already off the wood I grabbed and I don’t know what kind of wood it is. Any ideas? I’ll just call it “dunno” wood. I always liked spalted wood, so I thought I would see what happened.
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%203.jpg
After three days, it looked just the same, so I gave up and rounded off the corners on the bandsaw. I did not want it so out of balance that my lathe was walking around the shop, even though it has 600 lbs. of concrete holding it down to prevent this.
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%202.jpg
I could not decide between a chuck, a tenon, a faceplate, or a glue block. I figured a combination of techniques would work here also, so I used a glue block on a faceplate and the faceplate as my tenon and held that with my chuck. Bound to be 4 times better than just 1 technique!
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%204.jpg
The hollowing seemed pretty easy. The hollow form was almost 18” tall, 10” wide, and a consistent 1/16th inch thick.….
…..that is until I had a catch at the mouth just as I was finishing up. I think that it was due to a slight wobble induced by the harmonic imbalance imparted by the glue block-faceplate-tenon-chuck I was using. I decided to save the piece and just turn it into a pencil cup since the top was completely ripped off and lost in 4 feet of shavings on the floor.
http://www.birdsetc.com/images/photo%205.jpg
After admiring my successful save for a while, I knew that I had to dry out the wood and finish turn it later. I anchorsealed it, wrapped it in swaddling cloth, weighed it, and found an out of the way place to store it. I used several different formulas, but based on wall thickness, height, humidity, heat, drafts, and a factor of pi squared, I know that I will have to wait 6.3 years before it is dry.
I guess I’ll go segment something while I wait….. :)
(The above is fictitious. Any resemblance to your personal techniques, whether you are living or dead, is unintentional.)