Turned an Urn

[Bob Haverstock]

Folks,

I had not posted a photo of any firewood that I have turned on my Nova 1624. It's time to correct that situation. The piece ws turned from locally harvested cedar.

The hollow is 10 plus inches deep, that was a lot of leverage working against my tired old wrists. The bar in the hollowing tool is made of .75 inch sqare cold rolled with a 3/16 HSS nib. The assembly with wooden handle is about 30 inches long.

Now I want to have a hollowing system capable of 16 inches of depth. Do you have any subjestions? A question, what would be the minimun cross section of the bar?

I thank you in advance for your comments.
Bob Haverstock

[John Keeton]

Very nice urn, Bob, and the cedar and finish are beautiful! I haven't tried any deep hollowing like that yet, and probably won't for awhile - looks like work!!

Not much help on your request for suggestions, but I did enjoy the post!:)

[Dennis Ford]

Urn looks good! That is deep for a 3/4" bar. A Jameson style hollowing bar that is 1-1/4" dia round will do up to ~18". It could probably do more but that becomes difficult real fast.

[David E Keller]

Nice urn... No clue about hollowing that deep. I'm with JK... Sounds like work.

[James Combs]

Wonderful... How do you get cedar to look like that? Each time I do cedar it comes out very flat. Whats your secret?

[Roland Martin]

Nice job on the urn and the color variances in the cedar do this form justice.

[Gary Chester]

I love the colors! nice job! And I hope you have no use for it for a long time.

And I'm with James... what kind of magic cedar is that to get those colors? Where are you located? I roughed a bunch of cedar in the last couple of weeks and it started nice and red... now... well zzzzzzzzzzz:(

[Donny Lawson]

I really like the designs in the cedar.It has alot of character.I have alot of cedar lying around and have been thinking about trying a bowl.Sounds like a plan to me.I'll see what I can do in the next few days.
Donny

[Baxter Smith]

Very pretty. May lose the brilliance but will still have a nice contrast in colors.

[George Morris]

Contact Randy at monster tools and ask his suggestion he is a great person!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice looking urn and the cedar is really nice.

[Bob Haverstock]

Wonderful... How do you get cedar to look like that? Each time I do cedar it comes out very flat. Whats your secret?


James & Gary,

I've worked with cedar for about two years now and sometimes, it is not very stable. On anything that has much size or a lot of figure, cracking can be an issue.

A lady wood carver told me thirty-five years ago to coat any thing that I'm working on immediatly with antifreeze before I lay it aside. That is what I do with cedar. It does seem to help stabilize it. I think that the antifreeze does darken the grain in the light wood.

One time, I tried to turn some green cedar in direct sun light on a warm day, I could hear the wood crack! What a revelation that was. I speak ony from my experiences, your milage may vary.

On cedar, I use a rattle can for finish. I have shot a bunch of clear varnish and now I'm trying lacquer. I buy Rustoleum, for me it is readily available. I usually apply a couple of coats, after that, I wet sand with 400 git between coats. I like a deep shiny finish. It is a personnal thing, some folks like soft oil / wax finishes.

Thank you for your replies.

Bob Haverstock

[Allen Neighbors]

Folks,
Now I want to have a hollowing system capable of 16 inches of depth. Do you have any subjestions? A question, what would be the minimun cross section of the bar?

I thank you in advance for your comments.
Bob Haverstock

Bob, I have hollowed to 14" depth with my 3/4" harpoon, but the cutter was just a 1/8" HSS cutter. According to the bureau of they, "they" say when you go deeper, it takes a smaller cutter to reduce chatter.:eek:
I think a 1" toolshaft would be thick enough for the 16" depth. If you used a 1/8" cutter. But if you want to stick with a 3/16" cutter, I'd go to 1-1/4" toolshaft. :)

[Steve Schlumpf]

Bob - nice work on the Cedar! Great colors!

I agree with Allen and have found that a lot of vibration can be reduced by just using a smaller cutting bit. Getting to 16" deep is quite a reach over the tool rest and I would have to guess that you would want at least a 1.25" diameter bar.

Let us know what size bar works for you!