3rd Segmented Attempt

[Scott Hackler]

This was a giant pain and I think I may have gotten the whole segment thing out of my system (for a while). It has a lot in it and I dont think it particularly flows very good and dont know if my accents work correctly.

The little slashes are padauk and the pin stripe patch is a laminate board I made from walnut and poplar. I thought the glueing process would never end on this one. The striped ring was SUPPOSSED to be two rings as Robert suggested last time, but the sander ate the second laminated ring! Oh well. It was turned in two different halves (to 1/8"), glued together and SUPER light touch turning to blend after it was one form. Not perfect but good enough for me, at this point.

After the comments on wood movement on a segmented bottom, I started to make a floating bottom and somewhere I didnt do something right. So instead I made a bottom "plug" (kinda T shaped), out of walnut and attached it with only four little drops of CA gel. Hopefully this sucker wont move.

Technically speaking, if you include the slash marks adn the laminate I made, there are around 241 individual pieces in this form. It took about 4 sessions to complete.

Sanded to 400. Finished with 2-3 coats of Antique Oil. About 5" tall and 4" at the widest.

C & C welcome, as usual. Thanks

http://members.cox.net/cabletech/segment2.jpg

http://members.cox.net/cabletech/segment3.jpg

[Don Alexander]

i am far from an expert having turned a total of 1 bowl :D:D

to me the way the grain is in the majority of the wood gives it a very interesting multi-faceted look and to my rookie eye is even more interesting than the intended accents
i think it looks pretty good :)

[John Hart]

Well worth the trouble..(at least from my perspective :D) A very handsome piece for sure.

[John Keeton]

Very nice choice of woods, Scott. These segmented pieces apparently take a tremendous amount of time, and I guess that is why I have not developed an interest in them. If I am going to do that much precision cutting and glue up, I will just do a piece of furniture!!

Anyway, you did a nice job on this piece, and the slash marks are an interesting touch. I like the walnut rim.

[Frank Van Atta]

Good looking piece; the paduak "slashes" are a nice touch.

[Michelle Rich]

I thrive on segmented turnings..600-800 pieces is fun to me. So I will give you my best shot here:I think you tried to make too many things for a 3rd bowl/vase. A simple 2 color (the body & rim) would have been a-ok for a 3rd attempt. One must learn all the little things to get the shape & good joinery..then one can go for all the design elements. .Keep at it, and get comfortable with the process and take it little bit by little bit....I'm going to load up a pic for you to see where making a lot of vessels gets you in the segmenting game. Good luck & hope to see some segmented projects from you in the future

[Scott Hackler]

Thanks for the comments and the advise. Its all welcome. I cant say that it was entirely unpleasant to make but very tedious and the part I dont like about segmenting is the time involved between glueing stages. (too used to slap the blank on the lathe and turn away).

The next one (down the road) will have to be planned better and larger.

[Richard Madison]

Scott, A lot of segmenting is Tedious and Repetitive work. And/but hollowforms also seem to require a good bit of T and R work. Come to think of it, life in general takes a lot of T & R between the fun parts.

[Bill Wyko]

You're off to a good start. If you get a chance, check out Malcolm Tibbetts book. Also a tribute to Ray Allan. There is a lot of good info out there on segmenting. Be careful though, it's quite addictive.:D

[Michael Short]

Scott,

I thought that doing one would get it out of my system. I have done six now and working on number seven... I am hooked on them as there are so many choices and designs that you can do. Great job on your 3rd piece.

[Richard Madden]

I think you have done a great job too. I'm wanting to give segmenting a try someday, some staved vessels are as close as I've come so far.

[Robert McGowen]

WARNING - retired person with nothing to do writing a long response! :D

Scott, I am glad that you are sticking with the segmenting. You seem to have a knack for it and, hopefully, your patience is improving also!

A couple comments based on what you are saying in your posts. Realistically, you should be able to easily make this in a half day or so. I personally would do it in the following steps.

1. Cut out and glue together the first ring.
2. Cut out and glue together the second ring.
3. Cut out and glue together the third ring and whatever ring towards the top of the form that is the same size.
4. Mount the base on the lathe and turn it so that it is ready for the first ring.
5. Cut out and glue together the fourth ring and whatever ring towards the top of the form that is the same size.
6. Glue the first ring to the base.
7. Glue the second and third rings together.
8. Cut out and glue together the fifth ring.
9. Turn the first ring round.
10. Glue the 2nd and 3rd ring to the newly turned first ring.
11. Glue the 4th and 5th rings together.
12. Cut out and glue together the 6th ring.
13. Turn the 2nd and 3rd ring round.
14. Glue the 4th and 5th rings to your vase.

15...... you get the idea. You really won't have any down time waiting for glue to dry until maybe the last couple of rings. I use Titebond II and if it is warm, I can turn within 15-20 minutes of glueing. (You may want to wait longer, this is just the way I do it.)


Also, the overall form of your vase is the most important feature of the vase. If the form is correct, it will look good without any additions. If it is off, then it will never look right, even with a great feature ring. I would suggest you make several vases with some really nice wood and just concentrate on the overall form. You will be surprised how fast you get and how nice your pieces will look. I personally had 3 segmented vases in a gallery. Two had feature rings, etc. and were a pain to make. The only one that has sold so far is one made completely of cherry that had some of the sapwood mixed into the segments that gave it a really nice look. It was also by far the easiest one to make!

Keep up the good work and good luck with it.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Scott, when I first started “turning” I was hooked mostly because of the immediate gratification factor. After spend many years as a hobbyist woodworker where a furniture piece could take weeks or months, I was thrilled to be able to complete something within hours. Then I started fooling around segmented stuff. Before long, I was back to projects that required weeks of effort – so much for “instant gratification”. But while I now have to wait for my reward, the reward (at least to me) is so much greater. If you decide to continue with more segmented projects, you will discover endless techniques that allow you to speed the process and improve the results. You will never run out of options or things to try. Endless possibilities keep me fascinated with this art form.:):):)