A Little Touch of Rose!

[John Keeton]

When Mike Cruz sent me this piece of sycamore, he asked that I do progress pics as I turned it.
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Well, I got into turning and forgot to take pics until Mike and I were emailing and he asked if I remembered to take pics!! Sorry, Mike!:o

At that point, I had already turned the form, and installed the collar. So, I will just have to "fake it" a few at the beginning.;)

Mike wondered if I could use the decayed part, with the voids, etc., as an element of the turning. In order to do that, it seemed a vase form would have been the natural choice. I have not done a vase, and do not particularly care for them.

I do like lidded HFs with finials, though, so, I decided to do a petite form! The sycamore has some neat things going on, including a little wiggly spalt line, so, I wanted to dress it up for the party with a little bit of pizzazz.:cool:

I decided to use a collar from some Rosewood burl, and perhaps include a burl inset in the finial. In order to create some additional interest, I want to do a sycamore lid to separate the various elements.

First step is cut off the rotten area, and turn some tenons on the remaining cylinder. I want a tenon on each end, as I am going to cut the cylinder into two sections - one for the HF, and one for the lid. But, now is the time to do both tenons.

Here is where I have to fake it! I failed to take a pic of how I did the tenons on the cylinder, but this pic should give you an idea. The section shown is for the lid, which has already been cut from the cylinder with the miter saw.

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If the piece is fairly rounded and true, I have had good luck simply jamming it against the open jaws of my chuck, with a piece of drawer liner for friction.

Easing up to about 500 rpm and using light cuts, turn a tenon. Flip the piece, chuck the tenon, and using the tailstock for support, turn the tenon for the lid piece.

Again, I failed to take a pic of the forming of the piece, so this pic shows the profile.

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I cut a recess in the face of the form for the collar. A piece of the rosewood was bandsawed into a round, jammed like before, and I turned a tenon for the chuck.

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Then, the collar was turned to snuggly fit in the recess, and glued in with epoxy. A profile was turned, along with a recess for the lid.
I wanted some "lift" to this piece, so even with the beading, the collar continues the upward curve of the shoulder of the form. I will add more lift with the lid and finial if all goes well.
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[John Keeton]

Next came the hollowing - not much to show here, except to brag again on Randy Privett's Monster hollowing rig!!:D Sweet!!
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The form was finished turned, sanded on the lathe, and then using my tailstock spindle adapter; I centered it up on my Holdfast vacuum chuck and finished the bottom.

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[John Keeton]

Time to fit the lid. Chucked up the piece that was from the top portion of the cylinder with the tenon formed from before. Turned it to fit per the digital caliper.
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Checked with the form.
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I am going to use soft jaws to turn the top side. Before parting it off, I need to turn the edge the depth I want, and establish the transition to the curvature.

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I start by getting a visual "feel" for the curve I want.

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Then I turn it, but remove it often to check the curve. Before removing, I place a pencil mark on the jaws and on the piece so that I get good alignment each time.
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[Roger Chandler]

Really pretty JK! Thanks for sharing the process. Once you get a finish on this it is sure to be a stunner!

That is a nicely figured piece of sycamore. Nice lace grain on it.

Before I got my comment posted, you had added other pictures. That is really nice. I notice you are using the soft jaws from Nova. Are you going to add additional steps to the finish than what is in the second set of pics?

More pics again. This must be the turning "diversion" from your other work in progress.....

[John Keeton]

And, that will do!

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I need a 1/4" hole for the finial.

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[John Keeton]

The finial will be African Blackwood, and I will turn it in stages with the rosewood inset. I have several pieces of Blackwood pen blanks from doing similar finials, so I chucked up one, and turned the face of it with an ogee - again to add a little lift to this piece.
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Next, I get an overall shape of the bottom section. I added a little wax for this pic so the shape will show. However, there is a lot more work to do before this will be finished. I have two 1/4" detail gouges - one with a more round nose. I flip it over and use the nose as a negative rake scraper to clean up the tool marks. Ultimately, everything on the finial is sanded to 2,000.

What is not shown here is the undercut on the finial in an ogee to match the top surface. That is done with the detail gouge with a pulling shear scrape using the lower edge of the gouge. DO NOT let the upper edge touch the finial!

There is an 1/8" hole in the base of the finial to accept a small section of dowel that is used as a "loose tenon" for the burl inset.
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The inset has a hole through the middle of it. It is rough turned here, and will get dressed up some and trimmed down to the proper size.
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The next section is turned from another pen blank. After roughing the blank round, it is drilled for the loose tenon, and then roughly shaped. I shaped the base a little more after this pic was taken.
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Then, it is glued on the burl and held by the tailstock.
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The finial is completed, sanded to 2,000, and a very short 1/4" tenon is turned on the bottom. I parted off with a detail gouge while at the same time completing the ogee undercut.

[David DeCristoforo]

Am I missing something? The top pic shows a tenon held in the chuck. The next two show the tenon being removed. Then, in the last pic, the tenon is magically back in the chuck again for hollowing!

[John Keeton]

And, this is the final product.
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3.25" wide x 4.5" tall. The finial is 2" long, and at the neck is .07" thick. Finish is lacquer, triple buffed with Ren wax.

Thanks, Mike, for giving me the wood and the opportunity for this turning.

[John Keeton]

Am I missing something? The top pic shows a tenon held in the chuck. The next two show the tenon being removed. Then, in the last pic, the tenon is magically back in the chuck again for hollowing!Good catch!! You must be one of those guys that watches TV and catches all the bloopers where the guy's tie was off in the previous scene but on in the next one.

I fixed it!!:o

[Karl Card]

Am I missing something? The top pic shows a tenon held in the chuck. The next two show the tenon being removed. Then, in the last pic, the tenon is magically back in the chuck again for hollowing!



Remember that John is in KY. lol Different things happen there...

[Roger Chandler]

I did not know you were posting pics in a series. Next time I will wait to see if more is forth coming.

Another beautiful work John. Pretty turning with a classic form and your contrasting collar and finial are setting it off. Good finish as well.......nice diversion from your "other work" in progress.

[John Keeton]

Remember that John is in KY. lol Different things happen there...So right, Karl....so, right. Only in KY can we do things backward and get away with it. This crew is too sharp for that!


......nice diversion from your "other work" in progress.Exactly, Roger!! I got past the 'fun part' on the other project, and my attention span is getting shorter!! I hope to get back to it and finish it this week. The base and flutes are done - just working on the remaining elements!

[David Christopher]

very nice John, by looking at the pics it must be small, how big is it, and what did you use for a finish ?

[David DeCristoforo]

Sorry. I didn't mean to be the "ah ha" guy. It's just that I was really enjoying the process you had lined out and that was a pretty obvious misfit. Oh, and BTW, that's a pretty sweet little pot!

[gary Zimmel]

Another sweet piece John. Thanks for taking the time for the progress pics..

[Steve Schlumpf]

Looks great John! Nice work on the process photos - explains a lot of the steps needed to complete a piece like this!

Really nice work! Where did you find such a big penny?

[Daner Steel]

Wow....You did one nice job on that.

[brian watts]

Thank U taking the time for the progress pics.. to show me how you did it. for me this help me to learn how to do it because i never turn something like that..

[James Roberts]

Great tutorial in a round about way, John, but you ended up right where i thought you would, with another beautiful piece. I often wondered how some of the two and three piece finials were done and this was very enlightening.

[Michael James]

Again...very nice piece. I've seen a ton of rosewood in my life and NEVER saw anything like that collar. Another awesome piece.
mj

[David E Keller]

What a great tutorial, and a nice looking turning to boot! I picked up a few ideas which I think will help me with future projects. Thanks!

[Curt Fuller]

That's a nice looking little pot and it's interesting to watch how someone else does it. No matter how much you've turned you can always pick up a trick or two by seeing how other guys do it.

[charlie knighton]

thanks for sharing, very nice

[John Keeton]

Thanks, guys, it was a fun little turning that didn't require a lot. Nothing to win awards with, but a great diversion from stuff I am not having fun with!

[Baxter Smith]

Thanks for the pics of the process. A lot of work involved in something like that. It made for some interesting reading.

[William Hutchinson]

Thanks for taking time to prepare the tutorial. Great looking piece. Those soft jaws come in handy along with the vacuum chucking system.

[Rex Guinn]

John;
I would not have thought of even using this piece of wood, just looking at it from the picture it looks to rotten. Guess I will have to start looking a little closer at the wood I have, maybe it will turn out to be worth saving. You always do such a nice job of turning and explaining what you are doing.
Thanks

15 miles from JK.

[John Keeton]

Baxter, William - since I have never had the good fortune of taking classes or having a live mentor, I have just kind of found my way with some of this. I am sure there are better ways to accomplish some of these tasks.

Thanks, Rex! The rosewood is some of the stuff that B. Pope had at the meeting a few months ago - beautiful stuff! Wish I had a chunk large enough for a whole turning, though it may be overpowering. Really sweet to turn, as well.

[steven carter]

John,

Great turorial! Good choice on the rosewood, it really complements the syscamore. It was really good to see the steps involved.

Steve

[George Guadiane]

And, this is the final product.
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3.25" wide x 4.5" tall. The finial is 2" long, and at the neck is .07" thick. Finish is lacquer, triple buffed with Ren wax.

Thanks, Mike, for giving me the wood and the opportunity for this turning.
NICE detail shots!
Even NICER craftsmanship IN the pictures.

[Michelle Rich]

very nice John. Appreciate the pictures. I find it hard to photo my work as it breaks my train of thought. Appreciate that you did so. The collar on this is quite interesting, along with the finial, it sure makes a nifty little pot.

[Allen Neighbors]

Just some very beautiful work!! I would be so nervous, trying to make a finial like that, I'd surely mess it up! How do you shrink your hands to handle something that small? :D
Thanks for going to all the trouble with the pics, John!

[Mike Cruz]

Wow, John, you couldn't have matched that Sycamore up more perfectly with another wood than you did with that Rosewood.

Yes, I was wondering how you incorporate the rotten/voided area of the blank I sent you because I thought it was so interesting. But you didn't need it...

Not that I'm not impressed with anything else I've ever seen you turn, but you've got my jaw on the ground with this one. Simply beautiful.

And the tutorial...omg. I couldn't have asked for more detail. Even without the begining pics, you gave more of a running report than I imagined. One thing I learned...I've got a LOOOOOOOONG way before even attempting something like this. Both in skill AND in how much of the vortex I can allow to suck into my wallet for the appropriate tools.

I am so truly happy that I sent that to you. I have some more of it (two more like I sent you, but without the rot, and one 11 3/4") and will have to put my thinking cap on.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for showing me your creativity and the process of it.

(Since you can't see it, I'll tell you...I am bowing)

[Mike Cruz]

Hey! Where's the artist statement for this one, huh?!?! :D

[John Keeton]

Thanks, for all the follow up comments, and kind words! Mike, so far as an 'artist's statement' - those take longer to come up with than the turnings!!:D;)

[ed hoxter]

looks like another master piece from john keeton. :D ed

[Bernie Weishapl]

John that is another wonderful piece. Really well done.