Forest of Finials

[Mark Hubl]

All the wonderful finials, pedestals and ornaments that you fellas have posted lately (plus meeting Cindy D at SOFA and seeing her work up close), have reminded me that I really like these forms and need to get better at them. So a practice session was in order.

I have a bunch of pen blanks laying around the shop and decided these would make good candidates for some practice. Churned out a few. My main objective was to work on my technique and use a new grind on a spindle gouge. I didn't really focus on design and just free wheeled. More practice is in order, but I am getting a bit more comfortable doing these. I am going to have to work on finishing the bottoms. The blanks for this practice batch were just not large enough to concentrate on the bottom.

These are between 2 1/2" and 5" tall. The thin sections on most are 1/16" to 5/64"s. The wood is walnut, cherry, ash, locust, beech, maple and aromatic cedar. All but the locust worked pretty well.

Thanks for the inspiration.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4091/5217301546_b8f9d2a446_b.jpg

[Norm Zax]

They all look great (I'll only exclude the small maple one). Practice does raise security levels, doesnt it!
One small remark: after spending the time on those, its a pity you didnt give them all a small tenon, allowing them to be used in the future on lids. Judging by their base, you can still pull it off with most.

[Chris Fournier]

Would not want to sit on any of those!

[Ken Hill]

And Cedar to boot! My hats off to you!

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Very nice job Mark, It looks like you are perfecting the art of combining Spinny Things with Pointy Things.:)

[John Keeton]

Mark, looks like you have really accomplished some great tool control. I certainly would agree that it is a shame these were not finished off for use at some point - nice work!

[Thom Sturgill]

Mark, considering the date, you should try turning these beautiful finials into icicles. Make some great ornaments!!

[Harvey M. Taylor]

Mark, your 'practice sessions' are way ahead of my serious turning. Nice work on all, Max.

[Tim Thiebaut]

These are just stunning to me, I love them, my wife was looking over my shoulder a few minutes ago and had to comment on them as well, very impressive!

[bob svoboda]

Time well spent, Mark. You definitely have the touch.

[Curt Fuller]

They're all great but the 3rd from the left really grabbed my eye. That's really an interesting one. Excellent practice work for sure.

[Tim Rinehart]

Lots of good variety...I'd say your practice is or has paid off well.
I think that's a great idea for some pen blanks that are just sitting around ... just make lots of little chips from them and see how far you can go with limits of finial finesse.
Well done!

[Jim Burr]

I kept moving from one to another thinking "oh...look at that one...no wait, that one..." I'm printing this out and hanging it in the garage for reference:D

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

I like them all, however I find myself most attracted to the second from the right. The lines in the center are delicate and pleasing to my eye. Nice job on all of them.
faust

[Bill Bolen]

Congrat's on a great practice session. They are all very attrractive and pleasing to the eye...Bill...

[John Terefenko]

OK lesson over you have graduated. If you did not mention they were pen blanks I would have swore they were larger in size. Nice work and nice touch. Yes find some ornaments and put those on them. Thanks for showing.

[Mark Hubl]

Thanks all. These are pretty addictive and there is nothing like practice to improve your skills. These are a good warm up to a turning session. Chuck one up and in 15 - 30 minutes you get your muscle memory up and running.

May re purpose one or two of these, but most likely will sit on the windowsill by the lathe for guidance.

John K, Do you use your Vortex tool much? I fabricated one but only used it to get the really fine cut at the detail transition. I did this practice batch using just a 3/8 BB spindle gouge with a detail grind. Worked well.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Mark those are great looking finials. Really well done.

[Scott Hackler]

Mark, those are real nice. I particularly like the second and third from the right. My only suggestion is that while practicing these, go ahead and turn a tenon on the bottom so they could be used, if you wanted too.

Very nice.

[Richard Madden]

That's a great way to learn and practice. I know that I should do the same thing, just to feel more comfortable with technique and tool control.

[George Guadiane]

Nice work!
Make them into something for later use. Icicles was a good suggestion.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Great job on some thin finials. Looks like a great Illina Woodturners Club demo. Where are you hiding all the broken ones?;):D

[Mark Hubl]

Where are you hiding all the broken ones?;):D

Well Bob, You asked for them. The good news is there were not too many! Of course the shorter ones were design opportunities as well.:D

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/5218917236_4783ab1d4f_z.jpg

[Rick Robbins]

Those are sure nice. look's like a challenge. sharp tool's and steady Hand. Rick:)