Fuson-Cothren Collaboration

[Mark Cothren]

Mike Fuson surprised me a week or so ago and sent me this glued-up piece of maple and walnut:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/markfromark/woodturning/KentuckyGoody1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/markfromark/woodturning/KentuckyGoody2.jpg

I started on it yesterday and was able to finish it up today. It ended up 8" x 8". Thanks to Mike for doing the hard part!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/markfromark/woodturning/WalnutMaple01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/markfromark/woodturning/WalnutMaple02.jpg

[Jon McElwain]

Beautiful hollow form. Looking at the second picture is sort of mesmerizing when I stare at it! Boy, the curves have to be perfectly fair or else the lines formed by the segments in the piece reveal inconsistencies. Graceful lines as well, the shoulders are not too high, nor does the piece feel squatty.

Did you do any additional work on the inside? I see that the segments are assembled as concentric rings rather than glued up angular rings. Where the maple and walnut pieces assembled breadboard style, then cut into rings with a router or bandsaw or something like that? What is the finish?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats to both of you on creating such a beautiful hollow form! The shape looks perfect to my eyes! Seriously - absolutely love it!

[Mark Cothren]

Thanks Jon. Yes, I turned/hollowed the inside. I used Antique oil for the finish. You'll have to wait on Mike Fuson to supply the details on the construction. All I did was make it round(er)...:)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mark I take it that you received it completely glued up or were the individual rings glued up and you turned and glued as you went?

Very nice geometrical feeling to it. Like one other person said..it could be mesmerizing. Excellent duet!

[Norm Zax]

Mike - Perfect glue up! Segments look (industrially) straight. Is it just hand to eye coordination or do you have it centered on a pole for example.
Mark - great follow up. Now, who gets to keep the result? Will it travel every 3 months?

[John Keeton]

Two masters at work!! Great combination of talent, and a beautiful result!

[Roger Chandler]

That one is an eye catcher for sure! Great glue up Mike! Mark, you nailed the form on this. A super piece that is suitable for display anywhere!

[Ken Hill]

Very nice! Its hard to look at for a period of time haha

[Mark Cothren]

Mark I take it that you received it completely glued up or were the individual rings glued up and you turned and glued as you went?


It was all glued up, Ken. I just chucked it up and went at it. Like I said, Mike did the hard part.

[Bill Bulloch]

A job well done by both of you.

Mark, I really like the shape of that thing.

Mike, did you turn out the middle of the larger pieces and use them for the smaller end pieces?

[Richard Madden]

Excellent work from the two of you. Looks like a perfect glue-up of the segments, and the turning couldn't be any better!! Love the shape.

[Thom Sturgill]

Very nice. The form is as close to perfect as it gets, and the glue up is precise.

[Doug W Swanson]

You guys did a great job on that! The form is excellent and the glue up is perfect!

[Josh Bowman]

That looks like fun. Great job.

[bob svoboda]

Really nice work on both your parts. Kind of looks like the checkers will fall off though....:D

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice combo of woods. Mark the form and finish look great.

[Baxter Smith]

Very impressive work on both accounts!

[Jim Burr]

Amazing joint effort with equally amazing results! Well done guys!

[Tim Thiebaut]

Unbelieveable....that is just amazing, I dont think I would have the patience to cut and glue all of that together, and what a great job turning as well, the shape is perfect to my novice eyes, awesome job to both of you guys!

[Quinn McCarthy]

Great job on the vase. Nice allignment between rings.

Quinn

[David DeCristoforo]

Super sweet form. Not a big segmented fan but you gotta love this one! The "side" view is extra nice because it looks like the segments wrap right around the form. Very nice!

[Curt Fuller]

I was impressed by just the glued up piece, before it was turned. But I've seen pics of Mike's cabinet work so I know he's a master craftsman when it comes to fitting pieces of wood together. What really impressed me though was that he could glue up a masterpiece like that and then give it away. Just goes to show the faith he had in Mark's turning skills. That's one of the best collaborations I've seen.

[Dan Forman]

That's gorgeous, like the way it was glued up and the form is wonderful.

[Mark Cothren]

Oops! Gotta correct myself - after Mike corrected me. This is maple and AFRICAN MAHOGANY - not walnut. I guess I should have read his note he put in the box a little more carefully...:)

[BILL DONAHUE]

Wow! That is really stunning. It's the kind that a person likes to pick up and study.

[Michelle Rich]

Mike did a beautiful job laying this up for you. It's horribly hard to get one as perfect as this. Terrific job, Mike. Great turning work too. Nice shape & great finishing.

[Mark Burge]

Fantastic work. Now you should turn a set of chessmen to glue to the side!

[mike fuson]

You did it justice Mark. The form is better than what I layed out in the glue up plan. As far as construction went, I cut the pieces into discs and mounted each one to the lathe with double stick tape. I used the parting tool to cut the discs into rings and just stacked and glued. A lot easier than the average segmented piece.

[Dennis Peacock]

Beautiful work Mark...! Mike does very nice work as well. What a nice combination of effort to come up with something so pretty.