Spalted Maple and sLower Delaware Blackwood

[Baxter Smith]

Roughed out a small hollowform from some maple that was rotting in my unsplit woodpile last winter. Got a little overzealous while roughing under the shoulder:eek:, luckily it didn’t change shape very much while drying!

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12 ½ x 5 x 1/8 AO and Sharpie (Maybe someday I will spring for some real blackwood;))

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As always, critiques and comments welcome!

[Dennis Ford]

Very impressive execution of a great design. I love the inverted finial / pedestal.

[Jon Nuckles]

Very cool. I really like the full diameter platform at the top of the pedestal and the surprise on the finial. Great work!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really a beautiful piece Baxter. Finial and pedestal are very nicely done.

[dan carter]

Nice surprise on the finial. Good job.

[John Keeton]

Baxter, you have steady hands!! Great toolwork on this one. The little replication of the form in the double ended finial is just wonderful! You successfully carried the elements throughout this piece - just very well done! There is a lot more going on in that maple than just spalting - very nice piece of wood.

What kind of wood did you use for the finial and pedestal? It certainly held detailing!

[Mark Hubl]

That wood is beautiful. The pedestal and finial are well done. I like the way you repeated the shape a couple of times. I love the little mini, nice touch. The bottom of the form seems a bit blunt to my eye.

[David E Keller]

Very cool, Baxter! I love the little surprise under the lid. The finial on top is perfect for my tastes, and I like the main form a lot. If I were to change anything, it would be the pedestal... I'd like the pedestal to be a little smaller visually. It could be a little shorter or the onion a little smaller. Also, the area that joins to the form could be a little smaller. That's all really subjective, nit-picky stuff. That piece is a knock-out!

[Roger Chandler]

Quite a special work for sure! Baxter, the conceptualization of this piece shows such creativity on your part. The tool control is certainly outstanding.......the inverted finial as a pedestal, and the replication of the body on the underside of the finial, and all of it executed so very well. This is a well thought out, well executed, very creative piece.

You get kudos in my book for sure! An "R-teeest" resides in Delaware, and who knew it? :D

I am impressed by the vision you had for this........it is obvious that a plan must have been followed, as many steps were involved in carrying this form out to completion. I would say this has some Keetonesque characteristics in it, but it is certainly your own creation and such a fine work.

FYI, if anyone said I did a work that was Keetonesque, I would take it as a compliment for sure!

[Ron Stadler]

Wow, very cool Baxter, you and John are full of surprises, the finial with the suprise underneath I mean, thats really neat, and very delicate on both finials the mini and the full size one. I also like this form for something different.

[Curt Fuller]

Baxter, that is very, very cool! I love the little mini under the lid.

[Baxter Smith]

Thanks for all your thoughts. They are appreciated and helpful!!



Baxter, you have steady hands!! Great toolwork on this one. The little replication of the form in the double ended finial is just wonderful! You successfully carried the elements throughout this piece - just very well done! There is a lot more going on in that maple than just spalting - very nice piece of wood.

What kind of wood did you use for the finial and pedestal? It certainly held detailing!
Thanks John! Can't remember exactly, but I think the piece came from near a crotch section. The "sLower Delaware blackwood" is holly. Forgot to mention that in my original post.

That wood is beautiful. The pedestal and finial are well done. I like the way you repeated the shape a couple of times. I love the little mini, nice touch. The bottom of the form seems a bit blunt to my eye.
Thanks Mark. I would have made the base of the HF slightly smaller but....The main form was the last time I used a pine glue block.:) If I remember correctly, I used CA glue to attach and it may have come off at least once. I know for sure that the glue block split while rough hollowing and I had to CA glue the two halves together and true it up again before continuing. As a result, I was pretty hesitant to cut into it too much when finish turning. Fortunately, my hollowing skills have improved a little over the last 8 or 9 months and I got lucky enough to have it survive!

Very cool, Baxter! I love the little surprise under the lid. The finial on top is perfect for my tastes, and I like the main form a lot. If I were to change anything, it would be the pedestal... I'd like the pedestal to be a little smaller visually. It could be a little shorter or the onion a little smaller. Also, the area that joins to the form could be a little smaller. That's all really subjective, nit-picky stuff. That piece is a knock-out!
Thanks David, I think you are right about the pedestal being visually heavy and the top of it not quite fitting. To be honest, my design process for the pedestal was to hold the finished form over the top of the tablesaw at what I thought would be a good height and measure. Then I measured the width of the form and multiplied by 1.66. To keep the widest part of form at 1.66 times the width, I needed the pedestal to be the length I went with. That was about an inch more than I had visualized by holding it up. When basing a design decision based on my visualizing, or math, I have more faith in my math:D. I did draw out the shape of pedestal and onion to get an even flow into the form. It does look like it is off a bit though. I appreciate hearing about the nit picky stuff! It often points out things I don't notice, or at the least, helps validate my own impressions.:)

Quite a special work for sure! Baxter, the conceptualization of this piece shows such creativity on your part. The tool control is certainly outstanding.......the inverted finial as a pedestal, and the replication of the body on the underside of the finial, and all of it executed so very well. This is a well thought out, well executed, very creative piece.

You get kudos in my book for sure! An "R-teeest" resides in Delaware, and who knew it? :D

I am impressed by the vision you had for this........it is obvious that a plan must have been followed, as many steps were involved in carrying this form out to completion. I would say this has some Keetonesque characteristics in it, but it is certainly your own creation and such a fine work.

FYI, if anyone said I did a work that was Keetonesque, I would take it as a compliment for sure!
Thank you Roger, my occasional attempts at art are pretty primitive in comparison, but I do consider it a complement.:)

[Michelle Rich]

Well now, ain't this a kick in the pants. it's gorgeous. On or off the pedestal, it looks great.Is Mr. Keeton looking over his shoulder? :-) I have some waterbased black stain(yes they are getting blacker & deeper than years ago) that beats sharpies everyday for coverage. You might want to try that. Less time consuming to dunk it than color it in. Great save from the woodpile

[Rob Cunningham]

Really nice turning from some beautiful wood.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Bax,
You are "turning" yourself into one of our best. Great imagination making the tiny replica under the finial. The whole piece is very pleasing to the eye.
faust

[Tim Rinehart]

Outstanding creativity and follow thru on that! I kept going back to the little surprise, but all of this is very cool and well executed.

[Tim Thiebaut]

Man that is beautiful! I absolutly love this piece, just amazing...

[Baxter Smith]

Well now, ain't this a kick in the pants. it's gorgeous. On or off the pedestal, it looks great.Is Mr. Keeton looking over his shoulder? :-) I have some waterbased black stain(yes they are getting blacker & deeper than years ago) that beats sharpies everyday for coverage. You might want to try that. Less time consuming to dunk it than color it in. Great save from the woodpile
Thank you Michelle. Do you have any suggestions on any brand of stain in particular? I bought a couple different bottles of ink but they were flatter than the sharpie.


Really nice turning from some beautiful wood.
Thanks Rob. I have quite a few roughouts from that tree. It would have all ended up in the stove if I hadn't been too lazy to split it. Guess you never know where your interests might lead.


Bax,
You are "turning" yourself into one of our best. Great imagination making the tiny replica under the finial. The whole piece is very pleasing to the eye.
faust
Thank you Faust. Everyones help and support has been instrumental in anything I have done.


Man that is beautiful! I absolutly love this piece, just amazing...
Thanks Tim, I appreciate it.

Outstanding creativity and follow thru on that! I kept going back to the little surprise, but all of this is very cool and well executed.
Thanks Tim, it was fun to do.

[Brian Effinger]

Baxter, I really like the form of this HF, and the mini is way cool.

My only critique is with the pedistal (which is only my opinion). I'm just not crazy about it - specifically the transition from the maple form to the pedistal. It just seems like too abrupt of a change. Also, to me, it appears "upside-down". While it does reflect the finial very well, it just seems that the more delicate part shouldn't be at the base. I'd like to see the delicate part flare out into the base and not sit on the base. I hope that made sense. Again, these are just my subjective opinions, and I would be thrilled if I could create a piece as lovely as this is. :)

[John Keeton]

I bought a couple different bottles of ink but they were flatter than the sharpie.Baxter, when I have used black dye, I usually buff it with 0000 steel wool, repeat a time or two, and then spray it with lacquer for the shine. Seems to give a much smoother finish than the Sharpie, though for some reason the Sharpie does leave a kind of gloss.

[Baxter Smith]

....
My only critique is with the pedistal (which is only my opinion). I'm just not crazy about it - specifically the transition from the maple form to the pedistal. It just seems like too abrupt of a change. Also, to me, it appears "upside-down". While it does reflect the finial very well, it just seems that the more delicate part shouldn't be at the base. I'd like to see the delicate part flare out into the base and not sit on the base. I hope that made sense. Again, these are just my subjective opinions, and I would be thrilled if I could create a piece as lovely as this is. :)

Thanks for your thoughts Brian! The "delicate part sitting on the base" is the part that has bugged me the most since I did it.:) The taper of that little form doesn't seem to quite match, or the fact that it sits on the base turns me off. Regardless, I agree with you about it. Since I had made somewhat of a cows ear with the original form, I decided it was time to just move on!

I took a quick cell phone picture a few minutes ago to show the pedestal flipped to the "normal position". The little forms are now oriented in the wrong position but hope you can get the general idea of what it would look like. Since the form had a wide bottom to start with, my thought was to use the upward flare of the onion to try and minimize it by reversing the onion. Thanks again for your honest thoughts!
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Baxter, when I have used black dye, I usually buff it with 0000 steel wool, repeat a time or two, and then spray it with lacquer for the shine. Seems to give a much smoother finish than the Sharpie, though for some reason the Sharpie does leave a kind of gloss.
Thanks John. When you say dye are you referring to India Ink? I don't like the loss of smoothness when using the sharpie but traded that off for the little bit of gloss. I had tried to shine up a scrap piece with india ink by using Ren wax but that seemed to reduce the blackness. I will have to try the spray lacquer. I will try not to visualize making an irreparable mess!:eek: I am rather deficient in these subtle finishing skills but do appreciate the help!:)