Bowling pin hollow form???

[Jerry Marcantel]

Monday I decided I would try to do a deep hollow form in Mesquite. So, I grabbed a 6" x 15 1/2" log.187063 .
After turning it round, and turning tenons on each end, it was time to drill my pilot hole.187064
I drilled in about 7" deep187065, and then cut it into two 7 3/4"long pieces. Next step was to hog out the innards of the bottom187066, that ended up a little over 6" deep and 3 1/4" id.187067. I turned a female rabbet, and started the top. I hogged it out the same ID as the bottom and made a male rabbet. After putting the 2 pieces between centers, I then cut a 1/8" wide x 1/8 deep groove to accept a twisted copper ring, made of 14 gage wire and soldered to form a cosmetic ring at the split of the top and bottom pieces.
Boy, I really had trouble soldering the wire. I guesse I'm not as young and stable as I was when doing jewelry repair 15 years ago. I used gold solder, and lost at least 6 pieces before getting them on the wire. I was shaky, and even with the loupes, I coud barely see the ends of the wire.. Got it soldered, and put it on. It was a tight fit as I made it short, and when properly annealed it can be stretched some. I assembled the two halves, and stupidity took precedent over common sense. Instead of setting the wire in epoxy like my plan was, I wanted to see if I could knock the high spots off the wire after the CA dried.

It went pretty well, but I decided I wanted to take off another fraction. The wire split at the solder joint, and flew off the piece.This picture shows the copper around the pin after it came off, and is loose in the groove.. Now I have a problem because the 2 halves are glued together, and I can't possibly make another ring and make it look right. So, I turned the groove off the piece, and proceeded to reshape it..... What do you guys think? It's nude mesquite, 14 7/8" tall, 3 5/8" at the mid section, and probably has a quart capacity.187073187074 Jerry (in Tucson)

[Michael James]

" and stupidity took precedent over common sense" I can feel your pain brother. I'm making a commitment to muzzle that adventurous part of me that thinks, just this time Im going to get away with "fill in the blank" and of course disaster is the result. Im sure there are some creative ways to mask the seam, or recut and splice a piece in there, or.......
Too bad, cuz that is a very cool concept. Thanks for sharing!
mj

[John Keeton]

Jerry, it still came out pretty neat! And, you could still turn a slight recess and fill it with something if you want. I have considered some ideas that involved double turnings like this to create a hollowed form - thre is more to them than one might imagine, and you did a good job on this one!

[Mark Hubl]

Jerry,

Sorry to here about the mishap. I really like the form and the wire idea was neat. I have only done one piece where it was joined like that. I incorporated some pyro to hide the seam. It worked ok, although the piece wasn't all that. If you do another you may want to consider a neck/shoulder line join. It may be easier to incorporate a design element a little higher up than the belt line. Just thinking the ole 1/3 - 2/3 philosophy. Nice project.

[Darren Jamieson]

I like the end result but it was really looking good with that ring in there. Too bad it didn't work but at least wood is (hopefully) free and the turning is just plain fun.

[Jim Burr]

That is really cool Jerry! Very nice shape and it sure beats trying to hollow it in one piece!

[David E Keller]

I really like this idea, Jerry. Too bad about the wire mishap, but the form is very appealing to me. This one goes in the 'inspiration' folder... Thanks.

[Baxter Smith]

Very neat Jerry. Agree with John about the inlay or perhaps you could try burning something there.