Boxelder hollow form

[Dan Forman]

A little different shape that the others I've done, made me wish I had a steady rest, will have to address that soon. About 6 1/2" x 5", form some wood given to me by Hayes Rutherford when I visited him last week. This is still green, with a couple thin coats of a Russ Fairfield finish recipe: one part pure tung oil, one part turpentine, and one part varnish, wiped on and wiped off. It will get several more coats when dry.

I originally meant to twice turn this one, but I think I got too thin on the shoulder, so went ahead and hollowed to final thickness of about 3/16" I have trouble setting the laser and visualizing the position of the cutter when it's well inside the form, and tend to cut deeper than I'd like. I have some work to do yet achieving a consistent thickness to the vessel wall.

I also have to get a new camera, as this one greatly restricts depth of field available; I currently can't stop down to smaller than f8, which is not enough to get the whole form in focus.

Dan

[Donny Lawson]

Looks to be a good form and the little defect in the second picture adds to the character of the piece.

[John Keeton]

It would be hard not to like this one, Dan!! Beautiful wood and a very nice form. That void is an eyecatcher - really adds interest.

[Roger Chandler]

That one is a keeper...........good form...........I have something similar in upcoming plans in my head.

[Roland Martin]

Nice form and a great hunk of wood, doesn't lack character for sure.

[Michelle Rich]

I think it's a real beauty.

[Russell Eaton]

Dan I like it. I am drawn to the forms with natural or unnatural inclusions. I think it adds a lot to the piece.

[Tim Rinehart]

Dan...I'm a big fan of boxelder and this is a great job. Gorgeous piece of wood, some figure and an inclusion...can't ask for much more than that.
I have a suggestion on the visualization of the cutter and alignment to the laser..as this is easy to get messed up on and then realize you've gone too thin...or left something too thick. My suggestion is to practice with a piece of wood that you've cut numerous holes (say 1" in diam) in various places all around it after developing the outside shape. As you hollow it, you will see both the laser projection and the tip of the cutter...depending on how you direct light to inside of form. Regardless, when you start getting down to those final cuts...you'll be able to see (through the 1" holes) how your expected alignment of the cutter to the laser worked out...or if you need to reset the laser differently because of the part of the tool actually doing the cutting. I have given a couple hollowing demos to our local clubs and developed this practice after figuring out how much easier it is to hollow a piece of wood with lots of, or big, inclusions.
Again...great job on this piece of BE...it really turned out well.

[Jim Burr]

You did justice to a fantastic piece of wood Dan!! That really is a great form!
I orientate my laser to whatever cutter section I'm using. You have 3 cutting sections on a straight cutter...front edge, middle and back edge. If you orientate your laser to one of those parts, you may have a better comfort level.

[steven carter]

Beautiful piece of box elder, and you did a great job with it! I like the form, and the finish really lets the wood speak for itself.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dan - I like the form and the wood is something else! Bet it looks great in person!

Figuring out how to adjust your laser just takes a little time but the key to the whole thing is to remain aware of what portion of the cutter is actually making contact with the wood. Here is a link to an old post that shows how I keep the cutter (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?116958-Captured-Hollowing-jig-with-Laser&p=1181609#post1181609) aligned.

[Dennis Ford]

That is a great hollow form. The nice wood just adds to the shape that you turned.

[charlie knighton]

very nice,....

[David DeCristoforo]

Beautiful, Dan! I love the unembellished "pure form" of this piece. The wood is nice too but the form sings.

[Mark Hubl]

Nice piece Dan. The form is very good and the wood speaks volumes. The box elder will look even better with more coats of finish.

[Ian Jeffcock]

Dan, Nice looking HF. I got a couple of pieces of the same wood from Hayes at the Bosch demo. Haven't had time to open them up yet.

[Hayes Rutherford]

Really nice to see what you did with some of that wood! I like that form. I personally would try to avoid the steady rest on a form of that size. Just bring the front section down to final thickness then your finish cut (or scrape) then sand, then proceed. I might be in the minority on that one. The next suggestion is what to do with your old camera. Pass it along to some dummy like me!

[Dan Forman]

Thanks everyone for the encouraging comments. I should clarify that my difficulty in working with the laser comes mainly from the fact that I seem to have very poor visual memory and spatial visualization skills, so that its hard to figure out how the cutter is oriented to the wood once it is no longer in sight. I try to use the angle of the cutting bar relative to the tool rest as a guide to where the tip would be relative to the wood, but then that angle changes during a sweep, I have a hard time figuring out where the tip is throughout that change.

The result is that I think I'm utilizing one part of the cutter, when in fact I am using another, and the laser is no longer indicating the true thickness. I have already made one "funnel" while doing this - a rather surprising development: to watch the neck of a vase mysteriously detach itself and fall to the floor. :eek: Luckily I was able to save the piece due to the location of the mishap, it just became a hollow form with a rather large opening, just above the widest part of the shoulder.

Tim --- I think I'll take your suggestion and drill the holes in the next one to let me watch what's happening inside as I go, or find a chunk with a big ol' gap in it. Hopefully that will be enough to get past this block.

Hayes --- I know we talked about the steady rest thing when I was up there, but on this form I noticed a lot more vibration, especially when hollowing, than I did on the other forms I've done, particularly farther out on the shoulder, but even closer to the axis near the top there was a lot of vibration when the cutter engaged. I think with a fairly narrow form, the farther it protrudes from the chuck the greater the instability when there is not external support. Maybe it's different too when hollowing end grain, as this one is, rather than traditional bowl orientation, that my others have been.

I do hollow just about an inch or so at a time, out the the final thickness, so that there is as much support as possible to prevent the whole piece from vibrating, and take small bites, but in spite of that, there was a lot of chatter in this one. Looking forward to your visit on Thursday. Maybe now I'll get my shop tidied up a bit. :D

Dan

Dan

[Bob Bergstrom]

Dan, That a real winner. Beautiful shape on some really nice wood. Thanks for sharing.