Fluted Cedar

[Scott Hackler]

This is something new for me. I wanted to attempt a fluted vessel of sorts and this was the result. It was a learning process to say the least and I made more work out of it than I learned I needed to. Mainly because of the giant amount of hand sanding involved because someone used 80 grit drums on his die grinder to remove the majority of the stock. :( Seemed like the thing to do at the time!.

Anyway, here it is: Cedar and African Blackwood. 8" dia X 6 1/4" tall. Tung oil and wax.

Sorry about the pictures, I still haven't built a photo tent.

Comments and critiques are always welcome.

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[John Hart]

Wow Scott..that's very cool. You may not be happy with your execution, but it looks good from here. Nice leap out of the box :)

[Bob Rotche]

Beautiful piece, Scott! Love the originality. You mention that you were not happy with the results of your 80 grit drums- what will you use next time?

[John Keeton]

Scott, at least the cedar was easier to sand than would be some other woods! I really like the top form. The heartwood gives it some nice flow, and you did an excellent job on the fluting. IMO, the transition area at the top of the pedestal might work a little better if it flowed evenly into the bowl. I guess to do that, one would need to terminate the flutes a little sooner. I am still pondering the base. I really like it, and sometimes when I look at it, it works, but other times it is a little too much and detracts from the form. I haven't fully decided on that yet, but I am leaning toward liking it!

But, overall, I think you have a real winner here - good proportions, nice contrast, excellent work!!

[Jim Burr]

That looks cool Scott! Sounds like some new sandpaper may be in your future. Ya done good!

[Dennis Ford]

It is a beautiful piece. While your process may have involved extra work, your design makes excellent use of the heartwood / sapwood contrast.

[Tim Thiebaut]

You did very well on this Scott, I really like the shape and color of the pedistal as well.

[Michelle Rich]

I like the way you balanced the colors in the bowl and the base..Getting the fluting to be even all the way around is hard to do..so if you achieved that, bravo..

[Donny Lawson]

I think you did a great job on this piece. All the extra time looks like it paid off. Great work

[GLENN THOMAS]

Scott,

I give it two thumbs up. I really like everything about it.

[Tim Rinehart]

Cool job Scott! If I were to envision anything possibly to investigate, it would be a longer stem. The details are just spot on, typical for your work, but for my liking, this comes off a little too short for proportions of diameter.
Cedar can be a real challenge, did you have good success with the interior not tearing out ?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Scott - that is really some nice work! Love the flutes - in the form and matching foot! The pedestal works for me as far as color, simplicity of design and overall length but the transition at the top - where it meets the bowl - could be smoother in my opinion.

I do like this one! Looking forward to you building a photo tent!

Keep up the good work!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Scott that is a nice job. I do like the form and the contrast between the sapwood and heartwood. Overall really a nice piece.

[David Reed]

Wowzer, very nice diving into the fluting (or would that be flouting?). Anyway, it is an exceptional piece. The moulding is done very well with fine crisp details, really cool design and the wood grain and color really enhance the piece. I am in agreement that the pedestal could flow better at the bowl junction and I am no onboard with the base. It is also executed very well, just seems to me to distract my eye. Perhaps reproducing the shape in black may balance it better. Nice original design.

[Pete Jordan]

Very special Scott!!!

[bob svoboda]

I like the piece a lot. The combination of woods is great.

[David E Keller]

I really like this piece. The fluting looks really good, and I like the fact that you chose to repeat it on the foot. I'm with the others on the transition from form to pedestal, but it's a really nice looking piece as it is. Glad to see you've been able to get in a little shop time.

[Steve Vaughan]

That is one great looking piece. Love the fluting, something I've been wanting to try...now I'm just a tad closer to that edge!

[David DeCristoforo]

Really like this one, Scott. I have to agree with the comments about the transition between the bowl and the pedestal but it still works. There is one thing that bothers me and it's so small a detail that I almost hate to mention it. But what the heck... it's the sapwood on the base piece. I love the way the fluting is repeated in the base and it would seem like the "two tone" base should tie it into the bowl. But, somehow I am distracted by it. Great work nonetheless.

[Harry Robinette]

Now thats called really cool, I really like the fluting job you did, but ain't it hard crawling out the box. Scott you did good but now your expected to stay out of the box.

[Kevin Lucas]

Someone just showed one of those today at the monthly meeting. He tried grinding then gave up and went to using rasps and it turned out nicely.

[Mark Hubl]

Nice work Scott. Ain't sanding fun! I would say on the cedar 80 may have been aggressive, but you gotta remove the wood some how. I started by just sanding, but I am finding using a combo of things makes the work go better. Did you drill some depth guides?

Really cool piece, the flutes look great. They look to be even, straight and have consistent depth. Very good for a first piece, you have accomplished a lot here. My first pieces made it to the floor not a photo.

I am going to spend some more time staring at it, but I think the form is awfully good. The transition from the bowl to the pedestal looks to be a bit exaggerated, but this is one of the hard areas. Where the flutes come together, and how to terminate them is difficult. Did you check out any glassware shaped like this? I love the shape and think the piece would look great as a bowl. Is the base glued to the pedestal yet? Like David said, the colors are a bit distracting, can you turn it 90 degrees? Then the sapwood/heartwood would be running in the same direction as in the bowl instead of perpendicular.

Really nice work and a lot of effort. Well done.

[Scott Hackler]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. For a couple questions/comments.... I had originally terminated the bowl fluting before where the tenon "was". But after turning the tenon off and a transition for the pedestal.... well it just didn't look right with an area of smooth wood underneath.... so I sit it in my lap and slowly fluted the bottom to the transition. This time I DID use 120 grit sanding drums! I struggled with the transition point and deciding where terminate the fluting. My thoughts on this design were to elevate the "bowl" to highlight the texture. Same thought pattern on puting this on a pedestal. If it was just a bowl, the bottom would be hidden from view... so I wanted a slight platform. I purposely made the pedestal and base short for a visual stability issue. The bowl portion is still pretty thick (1/8" inside the flutes at the rim and 3/8" on the ridges, tapering thicker towards the bottom. So rather than a top heavy vessel, I opted for a wider foot and shorter pedestal. To see it in person and hold it, I believe this was the proper choice.

The flutes aren't perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact they all skew, slightly. But they all skew the same way! I tried to stay straight by using lines I drew with the indexing feature, but it really didnt help me that much while "carving" by hand/die grinder (meaning without using a jig or something to hold my lines perfestly straight.) Which is perfect for my taste, because I prefer a more natural / organic feel for my projects.

It is nice to finially get done with 99% of our rental property remodels and now I can get back to the lathe. I will be spending most of today out in the shop and it WILL be a good day! Maybe I will make some notable progress on the next "big" project that I started a while back. :)