A second pet urn

[Michael Armstrong]

Here is another pet urn. It is turned from maple burl with a soapstone lid. There is a corian insert in the lid that threads onto the body of the urn. It stands approx 5 3/4 inches high with the largest diameter being approx. 5". It has a capacity of about 31 cubic inches. It is finished with 2 coats of Minwax Antique Oil inside and out and then 12 coats of Deft semi-gloss lacquer on the outside.

I feel honoured that after posting the other urn on a different forum one of the members asked to buy it. His dog and best friend has cancer and they will need to make the very difficult decision to put him out of his pain soon.

Michael

[Tim Thiebaut]

This is very nice Michael, did you hand chase the threads in the corian? And did you turn the soapstone on your lathe as well?

[Michael Armstrong]

Thanks Tim. Yes I chased the threads on the corian and the boxwood insert that is inset in the top of the body. It has been fun learning to do the thread chasing. The soapstone was also turned on my lathe. I recently purchased a Rotondo carbide tool and I was really happy with how easily it handled the soapstone. I'm still using that same edge to turn some Polyester resin pen blanks.

Michael

[Tim Thiebaut]

I have been having some thoughts going around about turning Alabaster, I guess there is someone here in colorado that is a rather large supplier of it for turners. I think that at some point I want to try some of that, it never even occured to me that you could also turn soapstone, that gives me something else to think about. When I started turning back in Dec and was collecting the tools I would need/want I bought a set of Sorby thread chasers in 16tpi, I have tryed them a couple of times without any success yet, so I have put them aside for the time being...I have a lot of basics to learn, there will be time enough for learning to chase threads in a few months down the road. Did you use a glue block to hold the soapstone while turning?

[Michael Armstrong]

The chasers I have are 20 teeth per inch. Apparently that is supposed to be the easiest to learn. The material being threaded is a big factor. The boxwood chases nicely for the female threads and is recommended. I have chased male threads in blackwood but I find the corian much easier.

When I was working on the top I originally picked a piece of alabaster just because I wanted it to be different. The colour (pink) wasn't right for the Burl and the piece wasn't really large enough. My Rotondo cut it like a charm also. I had turned a piece before with regular tools and spent more time at the grinder almost than I did turning. You need to have a good respirator and dust collection for turning stone and the dust still gets everywhere.

I did start with the soapstone glued to a waste block. I turned the bottom and cut the rebate for gluing the corian insert. Once I sanded it I reversed chucked it on a tenon cut to fit the rebate and turned and sanded the top. I didn't know what to use to finish the stone but I wanted to keep the rough texture. I used three coats of wipe-on poly.

Michael

[John Keeton]

Michael, I really like this one, and it is timely for me. I am finishing an urn at the moment, in which I used ABS threads. I do have the 20 tpi chasers, but I have not tried them yet. Looks like I need to get some Corian scrap! Have you used Corian for the female insert in the urn?

[Michael Armstrong]

John:
I have only used the corian for the male threads but it chases so nicely that I can't see why it wouldn't work for the female as well especially when you are already using a different material for the male threads.

Too bad you weren't closer because I have quite a stash in my basement that I got when I thought I might use it to turn pens.

Michael

[John Keeton]

Michael, did you get the Corian from a cabinet top installer? My thought was to go to a place that does countertops to see what they might have.

[Michael Armstrong]

I got mine from someone who did the shaping etc for a kitchen and bath place. He had tons of scrap pieces that he was more than happy to give me. I'm sure most of the cabinet places are the same.

[John Hart]

I love the form, and the wood/stone matchup. Very nice piece for the mantel. :)

[Tim Thiebaut]

Michael, I forgot to ask, what type of glue are you useing to bond the corian to the soapstone?

[Michael Armstrong]

Five minute Epoxy

[Tim Thiebaut]

Wow that was a fast response...thanks!

[David E Keller]

Cool looking piece! I like the 'gourd' shape, and the threads look great. I'll second your thoughts about corian being good for threading... I haven't done anything practical with it, but I've done some practicing on it. PVC is also pretty nice for thread practice.