Segmented turning

[Montgomery Scott]

A friend's mom allowed me to haul away the flowering cherry tree that she planted when they first moved into their house 40 years ago. The tree was starting to die so it was time to come down. She gave it to me with the proviso that I make her something from the wood.

Besides the cherry, there is gabon ebony, cocobolo, eastern maple, mexican bocote, african paduak and santos mahogany. It has 428 pieces to it. Finished with lacquer. 12' diameter x 11" high.

193695

[Rick Huelsbeck]

I'll be glad to let you cut a tree down on my property if I can get something like that. That is absolutely beautiful. I bet you she did not have anything like that in mind when she made that statement.:)

[Dan Hintz]

WOW! Not much else I can say.. the shape is great, the colors vibrant... wow...

[John Hart]

Beautiful work!!! And a nice trade....for both sides. ;)

Do you do extra drying for a tree you cut down to be compatible with other (assumed kiln-dried) species in the form?

[Jim Burr]

All I have are palm trees, but your welcome to any of them!! Absolutey beautiful!!

[Roger Chandler]

That vessel is 428 pieces of stunning! Super nice!

[Montgomery Scott]

I milled up the logs into ~1" thick board sections. Let it dry for a year. Joined one face and planed a bit off the other side. Let it dry another year. Milled into 3/4" x ~1" lengths for the rings and went at it. It was stored in the shop with the rest of the materials the entire time.

Just two weeks ago I got another cherry fruit tree from a friend's neighbor. He estimated the tree to be ~55 years old. It was ~2' diameter and had wonderful color throughout. Good healthy fruit trees normally have very little heart wood, but this tree was so old, it barely produced fruit and apparently was using more energy to develop the wood rather than fruit. There is virtually no sapwood in it. That makes three large cherry trees and one large plum tree I currently have in various stages of drying in my shed and shop.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Montgomery, very nice piece of segmentation.

[John Hart]

I milled up the logs into ~1" thick board sections. Let it dry for a year. Joined one face and planed a bit off the other side. Let it dry another year. Milled into 3/4" x ~1" lengths for the rings and went at it. It was stored in the shop with the rest of the materials the entire time.

Holy smoley....you are a man of patience....but then, that's what it takes to do segmenting fer sure. Believe me...I know. My segmenting attempts look more like a split-rail fence....or worse.

Here's one of my latest works in use by the new owners. I donated it ;)
193717

[Tim Thiebaut]

That is beautiful, I can not even imagine the amount of work that goes into something like that, incredible, very well done.

[John W Dixon]

I'll be glad to let you cut a tree down on my property if I can get something like that.

I had to laugh as that was the first thought that came to me. That is really beautiful!

[David E Keller]

I'd make her a pen and keep that beauty for myself! Nicely done!

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beauty. Well done. I am not sure I could give that one away. Like David said make a nice pen and pencil set.

[Jon Lanier]

Wow... I concur with the responses. It's a beauty.

[Michael Short]

Beautiful !!! Mom should be proud.

[David DeCristoforo]

Not usually a big fan of segmented work but sometimes a segmented piece just hits the right note in my mind. This is one of those. Absolutely beautiful work.

[Baxter Smith]

Very nicely done!

[Dan Forman]

What a nice memorial of her tree. Beautiful work.

Dan

[Keith E Byrd]

That is an outstanding turning - fantastic design, shape etc -great job.

[Michelle Rich]

wow, that is a stunner. Great color combos..your featureband is quite appealing. A#1 vessel, with great shape, and a great finish. What a lovely gift.

[Robert McGowen]

Very nice. The finish really shows off the piece well.

[Montgomery Scott]

Thanks. The finish itself took me a few weeks to build up. I started with two coats of hand applied lacquer. As you probably know African paduak bleeds like crazy so I apply a couple coats to seal the surface from bleeding problems. I shot about six coats of gloss lacquer and cut it back a bit each time to fill in the paduak pores a bit as they tend to collect dust over time. Lastly I shot two light coats of semi gloss to reduce the plastic looking surface and hide some of the imperfections. I'm also not a big fan of super high gloss for most of my pieces, though I have done it on request.

[Montgomery Scott]

Thanks. I bought your book shortly after it came out and was astounded not only at the imagination but the execution of the pieces and often wondered, "how the hell can that be done??"

I started becoming interested in ST after I read the article in the 1985 issue of FWW that had an article on it as well as the article on that fabulous Nolan quilted Honduran mahogany. I'm still a wood butcher for most of my stuff, but learn a little more every time I try something new. This time I found when you cut 1/4" x 1/4" pieces I better make sure the fit is exact before doing the glue up.

[Bill Wyko]

Absolutly georgous. Very well done. Forget cherry's, she should go banannas over this.

[Joe Scarfo]

WOW.. that is beautiful... some day I hope to learn to build and turn segmented bowls...

12' diameter.. man that baby is huge... :-)

[Doug Reesor]

Great piece of work. I like the idea of including the memory wood within the pattern.