Multi-Off-Axis Elm Hollow Form

[George Guadiane]

I did a demo on this at Totally Turning. At the end, I cut this piece off of the tenon (wish I hadn't done that), to show how I would do it.
The outside is all done between centers, mostly with scrapers. No special chucks or other fancy gear.
There are 3 outer axes in addition to the center. Ths was created by aligning the axws A/B - B/C - C/A in a series of re-orientations so that I could make the sides close to equal looking.
Eventually, I'll do a series of them, but they need to be hand sanded and wood selection is important, because if you get a lot of tear out, you'll never get a decent finish.

I sanded each side then applied some water based poly and sanded with the next finer grit. This is sanded to 400 with one coat after that.

4 1/2 inches high.

[Tim Rinehart]

George, that is very cool. :cool: I like the edginess to this form. Can I assume you didn't hollow multi-axis??;)

[Steve Schlumpf]

George - I sure like the form - especially the lip area! Very different and has a very nice sense of motion to it!

[Jim Burr]

That would scare me to death George!! Looks like the same movement from Madrone. Great piece!!

[David E Keller]

Very cool, George! I wish I could have seen the demo. Looking forward to seeing the series.

[George Guadiane]

George, that is very cool. :cool: I like the edginess to this form. Can I assume you didn't hollow multi-axis??;)

You assumed correctly, the hollowing was all done through the center, held by a OneWay chuck.


George - I sure like the form - especially the lip area! Very different and has a very nice sense of motion to it!

Like with my "OATS" stave segmenting, motion was the thing I was going for when I started experimenting with this, that and comparative uniformity. I see a lot of multi axis things that are just multi axis, even multi off axis, they look comparatively accidental to me. I wanted to see if I could make something like this turned out, something that looked more intentional to me, more uniform.


That would scare me to death George!! Looks like the same movement from Madrone. Great piece!!

The Madrone part made me laugh, I've seen wood nove a lot.
Nothing to be afraid of really, between centers, the process is really secure, just really BUMPY. Hard work on the arms and hands


Very cool, George! I wish I could have seen the demo. Looking forward to seeing the series.

I hope to do the demo again for others. When you see the steps and the blank, the intimidation factor really disappears.

Here are some views of a started piece and a couple of blanks that are ready to shape

[Baxter Smith]

Pretty neat! Thanks for the pics George!

[John Keeton]

George, I can honestly say this is one of the very few multi-axis turnings that I have liked!!! Excellent! Most of them just simply look out of balance and contrived. This one flows and is quite appealing.

[Brian Libby]

George, I really like turning. I attended that demo at Totally Turning and was glad to see first hand how it is done.
You gave us a lot of info in a very short time.

[Bernie Weishapl]

George that is a nice turning. I do like the opening/lip area.

[Jeff Nicol]

George, I am with John on this one also, most of the multi axis turnings are a little wacky and don't do much for me. But this one has fluidity and a style that does really make it move! It has a pod like natural vibe to it that I like, it is hard to replicate mother nature, but this method may be the way to do it. Continue th great works, can't wait to see some in darker woods, or I will have to try something myself.

Jeff

[charlie knighton]

very nice, thanks for sharing

[Bob Rotche]

Fascinating! I fully agree with previous posters that most multi axis turnings look contrived and done "just because I can". This one has a subtleness and artistic flow that puts it head and shoulders above the norm, plus you don't need any special gizmo to do it. Thanks for posting the second set of pics showing placement of centers- thats when the light bulb went off over my head and I had one of those, "why didn't I think of that!" moments. Will definitely have to give this one a try. If only I didn't have to go to work everyday...

[Dick Strauss]

George,
I've done a few multi-axis turnings like oval or rounded triangular vases that were hollowed on the central axis. Your piece is really nice and shows lots of movement or flow that mine never really achieved!

I used to sand them on the lathe in the 4 orientations (offset 1, offset 2, offset 3, and center) once I was happy with the overall shape. I left the extra wood for the head and tailstock chucking points and sanded all off-axis surfaces before turning and sanding the center axis (while the pice was gripped only by the chuck). You can also sand as you go but often you will have to sand one surface several times as you refine other surfaces.

Take care,
Dick

[Dan Hintz]

Interesting... last week on the WoodTurner's Workshop (PBS?) the guy was doing a multi-axis turning to make arms for miniature snowmen... I'd say they looked pretty close to being twigs.

[Chip Sutherland]

I agree with John. I like this one. I haven't been a fan of most multi-axis as it confuses my brain. But I see symmetry in this one. I think the AB-BC-CA orientation based on an equilateral triangle is probably part of it.

[John Hart]

Totally cool. I just gotta try it.

....maybe later. :)

[David DeCristoforo]

What I think is that the non-conoid un-equalaterism of the apexeses and the non-circularity of the transversal nodes combined with the flow of the A/B-B/C-C/A re-orientations of the offsets and the composite transformation of the rim combine to very effectively boggle my brain. So all I can say is that's really cool.

[Chip Sutherland]

Ouch...that response cost me a couple thousand of brain cells.

[John Hart]

What I think is that the non-conoid un-equalaterism of the apexeses and the non-circularity of the transversal nodes combined with the flow of the A/B-B/C-C/A re-orientations of the offsets and the composite transformation of the rim combine to very effectively boggle my brain. So all I can say is that's really cool.

Gnarly dude...you are like totally out there. I mean you are like whoa! You see what I'm sayin'? Awesome!.... Dude!

[John Keeton]

DD, and I thought I was good at linguistic confusion!!!

[David DeCristoforo]

"Awesome!.... Dude!"

Dude! Are you aware that, here in California we can have an entire conversation using only the word "Dude"?

"...and I thought I was good at linguistic confusion..."

Well... I was going to be a lawyer before I stumbled into woodworking! At least you get paid for linguistically confusing people!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

George,

Like some of the others, I am usually not a big fan of multi-axis turning as they seem to appear as though someone tried to perform an artistic contortion and really didn't quite reach the goal. At the same time, those objects don't seem to have any mechanical theme that pulls the contortions together.

Yours is the first one I truly like. The multi-axis turnings seem to flow from one to the other and belong together.

This one impresses me! Well done Sir!

[George Guadiane]

Thank you SO MUCH to all who have commented!
I'll post another group of pieces that will probably never get finished but that might give more of an indication of what I'm heading for.
Its really nice to hear that you can see my intention and that it pleases you, to ANY degree.
Other than the thumping one gets from "cutting air," it really isn't too difficult.
Perhaps I should do a demo video (along with the one on waxing that I promised).
Thanks again to all!

David D. WHAT??? (lol)