Lychee Vase

[John Hart]

Ok...The good doctor Keller provided me with a wonderful piece of Lychee....which I wisely did not do anything with, until I was sure what I wanted to do. This wood is an absolute pleasure to turn. It has the density of hard maple, and a great aroma, sands like glass, and it looks great too!! Thank you sir.

Mike Foster over on WTA suggested the Pedestal configuration, to place a bead below the onion, and a really cool base too. Hope I handled it ok.

So here it is...Lychee, Curly Maple, Walnut, with a Bloodwood finial that has a little maple doo-dad on top. I may change that doo-dad though.

It is 14"X4", finished with a couple coats of WOP and buffed.

Thanks for lookin'!! :)
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[Ed Morgano]

John,
That is gorgeous as usual! I have a question. You mentioned that you buffed this piece. Is that something you guys do by hand or under power or? I've buffed a lot of steel and Aluminum with buffing wheels and polishing rouge but no experience with wood.

[John Hart]

Thanks Ed. Yeah...buffing is a whole subject of it's own. Everyone has their configuration that they like. The Bealle system seems to be the most popular. Me? I just have a 1/4 hp motor with a buffing wheel attached to the shaft. With this piece I did not use a polishing compound, but there are three main compounds used most often. It's cheap to set up, and sure makes a difference.

[David DeCristoforo]

Sweet. The pedestal has it's own pedestal and the finial has it's own finial. That could lead to something...

But...

Either my eyes are playing tricks on me or the finial has a list to the "left". Either tell my my eyes are playing tricks on me or straighten that sucker up. It's messing with my head. I want to like this a lot but all I can see is the leaning finial...

[Ed Morgano]

Thanks John..... Sounds easy enough to do. I have a pile of buffing wheels. I think i'll mount a few on a mandril and put them in the drill press or between centers in the lathe.

[John Hart]

Sweet. The pedestal has it's own pedestal and the finial has it's own finial. That could lead to something...

But...

Either my eyes are playing tricks on me or the finial has a list to the "left". Either tell my my eyes are playing tricks on me or straighten that sucker up. It's messing with my head. I want to like this a lot but all I can see is the damn leaning finial...

Yeah...I see it too. Either it's crooked or the lid isn't seated right. It looked fine in the shop, but pictures tend to tell a better story. It'll have to wait till morning though, cuz I promised to watch a movie with my adoring family who just noticed that I've been missing for 4 days.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Cool Vase! You guys watching Rambo?

[John Hart]

Cool Vase! You guys watching Rambo? Rambo? Naw. We're watching Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure. None of us have ever seen it. Amazing.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Cool... Have fun!

[Jim Burr]

Pretty cool Hart...lots of similarities to your current vein of work, yet really different. More complex I think. Nice finish work by the way!

[David DeCristoforo]

"...Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure..."

Excellent!!! I hate to admit it but this is one of my all time favorite movies. It's sooooo dumb but funny as... well never mind.

[Roger Chandler]

Well, your "style" is becoming so unique that one can almost with certainty identify a Hart piece as your work without seeing who posted it..............reminds me of DD's "distinctly DeCristoforo," and your pedestal is unique to you and your form is also unique to you............what should we call it?

Hauntingly Hart? :confused: ..........somebody will have to do better than that one........for sure! Your work is uniquely Hart for sure.............

Maybe DD is better at alliterating names than I am..........

[John Keeton]

Hart, you come up with some wild configurations! Lot going on with this piece, but I kind of like it! I do see the leaning finial, but I am not sure what is causing the effect.

[David E Keller]

Very cool! This is a really interesting and complicated piece. I really like the top on this piece... I'm starting to think you should quit your job and turn full time. Just in case the misses asks, it was your idea.

I'm glad you enjoyed the lychee... It was the least I could do after you sent me an entire forest of cherry. As you said, it's a pleasure to turn and finish, and the coloring is pretty unique.

I kind of hate to see the turncation end... You've done some pretty amazing stuff in the past few days.

[Michael James]

Exceptional piece with a lot going on. OK, now I see the leaning tower of finial..hope it's just ajar. For my eye, it's a little too busy color wise, but I'm just a wanker so take it for what it's worth. Thanks for posting. Oh and I'll bet the family appreciates you coming up for air. (and good on David)
mj

[Ed Morgano]

Sweet. The pedestal has it's own pedestal and the finial has it's own finial. That could lead to something...

But...

Either my eyes are playing tricks on me or the finial has a list to the "left". Either tell my my eyes are playing tricks on me or straighten that sucker up. It's messing with my head. I want to like this a lot but all I can see is the leaning finial...

David,
Only you would see a list to the left when there is none. But, you did have me hold a piece of paper up to the monitor, using it as a straight edge, to make sure the finial was straight.....it is straight so your eyes are playing tricks or your monitor is warped......

[David DeCristoforo]

Maybe, maybe not... look at this, then you decide.

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[Baxter Smith]

Now this one is out of the ordinary. Even yours John! A unique piece to say the least!

[Karl Card]

Pretty intense piece there..... You turners that do these sorts of projects need to lend me some of your patience...lol

[John Hart]

Thanks everyone!! I had a nice relaxing evening. Watched a couple of movies with my girls...Bill And Ted's....then Coming To America. It was a movie-fest....and lot's of ice cream!! :)

I got up this morning and went out to the shop. Yes, the finial itself is listing. Very hard to see in the shop. I had to place it in a bunch of different settings to see it. The best place was on the lathe. That showed the list the best.

But with overnight reflection....I've decided to replace the finial completely. MJ made the point that the colors were too busy, and I had an idea. So I put the picture in Photoshop, copied the pedestal, scaled the copy down to finial-size, and decided that this would look best with a walnut finial that is a mirror of the pedestal stem. That's first on the list for this morning. I'll post the result.


Oh...and Karl....Patience has absolutely nothing to do with it. If you watched me work, "patience" would never enter your mind. :)

[Michelle Rich]

apparantly David & I have the same model monitor..the finial slants on mine too! This is another interesting shape you have come up with. It is becoming quite interesting to watch your pieces evolve over time. Beautifully crafted. I hope you keep posting & taking us with you on your journey

[Raymond Sprouse]

John, that is awesome. Great job.

[Cory Norgart]

Very nice John. I like how the long pedastel works its way into the form and then into a light finial. NIce!!!!! Finial is something I am trying to conquer right now, but they keep breaking on me:) Very nice.

[Jim Adkins]

Hart you've set the bar a little higher for all the finial guys.
Very nice fair lines from top to bottom and versa visa.
Good job.

[John Hart]

Geez...thanks everyone! Yer gonna swell my head. :rolleyes:

I finished up the new finial. Decided on a piece of brown rosewood, mainly because of the ingrain in walnut, and I didn't feel like chopping up big pieces of walnut to extract a little scrap of burl. But I thought this might match pretty good.

Anyway...here's the new pics. I took a couple of close-ups to show some of the detail. (close-ups are dangerous...so don't look too close ;))

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[David E Keller]

It's amazing what a small change will do to the overall look of the peice! I like this finial, but I think I like the doo-dad version better. The color scheme flows better now, but for some reason, I like the 'in your face' of the red finial. I'll bet I'm in the minority(where I'm most comfortable).

[John Hart]

It's amazing what a small change will do to the overall look of the peice! I like this finial, but I think I like the doo-dad version better. The color scheme flows better now, but for some reason, I like the 'in your face' of the red finial. I'll bet I'm in the minority(where I'm most comfortable).

I'm in total agreement with you. The bloodwood offered a little bit of toy-like quality. I think it made the piece funner-looking. But, a conservative approach is probably what interests most people....and if I'm going to quit my job to turn for a living, I guess I oughta do the voodoo that works so well. ;)

[Nate Davey]

+2 for the doodadded red finial. "Mongo Like Doodadded Finial"

[Ed Morgano]

Maybe, maybe not... look at this, then you decide.

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I stand corrected.

[David DeCristoforo]

Well Signor John, I have to say it looks much nicer with the vertical finial. I like this finial but I'm not sure I like it "better" than it's more whimsical predecessor. Overall, I think this could be the best of the pedestal forms you have posted to date.

[jwjerry w kowalski]

Another outstanding piece, I really like your transitions where the pedestal starts and stops along with everything else.

[John Keeton]

...a conservative approach is probably what interests most people....and if I'm going to quit my job to turn for a living, I guess I oughta do the voodoo that works so well. ;)Hart, ain't nuthin' conservative about this piece!!

[bob svoboda]

Another knockout. I'd love to see what you would come up with if you had like a week in your shop.

[Curt Fuller]

John, these pieces you've been doing have so much going on in them that it takes time to really appreciate all the work you put into them. I like the revised version of this one better but I think this form almost needs to be alone, without a lid or finial. You didn't post a pic without the lid but I wonder how it would look topless.

[Michael James]

John, I'm concerned. As an addictions professional I feel an obligation to point out that you are taking time off work to use lacquer. Now the lacquer is no longer an excuse as a finish, so you must just be huffing it. Pretty textbook ploy. Further evidence is when you do come out of your lacquer fumed shop, you claim watching Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure as quaility time with your family. Back to the shop and the condemning evidence is now you're taking desgn suggestions from a guy with less than a yr. on the board and no experience before that. You need help, sir. :cool:
Happy Holiday.
mj

[Cathy Schaewe]

That is just so unique - I love both versions!

[John Hart]

Thanks everyone! Sheesh. I forgot all about this thread!! Got too busy with...umm..stuff.
I'm not about to deny MJ's accusation, because denial is a clincher, so I'll just say, the design change was my idea, and I blamed it on him. Yeah...that's it.

I am going to try more of the multi-species finials once I figure out what I'm doing.

Thanks again. :)

[charlie knighton]

very nice, Lychee is it domestic???looks sorta like plum

[John Hart]

I don't know Charlie...it was a gift from Dr. Keller. He might have a grove of them in the back yard :)

[David E Keller]

It's domestic if you consider Hawaii a state. What? It is a state? Well then, it's a domestic. I got the blanks from a seller in Hawaii... It's lovely stuff!