Question on hollow form turning

[Don Meyer]

I assume on deeper hollow form turnings that the pieces are turned on the lathe in a spindle turning configuration. I was wonderong when turning South Western style hollow forms how do most of you experienced turners orient your blanks. Do you turn them in a spindle configuration or as you would a bowl blank?

[Dennis Ford]

I prefer side grain orientation (like a bowl blank) when I get large enough pieces of wood.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Don - when I turn something that is elongated - like a vase - I turn it end-grain and that is mainly because of the strength of the wood. When turning something like a SW form - then that will be facegrain - but many times I rotate the blank when roughing it to take advantage of whatever the blank has to offer. Only main thing to take into consideration is that the wood will have two totally different looks - depending on how you orient the blank and you get to decide on how best to use the wood.

[David E Keller]

Steve pretty much said it all... I tend to turn a lot of burly stuff and gnarly stuff, and I'll position the blank between centers to take advantage of the best figure or to create voids in desirable places.

[Mark Levitski]

Main thing is the size, as Steve said. You have plenty of room with a larger blank (from a bigger tree) to turn it facegrain, i.e, bowl. If it is from a smaller piece of the tree, such as a branch, or simply from a smaller diameter tree, then you have to either turn a really small shorter facegrain form or a taller endgrain one. With facegrain one is limited by the diameter of the log/branch after the pith is cut off. In other words, the diameter can be no greater than the width of the log after you have cut out the pith. Ellsworth has created lot of very small SW type forms, but those and even most larger sized ones are face grain turned I think, mostly due to the diameter to height ratio. If you want a more elongated form, then as Steve again stated, end-grain, i.e., spindle, turning will do even for a smaller diameter log. Make any sense?