Walnut Form Revisited.

[Nate Davey]

I lurk on a pipe makers forum. I'm not a pipe smoker or maker, but I love what they do with dyes and hand tools to the briar to make the pipes so beautiful. I was looking at a post of their respective work shops, and one of the things I noticed was a lot of them had a comfortable chairs they would sit in to do their hand shaping and sanding, which seemed like a good idea to me. This form is one I did some time ago, and put it up on a shelf unfinished, not sure why. I've been having trouble with scratches on my turnings I don't see until I'm into finishing. So, I found one of my comfy patio chairs, sat in the sun and resanded this by hand. It is 9" tall and 3.5 wide. Hand sanded to 400, then 5 or six coats of Tung oil. I think I will do the power sanding on the lathe then make myself comfortable and do the fine sanding and see how that goes. I also played around with my camera settings. Here's one with the flash and one without using a 5 second shutter speed. Comments and criticism appreciated.

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[Jim Burr]

Really nice overall form Nate. I'd like to see a little tuck to foot so it doesn't look plunked down. Sometimes a little upturn on the mouth looks cool, sometimes not. Cool chunk of wood!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really a nice looking piece Nate. Nice finish and form.

[John Keeton]

Nate, I happen to be one of those that doesn't like the artificially tucked base on forms that so many folks talk about. In a true parabola or catenary curve, if one truncates the curve low enough (small enough base) then there is an accelerated curve. However, seems most folks that "tuck" the bottom do a little too much for my tastes. And, pics can be deceiving and sometimes if taken at a slight downward angle they can make the base look splayed out a bit. That may be what Jim is referring to. The form does seem to flatten a little at the bottom, and a little more curve inward wouldn't hurt.

I love the wood on this one. I know I do things differently, but I don't power sand any of my forms - bowls and platters is a different animal. Hand sanding works so much better for me and I achieve a smooth finish much quicker. It may be the smaller radius curves involved in forms vs. bowls and platters.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nate - looks like your efforts in sanding paid off!

Maybe its just me, but I do not like to use a flash when taking photos of my work. In my opinion, it washes out the color and the finish reflects the intense light back in such a way that you lose all of the natural warmth of the wood. When taking long exposure photos, make sure that you take a few shots with different settings so that you find what works and your photos have the correct exposures; not to dark or light.

[Joe Watson]

I think it looks good (like the image on the right better)... so did all this chair mumbo-jumbo work out for you ???

[Kathy Marshall]

Nice job Nate! Sure is some pretty wood! I like the 2nd pic best.

[Michelle Rich]

You have sun? lucky devil, to sit out in the sun & sand! Very pretty tall vessel.

[Nate Davey]

Thanks all for the comments.

Jim B. and John K. I think the ungraceful form bottom is probably why I put it on the shelf and never finished it. This is one of my first HF after making my boring bars.

Steve S. I usually shoot with no flash and bracket the exposure settings, the flash on this one was left on accidentally, so posted the pic for comparison.

Joe, If by "mumbo-jumbo" you mean "I was comfortable and I got a nice surface" then yes it worked:D. As this is only a couple hand rubbed coats of tung oil, I'm pretty happy with it and my knees aren't killing me from standing at the lathe.

Michelle, I wish we would have a winter here, but if it's going to be nice.....