Dick Wilson
02-15-2012, 1:25 PM
Well, I done it again!!!! A turning trashed is a turning saved. Six or eight months ago I was hollowing this piece and I got an attack of the stupids. Note to self: "Turn the lathe OFF before pulling the tool out of the HF". :eek::eek::mad: Yup, I let the cutter touch the edge of the open. The cutter moved into the rim and I launced the piece. After it took a magnificant orbital arch and bounced around the shop I turned off the lathe and looked it over. What a mangled situation. I threw it on my bench with other rejects and moved on. A friend gave me a box of alabaster cut offs. An idea came to mind and I proceeded to "fix" it.
First I had to fix the top so I could glue in a plug to have a base to work with. I then put it back on the lathe between centers to sand out the many scratch marks. There was one gouge that ran around the piece that would have been impossible to fill and hide so I turned a recess. I then inlaid crushed alabaster and filled around it. I used a mult-surfaced base. I put a cap on top to hide the wood plug. After trying a number of finial designs I decided to use this multi-surface finial to bring it together with the base. What I really like about the alabaster is the colors really compliment the walnut. 10" x 5" approx. Comments and critiques welcome as always.
223805
First I had to fix the top so I could glue in a plug to have a base to work with. I then put it back on the lathe between centers to sand out the many scratch marks. There was one gouge that ran around the piece that would have been impossible to fill and hide so I turned a recess. I then inlaid crushed alabaster and filled around it. I used a mult-surfaced base. I put a cap on top to hide the wood plug. After trying a number of finial designs I decided to use this multi-surface finial to bring it together with the base. What I really like about the alabaster is the colors really compliment the walnut. 10" x 5" approx. Comments and critiques welcome as always.
223805