What not to do.

[Ken Glass]

Hey Gang,
In the ever continuing pursuit to hollow thinner, I threw reason and sound judgement out the window and thought, maybe just one more pass. Famous last words spoken a lot, I am sure. Here was to be a nice Ambrosia Maple Hollow Form that I was going to finish and then turn a nice Acyclic Finial, intended for an upcoming show. Unfortunately it is now just an example of "What not to do." The only real loss is the time taken from rough turning, soaking in DNA, wrapping for two weeks, and then back to the lathe for finish turning, which is where it came in contact with my loss of reason. Lets see, the only good thing is I wasn't hurt when it decided to part its sides. C'est la vie.......

[Reed Gray]

Ken,
I can't tell from the pictures, but it looks like it broke rather than you making the inside bigger than the outside. Was it a flaw? Or a catch?

robo hippy

[Ken Glass]

Reed,
Neither, I just got to thin on a pass.

[Glen Blanchard]

Ken - It appears that you have a hollowing system. Were you using the laser at the time?

[Jim Burr]

Uhhh...Oops!

[Dennis Ford]

Not to make light of your misfortune; but this sort of thing happens. If you are not having any failures, you are not trying to improve.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Sorry about the cut through but......it's only wood. Besides, a good teacher told me if you don't blow one up once in a while you aren't challenging yourself. I'm not sure if that is valid. I must ask this question. Why would you use a mortise to mount a hollow form of that shape. It limits the size of your bottom to a fairly large size and some would argue it may not be the most secure way to hold the piece given how thin you want to make a hollow form. Had you not blown this one up, you were destined to have a pretty heavy bottom with what appears to be at least a 3" wide flat spot for a base. If you made the area around the mortise thin, you would be inviting the whole piece to be launched from the lathe.
faust

[Jeff Nicol]

I have seen that before! When I do have an "Inside meets the outside" moment that is the place it happens to me. The transition from the side to the bottom is the easiest place to cut through and on that form you were doing it is even worse due to the way the sides flow into a wider bottom and I goof up when I think I am moving across the base when I am still going down the side and that is when the worst happens. Since I use just hand hollowing tools this is when I slow down snd take a few more measurements and caliper checks so I don't blow up a hard fought battle on a nice form.

You will remember it and the next bunch will be perfect! Keep on spinning wood!

Jeff

[Ken Glass]

Glen,
No I wasn't. I rarely use my Monster laser on a small HF. I believe I just lost concentration and it went bang.

Faust,
Now all my warts are going to show. I originally turned a tenon on the base, but I lost it very early in the roughing process due to it being in a soft area and was forced to turn a mortise in the base to save the piece. (I feel like I'm in a confessional.) LOL

Jeff,
You hit the nail on the head. This area is always where I seem to blow them out, not that I blow out many.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Ken,
For your penance buy yourself a new tool and start a new hollow form. ):>
father faust (not likely)

[Bernie Weishapl]

One thing about it the next one won't have that happen. I learned early on to turn the laser on. It is always the ones for me that I think will be simple to do that I do the same thing.

[Ken Glass]

Faust,
All I have done for penance is buy a few more Ambrosia Maple blanks, but that seems very reasonable to me. I have actually too many tools now, and only use a few on a regular basis.

[Ken Glass]

I hear ya Bernie......