Leopardwood Vase

[Robert McGowen]

This is a leopardwood vase that I turned for my wife. I sell almost everything that I make, but she gets one thing a year and this is the thing! :) I had to sort through a stack of really nice looking boards to get the ugliest one that was flat sawn with no visible rays on it in order to get the rays on the edges of the board. The wood guy kind of gave me a funny look when I told him which board I wanted. The floating bottom disc is the same type of wood from a different board.

The board that I used had a line through the middle that made the board lighter on one side and darker on the other side. This really shows up on the bottom ring, but you can see it in several pieces on the body of the vase also. All the segments were cut from the same piece of wood, but they just looked so much different depending on which side you were looking at.

169 pieces of wood finished with wipe on poly and buffed. This was my first experience with wipe on poly and I must say that it was very easy to apply and get good results. The finish is super smooth and fairly glossy, so it was hard to photograph, not that I claim to be much of a photographer anyway. 12" tall x 8" wide x 3/8" thick.

Thanks for looking. C and C are welcome and appreciated.

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[Justin Stephen]

Looks very nice. Leopardwood is amazing stuff.

How thick of a floating bottom disc do you prefer?

[Ken Glass]

I really love Leopardwood, and this vase is exrememly nice. Shape, finish and joinery are all top notch. Well Done.

[Brian Kent]

You really showed off that grain well. Did you turn the inside as you went up the layers?

[robert baccus]

Really nice vaze, shape, finish and all.

[Kathy Marshall]

Very nice Robert! I really like the variations in the color and you did a great job picking out a board that would show the grain so well!

[Tom Winship]

Really nice, Robert! You really like vases don't you?

[Robert McGowen]

Did you turn the inside as you went up the layers?
Brian, you usually have to turn the inside as you go. If you are hollowing a solid piece of wood, everything on the inside is round. You can still get a catch, but it is fairly smooth going. On a segmented piece, nothing on the inside is round to start with and with more than a couple of inches of hollowing tool hanging over the tool rest, you are asking for trouble.



How thick of a floating bottom disc do you prefer?

I usually use one about 3/8" thick. It gets thinned just a hair when I blend it in to the next layer, so it ends up being just under 3/8" thick in the middle.