Tall Walnut Vase

[Baxter Smith]

This was an experiment turned to finish in early February from a slightly bowed piece of walnut.
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At the time, I believe the sides could pass the straightedge test. I am guessing the sapwood may have shrunk a bit more than the heartwood which may account for the differing curve between the right and left sides in this view.
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After bagging for a couple of months, it was wet sanded with walnut oil to 600.
25.5” / 70 cm tall.
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Looking a little plain,
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the lady of the house couldn’t resist adding a few silk flowers.
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Thoughts and suggestions are always welcome!

[Roger Chandler]

Beautifully done, as always, Baxter. I like the tall form and I think you have the neck proportions about right as well. Nice touch leaving the sapwood for contrast.......makes for a lot of visual interest and the grain is nice in the heartwood .........I like the knot. You have a looker on your hands here!

[Eric Gourieux]

Nice job, Baxter. Great height and width proportions. And great wood choice. What did you use to hollow this deep?

[charlie knighton]

very nice, nice form, really did like the 1st photo, did not realize the size til i saw it with the chair, omg

[Philip Duffy]

BZ, Baxter! Phil

[Michelle Rich]

BIG! and BOLD! very nice home accessory.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Great tall vase, Baxter. I like seeing you step up to a vessel so large. Not many turners have that capability. Your form is sweet and any walnut lover would admire the contrasting sap and heart wood. Tell Lady of the House not to be afraid of much taller stems.
faust

[kevin nee]

Nice vase, I think everyone likes Walnut throw in BIG and you are there!

[Michael Stafford]

Baxter, photographing your vase with doll house furniture doesn't fool me!:p :D

Great shape and a wonderful use of sapwood to provide visual interest. I agree with you about the shrinkage of the sapwood but I don't think it detracts from this eye catching piece of work.

My only suggestion would be to rough turn to approximate size, bag it for a couple of months and then finish turn to let it equilibrate. After removing a lot of material the newly exposed wood needs time to get used to its new environment.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Beautiful vase. Great contrast and shape. Gotta say the flowers are even more spectacular. Thanks for sharing.

[jwjerry w kowalski]

Great looking vase, I love the contrast and size makes it impressive and an outstanding accessory for the house.

[Rex Guinn]

Baxter,
I like all the things you do, but this one is great, I better not let my better half see it or she will wnat me to make one.

[Jerry Marcantel]

Beautiful, Baxter.. Nice shot with the empty chair. Did you notice how the flowers brightened the picture?..... I'm with Eric on what did you use to get it so deep, and how did you support it in removing the tenon? Or did you use a recess instead? ........ Jerry (in Tucson)

[Scott Hackler]

Holy Giant Walnut Vase Batman! That is a nice piece Baxter and a perfect place to display it as well!

[Rick Markham]

Totally awesome! is the thought that came to my mind. That's a spectacular piece Baxter!

[Jon Lanier]

That is an amazing piece of furniture! I thought it was small until I saw it on the floor next to the steps. Wowziers! That is a really sweet piece!

[Pat Scott]

Holy Moly! That thing is gorgeous. Nicely done.

[Sid Matheny]

Oh man what a beauty! Love it.

Sid

[Baxter Smith]

Thanks for the positive comments!
...... What did you use to hollow this deep?
Eric, I built a hollowing bar similar in design to one Steve Sinner makes and sells through The Sanding Glove.

.......... Tell Lady of the House not to be afraid of much taller stems.
faust
Faust, I guess she thought the couple of rosebuds I had turned out of a couple of holly scraps, dyed and stuck on the end of an oak dowel were lacking.;) So she pulled these out of a small bucket someone had given her a while ago. Low Budget.:)



......My only suggestion would be to rough turn to approximate size, bag it for a couple of months and then finish turn to let it equilibrate. After removing a lot of material the newly exposed wood needs time to get used to its new environment.
Thanks Mike. I will give that a try.

......., and how did you support it in removing the tenon? ........ Jerry (in Tucson) Jerry, I turned the tenon down to about 1/2" then cut it off with a coping saw. Cleaned that up with a carving gouge.

[Jerry Marcantel]

Did you use a steady rest while turning down the tenon???? And, how did you mount it into/onto the headstock???? Doing research. That's why so many questions....... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Chris Studley]

Really cool.

The only problem is that to the non-turner they might not appreciate what went in to it and how even completing it is impressive. They might not appreciate the WOW factor that is so evident to us here. Although it is really pretty on its own and stands on its own in that way.

The sapwood contrast is cool and the irregular shape makes it so awesome, had the sapwood been uniform and only around at the shoulder it would be technically awesome, but wouldn't have the same "Bam!"

All the previous kudos are well deserved on this...

[Brian Kent]

This is me bowing to your excellent accomplishment. Beautiful.

If I had a boring bar and steady rest system like that I could use it on my big lathe if I had a big lathe.
Nah, I'd still have to learn how to make it work!

Great job.

[Baxter Smith]

Did you use a steady rest while turning down the tenon???? And, how did you mount it into/onto the headstock???? Doing research. That's why so many questions....... Jerry (in Tucson)

Here are a few sequence pictures Jerry. Sorry the spacing is poor. Sometimes my computer return key doesn't seem to want to cooperate when doing this. The pictures are needed since my memory is often lacking! It went on the lathe at about 150#.263797 After shaping the outside, the lift was used again to install the steady rest263798 to be able to hollow.263799 With the hollowing done, I turned a plug to use in the mouth so I could remove the steady rest.263800With the plug supporting the top end, I was able to turn the neck down a little thinner from the outside263801and reduce the tenon to about 3/4"" in diameter at the bottom.263802I then used a coping saw to cut the tenon off and left it about 3/4's of an inch long. I didn't take any more pictures so I hope I am remembering the rest correctly. After drying for a couple months, I grabbed the tenon with pin jaws and used a chuck adaptor and live center in the tail stock end. I used the plug again in a chuck to hold the mouth at the headstock end. The steadyrest was installed about 1/2 way down just for insurance. Using light tail stock pressure I was able to flatten the bottom and reduce the little tenon down to about 1/4". Carved off the rest. Hope that helps a bit.

[robert baccus]

Beautiful wood and workmanship--very impressive. The hollowing is mind boggling in its length and time involved. Can you tell us what cutter you used and an idea how long the hollowing alone took to accomplish. Also how did you dry the thing and how do you extract chips. Sorry but this piece deserves educating us ignorant and unwashed. I do vases and such and can understand how difficult this was. Nice.

[steven carter]

Baxter, this is a real beauty!

[Jerry Marcantel]

Baxter, thanks for the info, and judging from mine and Robert's questions, you might as well just sit down and start writing that book on how you did this. Seeing the log really put the piece into perspective. Now I can fully appreciate the effort you put into making the vaaase......... Jerry (in Tucson) I'm sending you a pm so look for it

[Baxter Smith]

Thanks again for all the positive feedback. Its appreciated.
....... Can you tell us what cutter you used and an idea how long the hollowing alone took to accomplish. Also how did you dry the thing and how do you extract chips. ...........

Robert, I used a Rolly Munro cutter mounted in the end of the boring bar for the majority. 263834 Some homemade handheld scrapers were used for the shoulder area. I spent a day hollowing to 5/8" over the entire piece before quitting for the night. Another half day was spent taking it down to final thickness. Some wire for raking out chips and a shop vac with a narrow hose helped clean it out. Ace Hardware carries some paper large double layer leaf bags. They come in handy for large hollow forms and bowls that are turned thin and I don't want to anchorseal. Hope that helps.

[Pete Jordan]

Another inspiration! Well done!!!

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

I read a lot of threads about what chuck to use for large pieces. It is interesting to note for all who worry a small chuck may not hold a large piece that Baxter used a talon for quite a large project. It also shows Baxter has a great touch. Thanks for the pix, Bax. Great project.
faust

[robert baccus]

Thanks for the feedback--again nice piece.

[Brian Finney]

Really nice job, both the execution and the finished article. Would never have thought of using the steady rest on the neck - intuitively I would have positioned it at the largest diameter - my intuition looks to be wrong .

[Kathy Marshall]

Excellent vase Baxter!
The size is amazing and I would never have guessed it was so big from the 1st pics. I also love the irregularity of the sapwood band, great contrast and lots of interest.

[Drew Marold]

That is an amazing piece. Thanks for showing the in process pictures too, it really helps set the stage to appreciate what you've done even more.

[Baxter Smith]

Thanks again for your thoughts! Several have commented they liked the irregular band of sapwood and knot. I definitely agree but can't take any credit. One of the many things I learned from doing this was that you need to start with a slightly crooked piece of wood with a limb sticking out the side.;) I wouldn't have been bright enough to visualize that. It was just the biggest piece I had at the time.:)

...... intuitively I would have positioned it at the largest diameter - my intuition looks to be wrong .
Not wrong at all Brian. I have just had some instances where bruising occurred where the wheels ride. That created marks circling the piece that I couldn't sand out. With it being all sapwood around the widest part, I was especially afraid of that. I went with the neck because of the darker heartwood .... I thought that if the bruising occurred at least it wouldn't be as noticeable. The drawback was that I couldn't shape the neck to final size until after I had removed the steady because the arms the wheels were on wouldn't fit without hitting the shoulder or mouth. When possible, I use a faceplate and concrete screws to avoid the use of the steady. This one was just too long. As Faust noted, it doesn't take much of a chuck/jaws in this case. It only needs to support one end and make it turn.