Another Large Hollow Form

[Tim Roach]

I thought I would post some pictures of another vase I roughed out last weekend. This is 200+ year old ELM from John Brown's (Harpers Ferry) home in Providence RI. It was extremely wet and the color variations you see is water. The log started out at 23" in diameter and 32" long. The finished length will be 24" and the widest diameter is 20". The bottom when the foot is cut off will be 8" in diameter. I tried to use the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 rule and I think when finished will be pleasing to the eye though the opening is 10" to allow me to get into the side and bottom of the vase. I hauled 9 bags of chips out of my basement when all was said and done.

Comments and critics are welcome.

Tim

[Dennis Nagle]

Great work Tim. What are you going to do for drying??? I am starting to collect logs to do some large turning. Today I picked up to logs that are 30" around by 12" long. They should make great platters.

[Ted Calver]

Yup, the proof will be in the drying without cracks.

[Dennis Nagle]

If cracks are a concern, you can fill it will Pea Gravel then fill it with Pentacryl. Let it sit for 3 or 4 days, then recoup the Pentacryl and let it dry for a month then return it.

[robert baccus]

Nice vase and very big. On big vases I endseal the outside and rim and really lose none to cracking. Leaving the inside open to drying seems to draw the wood together and dries faster. Return the outside in 2-3 months.

[Tim Roach]

I currently have it in a 50 gallon trash barrel soaking in Pentacryl. I filled the inside of the vase with Pentacryl and it soaked through the wood within a day. Interesting thing about Elm how the Pentacryl will travel through the wood to the outside in a day or less in some spots. On this vase the wall thickness is 1/2" -3/8" of an inch so not much there to travel through. As I have said in a previous post I have had very good luck so far with Pentacryl so we will see how it does on this one.

Tim

[Dennis Nagle]

50 gallons????? that must have set you back a chunk of change. I am just now experimenting with Pentacryl but I'm only using 1 gallon.

[Eric Gourieux]

Tim,
Assuming that the pith is in the base, I would recommend turning down the base to something much smaller - closer to what you want the final base to be. In my experience, a thick base like this will split even if you seal the end grain, bag it, or whatever.

It looks like a good start to a beautiful vase.