Production Run of Communion Sets and Pitcher and Bowl Sets.

[Brian Kent]

I am considering accepting a commission to make a very large number of sets for a national gathering. I will now do a small production run of about 10 communion sets and 10 pitcher and bowl sets, recording the time, materials, and needed upgrades to my tooling. Then I can send in samples and give them an accurate price that I can be happy with.

I expect to come back to this thread with many questions along the way.

My first question:
Type of wood for the pitchers:
Some of the Pitcher and Bowl sets will need to hold water (others will be ornamental). I know my finish options from experience with communion sets. My John Jordan tools come today, and I will add a Monster system if needed.

I would also like to use the right wood so that when the water gets through the finish on the inside of the Pitcher, the wood will not leak. They need to be able to hold water for about 3 hours. They they will be dried and stored. Then I also need the wood to be sufficiently easy to medium-hard to hollow. I will use kiln dried lumber for stability and so that I can buy it in bulk. So far I have used Beech and Mahogany, but have not tried to finish the insides. The pitcher on the right is the model for the style.

The first of many questions along the way.

[John Keeton]

I don't recall the size of the pitcher, but finding kiln dried wood thicker than 16/4 is difficult. Even 12/4 is hard to find. The loss rate on kiln drying thicker wood is high and it must be air dried for months prior to being put in the kiln to have any degree of success.

[Brian Kent]

John, these are about 8" tall and 3.5-4" wide. Do you mean hard to work or hard to find? All of these are made from glue-ups of 8/4 or 12/4.

[John Keeton]

Hard to find, but that doesn't matter since you are using glue ups.

[robert baccus]

A thought on the leaking issue. For finishing the inside just pour in epoxy and pour out again. Repeat once. What keeps bathtubs and boats waterproof?

[Steve Huffman]

Brian, I would sure recommend a "Monster System" but sadly they are not taking additional orders until Oct. I also looked at one made by Harrison Specialties, much cheaper, but not saying it's better by any means, but it might work for what your doing here. http://www.harrisonspecialties.com/simple-hollowing-system/ I haven't done much hollowing, and not sure whats better for production work, (articulate arm vs captive) but I would think for what your working on here, that has a larger opening and pretty straight through, a captive system would be the thing to use. Others may have better suggestions. Good luck with your project!