1st Hollow Form with Gizmo

[john snowdon]

My New Year's resolution is to stop being shy and to finally start posting some of my work on this forum. At last, I've started to actually complete pieces on the lathe rather than just making kindling or something that looks like I did it 50 years ago in my 8th grade shop class. My previous experience with hollow form was a couple of Christmas ornaments so here we go...

Last March I rough turned a length of white birch that I pulled from the firewood pile a couple of years ago. It was going to be my first manual hollow form. The next day I fell on ice and required surgery to repair my right (dominant) shoulder. I've just started to turn again and decided to buy a Gizmo to reduce the wear and tear (especially the tear) on my shoulder. Tom was very kind to spend an hour with me on the phone and hustled to get it to me a couple of days before Christmas.

Yesterday, after turning between centers, I cut the piece in half and remounted it on the lathe using a face plate, created a tenon and mounted the piece using a Nova 2 chuck. Here it is after roughing the outside shape, before drilling and after drilling the hole using Colt forstner bits.
328470328472 328473
Using the Gizmo was very intuitive and absolutely painless on my shoulder. Even when I had a major catch due to operator stupidity (that resulted in a slightly larger opening being required) there was never any stress. Based on 1 bowl, I am absolutely amazed at the quick learning curve and ease of use. One needs to continually adjust the positioning of the cutter and eventually the laser when you start nearing final thickness. I have the 8mm carbide cutter and will order the 10mm this week. I took my time and tried to do very light cuts. Not seeing when you are about to make contact with the cutter is obviously new for me and took some getting used to (can you say gouges) and I am very pleased to have one under my belt.

I'm not necessarily crazy about the final shape but since this was a practice piece, I thought making the top flat to slightly convex might be more of a challenge for me compared to continuing the curve. those with experience can tell me which is harder. Personally, I'm surprised I made it this far! Here are pics of the interior prior to final sanding of the exterior, the final form sanded to 600 and a shot of the Gizmo on my DVR.
328485328486328487
A few questions if I may:
Tomorrow I will apply a finish. I have Mydlands Friction Polish, WOP, Danish Oil, WTF and rattle can Shellac. What do you suggest? Should I sand to 12000?

I do not have any of the sanding pad devices to sand the interior. Do people usually do so on a piece this size ( 4"H, 6"W, approx 1/4"-3/8" thick)?

C & C very welcome! Final pics will be added when the piece is off of the lathe. Thanks,

John

[Edward Weingarden]

John:
For your first HF with a new set up, I would feel very accomplished. I've been doing HFs for only about 9 months thus far so my comments are based on fairly limited experience. The shape of your piece is more difficult in contrast to one with a gentle curve. Finish is somewhat determined by what becomes of the piece once it's completed (e.g., will it sit on a shelf as art, will it be handled often, etc.), and by personal preference. I would suggest experimenting with different finishes to see what you like. I can't make suggestions with respect to sanding the interior since I don't do it. The openings on my pieces are a little smaller so the interiors are not too visible. My only other suggestion is to keep the piece on the face plate instead of changing to the chuck. There's a large amount of rotational force generated during the hollowing process and I think using a face plate with 8 screws is a more secure mount. I look forward to seeing more of your pieces.

Ed

[Steve Mawson]

Gizmo does a very nice job and Tom is a great help whenever you have a question. Tom does know his equipment.
First I would not go to the trouble of sanding to 12000, I usually don't go past 600. Wop is a pretty durable finish, DO is ok but I usually use some lacquer over the DO. Shellac is a good base but not that durable so lacquer or something stronger over top is a good idea in my book. From the picture the inside is pretty smooth so up to you as to how nice you like the inside. With a opening of that size it will look nicer if the inside is smooth. As you said the flat top required changing the cutter some but looks to me like you did a nice job getting it hollowed out. Well on the way, just need to keep doing more. Good job, take care of the shoulder.

[robert baccus]

Very nice piece and pretty wood also. Super for a first.

[john snowdon]

Thank you, gents, for your kind replies. I certainly learned a lot doing this piece–the main lesson being that it was fun and I want to do more. Ed, I will take your and Steve's suggestions and keep experimenting with this piece and try a DO and lacquer finish. I've not had the opportunity to use lacquer before so I guess there's no time like the present. Should I wait 4-5 days after applying the DO before applying lacquer? Because I had to enlarge the opening from the original size I may try to find a way to sand the inside, tho' most likely, this will just be a knick knack on a shelf for a while until I get up the nerve to saw it in half and really see how the thickness varies.

Ed: I'm wondering how keeping this on a face plate would have worked. Do you part it off at the very end and then hand sand or would you use a vacuum chuck and turn it around?

Robert: The wood is the only good thing to come out of a devastating 2008 ice storm that left thousands without power for 2+ weeks at Christmas, including my sister-in-law. I pulled a few pieces from this particular birch while helping her clean up. Nice to finally do something with it.

[Thom Sturgill]

John, I tend to agree with Ed about the faceplate. I do use chucks (heavily) for bowls, platters, and even goblets. For the forces in hollow forms of any size I prefer a faceplate. I pair of forceps to hold folded sandpaper works fairly well for sanding the inside. With an openbing that large I would sand it or make a collar to make the opening smaller. If you go that route, try segmenting a collar for contrast.

I have drooled over the gizmo at a few symposiums, but the price was a bit high considering that I do not do that many HFs. Definitely well made though.

Glad to see you posting your work. We like to see new turners and even the best have to start somewhere.

[john snowdon]

Excellent suggestions, Thom! I didn't think of making a collar to reduce the opening and the use of the forceps answers my next question. Still, I'm still not sure how one finishes the bottom of the piece if using a faceplate. Any guidance will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

John

[Edward Weingarden]

John:
When I'm ready to get the piece off the lathe, I turn the bottom end down, first with a parting tool and then with a spindle detail gouge to get a slight concavity. Make sure you mark where the ends of the screws are so you don't cut into them. At a certain point I slow the lathe down and provide some stability to the top end of the piece with my right hand as I take the bottom end down to a smaller diameter. Before it gets too wobbly I stop the lathe and use a fine tooth saw to complete the separation. The small "tenon" that remains is taken off with a chisel and then sanded.

Ed

[john snowdon]

Excellent! Thanks, Ed. I appreciate your help.

John

[David Delo]

Nice job on your first John. Like your lathe set-up too.