Opinions on my pieces so far.

[Bill Jobe]

Just starting to get into turning. Just a HF 10x18 1/2 horse.
Got my hands on several feet of kiln dried cherry. Here's my first 2 pieces. The cherry is 4x4, but not square. More like a square leaning to one side. Able to get about 3.5 to 3.7". For finnish I'm using Minwax kinda like tung oil, but not really tung oil.
I'd like some honest opinions. Thanks. Bill

[Bill Jobe]

Nevermind. Couldn't figure out how to upload pics. Be back later.

[Bill Jobe]

And, finally after much struggle to get pics in the correct file to upload....

[Roger Chandler]

Pretty good start, Bill. Shows you already have an eye for a pleasing curve.

[Allan Ferguson]

Pretty nicely turned and finished. Your are off to a good start.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Nice shape, but I believe it would look better if the base were bigger in diameter and thinner. Just my 2 cents, though.

[Bill Jobe]

Pretty good start, Bill. Shows you already have an eye for a pleasing curve.

I know what you mean. Til just recently my pieces were determined basicly by repairing gouges:eek:

[Bill Jobe]

Not sure what you mean or which pic you are referring to.

[Bill Jobe]

Nice shape, but I believe it would look better if the base were bigger in diameter and thinner. Just my 2 cents, though.

Not sure which piece you are referring to, Grant.

[Bill Jobe]

Well. It doesn't matter. The wife just saw them for the first time and does not like either.

Gotta come up with something unique.
If she doesn't care for them they'll get stuck away in a closet.

[Ryan Mooney]

I like your curves, they're really nice and even without stops/starts/flats. You're off to a really really solid start here no matter what your wife thinks ;) :cool:

Your finish looks really good, clean, bright, no scratches.

I like the form of the goblet, but (like others) not the base. The base somehow doesn't fit. I'd be tempted to turn off the base and try turning some new ones out of scrap just to see what looks better. I suspect that a flatter wider bottom might look better or more arched down might look good. Not sure, but it would be something interesting to play with. The only other change I might have made to the goblet would be to make the transition between the top and the stem a bit crisper (but that's kind of subjective).

The round bottom ?vase? feels a bit top heavy as well to my eye. Maybe top heavy isn't right.. but it looks "unstable" with the shape. I think perhaps? a more slender top and maybe even a bit shorter would be more balanced.

[Bill Jobe]

Thank you for your suggestions. I, too thought the top was too long and cut about 1.5 " off.
One idea I have is to perhaps shorten the top and maybe cut the top at an angle. It is drilled out to recieve a rain gage or such to use as a vase for fresh cut flowers.

[Ryan Mooney]

Cutting it at an angle will draw the eye along it in different ways, I'm not 100% sure how that would look it will either look shorter or it will draw the eye up and out creating an extension of the piece into empty space and making it longer (my design by eye skills aren't quite

One other thing that's sometimes worth doing with stuff like this is use gimp (https://www.gimp.org/downloads/) or photoshop to peal off the wood before making the actual cut. If nothing else it lets you play with a few different ideas before committing. You don't have to do a great job of editing either to get a basic feel for how the form will change just kind of crudely remove the parts you're thinking of and then stand back and squint a little (or maybe that works for me because I'm about half blind to begin with .. lol).

You can also add virtual flowers, etc.. to see how they balance it out which is sometimes interesting.

You could I suppose also embrace the heavier on top feel and maybe take out a little where the bulb joins the top. That may make the upper end feel to big, but would lighten the overall space on top of the bulb so may work. I think I'd do that virtually before trying it in real life though :D

I do like where you're going with these though, you have an interesting eye and they're certainly more innovative that a lot of the usual usual. Certainly tons better than any of my earlier work and a depressing amount of my more recent stuff as well :D

The base being to small on goblet forms is a problem I think we all go through (except maybe those few natural geniuses) - the natural inclination is to try and get as big of goblet as possible out or the piece, and with the somewhat natural order being goblet first, base second almost inevitably makes the top to large for the base. I've been drawing the form on the side of the block first and leaving a bit extra for the base over what I think I'll need and scaling the rest accordingly. It seems to be .. helping.. some..

[Brice Rogers]

Thank you for your suggestions. I, too thought the top was too long and cut about 1.5 " off.
One idea I have is to perhaps shorten the top and maybe cut the top at an angle. It is drilled out to recieve a rain gage or such to use as a vase for fresh cut flowers.
Bill, nice job. For little flower vases, you can buy glass test tubes on ebay for incredibly low prices. I've done that a few times. The only thing that you have to look out for are admirers who turn the vase (with glass tube) upside down to look at the base.:eek: (I've lost some glass test tubes that way...). You may want to put some "stick-em" or equiv. on the bottom of the tube to hold it in place.

[Bill Jobe]

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.
I see what you mean with the goblet, and I have many scraps of dried cherry lumber I could use to build a larger base. However, I would also then have endgrain while there is none as is. I think I'll give it a shot anyway to see how a larger base would look. At the present the only square I have is 4x4.

[Ray Vivian]

Bill, that HF 10X18 is a great little lathe. I have one plus 2 more lathes. When I an working on something small, it does the job.

[Bill Jobe]

Bill, that HF 10X18 is a great little lathe. I have one plus 2 more lathes. When I an working on something small, it does the job.


Yes, it's not bad for the price. Got mine on sale for $150. That's pretty hard to beat for what you can make with it.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Bill: Sorry to be vague. I was referring to the second piece.

[Jamie Straw]

At last month's meeting, we were treated to a presentation on Design by Jay Shepard (http://www.jayshepardstudios.com/polychrome.html). As a complete "non-artist" I wasn't sure it'd help me, but it sure did! If you ever get a chance to see/meet him, highly recommended. In addition to all the discussion about line, form, proportion and texture, he made suggestions -- most prominent was to study classic forms: Asian, Egyptian, Greek, etc., and to draw designs out to get a good idea of where we're going before turning on the lathe.

[Bill Jobe]

A deep plate/shallow bowl from a piece of scrap.