At long last, here it is. I've named it Monsoon. All 1494 pieces.

[Bill Wyko]

I'm, as always, not quite there with the finish yet but I'm going to be busy this weekend so it could be another few days before I can be totally done. I'm pretty excited about this piece. I was able to learn a wealth of info and techniques. The next time I attempt something this big I'll do much better.
The details: This piece is comprised of 1494 individual pieces. The type of woods used are: Monterillo, Curly Maple, Hard Maple, Walnut, Wenge, Black Limba, Black Ebony and Turquoise. It's 23-1/2 inches tall and 13 inches in diameter. This vessel was turned as a hollow form just for the challenge. (I'll never do that again) It's turned to a thickness of 5/16ths.

The name came from the fact that every night that I worked on it for the most part, it rained. Then I realized that the Turquoise reminded me of blue skys prevailing after a dark storm. Believe me this piece had it's stormy times durring the build, bad weather or not.:eek:
Even though it took quite some time to build, it was an incredible experience. Some of you will rember that I started this before I built my shop.
This is also the first piece from beginning to end on my new Jet1442VS. This is also the 15th piece I've ever made on a lathe so I have a long way to go before I can compete with the vetrans.

I'll try to take better pictures this weekend. It's too big for my photo tent so I'll improvise.

I sincerely hope you all enjoy this piece. As always, good or bad, your comments and recommendations are always appreciated

[Andy Livingston]

WOW!!! That is just awesome! The joinery looks perfect. I love the wood combinations and the turquoise is fantastic! WOW!!!!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Bill that is beautiful. Wow what a piece. You certainly did a fine job on it. Well done.

[glenn bradley]

That is stunning. Very impressive and really an eye catcher. This one won't end up tucked in a corner with a dry flower arrangement in it, that's for sure.

[Mike A. Smith]

Wow! An wow again! Very nice work Bill. I don't think I would every have the patience for something like that. Very impressive.

[Jon Lanier]

Woe dude! That is totally awesome! :eek: Hey, I'm not a surfer but that was my first thought!! Great job.

[Benjamin Dahl]

Bill, great piece. It must be very satisfying to finish after putting so much time into it. thanks for sharing.
Ben

[Gary Herrmann]

Beautiful piece, Bill. From what I can see, you're giving the veterans a run for their money.

[Chris Barton]

Wow Bill! What a great piece! Segmented pieces remind me of jigsaw puzzels. I can remember some that I had as a kid that had 1,000+ pieces. I never finished one then and that's probably why I haven't tried a big segemented piece either. Truely masterful!

[John Timberlake]

Gorgeous, Bill. I would never have the patience to do something like that.

[Don Taylor]

Bill that is teriffic!

I wouldn't let that one sit out, I would build me a nice matching show case for it.

Beautiful work!

DT

[Bill Wyko]

Thanks everyone. I greatly appreciate your comments. Unfortunatly I'll probably have to sell this one. It's too big to fit anywhere in my house. My house is only 1000 sq ft. and the LOML pretty much sucked all that up. I'm going to try to get it in a gallery here in town. I do just so happen to have a piece of acrilic tubing just big enough to go around it. I might just build a case for it. :rolleyes: Good idea.
I apologize for the crude pic. I'll take beter ones this weekend.

[Jim Becker]

Congrats, Bill. A lot of work went into that piece! Great job!

[Mark Cothren]

Very impressive, to say the least! Looks great! Congrats on getting it done!

[Ed Scolforo]

A huge WOW!!!!

[Raymond Fries]

The work looks excellent with fine attention to detail.
Congrats

[Steve Schlumpf]

Bill - congrats on getting this beauty completed! Great design, wood color combinations and finish! I am impressed - what's next???

[Dennis Peacock]

Very well done Bill..!!!!! :cool:

Very pretty piece and well done I might add. :D

[Neal Addy]

Bill, this is really impressive. Congrats on a wonderful piece!

[Shane Nyvall]

Man Bill that is beautiful.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

BIll..........For someone who's only been turning a short time.....You sure do stunning work.......You've found your calling............You wasted a lot of time before being Abysserated! Keep at it!

Stunning piece!..........Knock down.....drop dead.....stunning!

[Mark Rios]

MAN-O-MAN, that is a crapload of really nice work. I can't imagine how long that took or even what it takes to do something like that.

Very nice!!!

[Curt Fuller]

Bill, if patience is a virtue then you must be one virtuous sonofagun. I can't even imagine glueing all those little pieces of wood together. That's a real beauty!

[Brett Baldwin]

I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me looking at the waist section. I saw a recess in it and thought "no.. that can't be right" then I saw the shadow on the wall confirm it. Although the whole piece is great, that part really caught my eye. Awesome work Bill.

[joe greiner]

Thoroughly well done, Bill. The recessed panels on the main feature ring could have so easily been unequally centered, with resultant unequal depressions, but not by your mastery. You're obviously a fast climber on the learning curve. Your patience and attention to detail are well rewarded.

The pierced segments on the other rings are also a jump away from the ordinary. A spectacular accent.

If I absolutely, positively, have to offer a critique, with two people twisting both my arms, I'd suggest a more uniform correspondence between the number of elements in the main feature ring, and the number in the others; your ratio looks like 8:3. Might be better with 9:3 or 6:3. Alternatively, juggle their alignment so that none of them line up; the top ring almost does that, I think.

Joe

[Bob Hallowell]

Very nice Bill, you are way more patient than me.

Bob

[John Revilla]

Hi Bill,
This has to be one of the best segmented turnings I've laid my eyes upon. I'd always admired your work and dedication do such elaborate design. You've done this using the Incra? Thanks for sharing this with us, Sir. Hope you won't get tired of posting your work for "mortals" like me to enjoy and someday aimed to duplicate. Godspeed.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Bill, I've come to the party late, but let me also add my congratulations. As you said, a piece like this provides lots of opportunities to learn. I'm sure you acquired quite an education in segmentation. There are a few minor miss-alignments of elements and a few "too flat" sections of profile, but overall, you'd done yourself proud. Perfection in a piece of this size with this level of complexity is just about impossible. It is after all built by human hands, not some sort of robotic equipment. You might just have a future at this stuff :) :) :). Good luck with your next one.

[Shane Whitlock]

Fantastic piece Bill!!!
15th turning? WOW, amazing!

Great job,
Shane Whitlock

[Tom Sherman]

A testament to Persistence and Patience great job Bill.

[Bill Wyko]

Thank you all very much. I couldn't have done it without the knowledge I've aquired from many of you. Especially you Malcolm. Your book is essential when it comes to this kind of work. I know exactly where the missalignments and flat spots are and believe me, it bugs me:o One of the things I ran into on this one was that the Black limba was much softer than the woods around it. This was wher my my flat spot dilema began. The top beauty ring would have flowed better if I had made the Turquiose thicker. If I would have made it curve any more though, I would have turned through the Turquoise. This issue can be resolved by casting my Turquoise thicker. I had this issue on another piece I had done ealier. I should have known better. The small compound miter rings were quite a challenge too. You don't have the ability to sand 1/2 rings so you've got to be right on the money. There are a few other issues I know of. I guess it's true. We're our own worst critics. All in all though I had plenty of fun plenty of challenges and gained plenty of knowledge. I turned this, for the most part as a hollow form. If it weren't for my Clark Hollowing system it would have been impossible.:D ! Next time I believe I'll start with the beauty ring, then do a bottom and top, finish the insides as close as possible then glue it all together. (I got my book back from my dad:D )I may still cut the top beauty ring off and realign it. I'm still debaiting:confused:. So many things I would have done differently now that I've done it the way I did. Oh well, more knowledge for the next one.:D Once again, I greatly thank you all so very much for all the compliments and also for the wealth of knowledge I've gained from so many of you.:) :) :) :) If I can ever be any help to any of you just say the word.

[Brian Brown]

Bill,

Awesome Dude! (sorry, just gave away my age). This is a great piece! I love segmented turning, but I can't even imagine doing something this sophisticated. Just the planning alone would kill me. I can't believe you turned it as a hollow form. Are you out of your mind? I tried that once on a small piece, and it blew up. I can't imagine doing it on a large one. As for the imperfections, they prove that the piece is hand made, rather than being made by a machine. I feel like they give added value and artistry to your piece. Keep up the good work.

Brian

[Scott Donley]

I know how I feel when I get down to that last little bit of cut, can't even imagine the feeling after all the hours you put into this. A fantastic job Bill !

[Roy Harding]

Excuse me, Sir - you turned that from scratch? I mean envisioned the concept, glued up the blank to achieve that vision, and then executed it?

I'm stunned and awed.

[Pat Doble]

Wow, beautiful piece Bill. You just keep doing stunning work. Early in your turning career and already out of room in the house ??? Guess it's time to add a gallery/display wing to that new shop:D .

While walking the dog today I thought of your comments regarding the Indy trip and 'all the lumber back there' - we had a storm go through Friday night and you can't go a block without seeing a tree down. I just can't seem to find any walnut or fruitwoods... Just endless piles of pines, oaks and maples, with the occsasional elm or box elder mixed in.

[TYLER WOOD]

Well Bill, I just posted several of my latest pieces. Knowing we started at about the same time, then looking at your compared to mine. All I can say is YOU SUCK!!! :D


Just kidding, excellent piece. I know you want to ship it to me though. I will be pm'ing you later about this piece. Thanks for the pics, good luck on your next one.

[Bill Wyko]

Now listen Tyler, by no means are you to sell yourself short.:) You've been doing some incredible stuff. Some great work for sure.:) :) :) I think it's Malcolms fault. He made too many incredible pieces and then he goes and published a book on how to do it.:D Now that I've finished this one I don't have anywhere to put it. It's too big for my little house:cool: I think one reason for taking on such a piece is that if I make too much stuff too soon, I'll be out of space:confused: I guess I'm outta room just doing one piece this way.:( I KNOW a BIGGER SHOP! JK JK JK:D
Now that I'm done I have some F-work to get done for the LOML. Some cabinet doors and some pedistals for her new washer & dryer. A little time to plan the next one never hurts . I think I'm going to try the inside out one I drew a while ago. I think it'll be less pieces but I don't think it'll be any easier.:cool:

[Bill Wyko]

I thought I'd mention that the maple triangles that are part of the main ring were my first time to try marquetry. When turned it made a nice pattern but the patterns weren't consistant from one to the other. This was caused by the main ring being out of roung by only 1/16th of an inch. If any of you attempt this and your ring is not perfectly round.......start over until it is.:( Just trust me on this one:D Thanks again everyone. You're a great bunch.:) I'll have better pics tomorrow. Unfortunatly the vessel is about 6 inches taller than my photo tent:cool: so they aren't going to win any prizes just yet.:o One more little thing, it's all grain matched too.:)

[Don Orr]

PHENOMENAL!!! Outstanding work Bill.

[Bill Wyko]

Well a little problem. The piece is bigger than my photo tent. Here's a few new pics though. a photographer I'm not.:( Please enjoy.

[Gene Kennedy]

That is an impressive piece Bill. What type of glue did you use to hold all of those pieces together?

[Bill Wyko]

That is an impressive piece Bill. What type of glue did you use to hold all of those pieces together?
Thanks Gene. The glue I used was TiteBond 2. It has a great consistency for segmenting and the drying time gives you just the right amount of time to set the pieces up.

[Joyce Baldauf]

Man, you hit that one way out of the ballpark!:D:D

[Don Eddard]

I'm late, but congrats on a great piece. Very impressive.

[Ron Raymond]

Spectacular piece of work, Bill! Thanks for sharing.

[Dennis Peacock]

All I can say is YOU SUCK!!! :D


Well.....it looks like this is a true southern phrase....meaning it's a most excellent piece and that the awesome turning bar has been raised yet another notch. ;) :D

BTW Tyler......a lot of stuff I've seen come off your lathe?? YOU SUCK too!!! :D :D

[John Revilla]

What a piece. Thanks for sharing this "thing of beauty" for us mere mortals to behold. Godspeed.

[Doug M Jones]

That's a whopper. Way cool. I'm not sure I have the patience for something so intricate.

Great work.

[mike fuson]

Sorry to chime in so late Bill, don't know how I missed this one.
I think you have done an outstanding job, definetly a piece to be proud of.

[Bill Wyko]

Again, I'd like to say thanks to each and everyone of you for taking the time to look and comment. You are a great bunch:) :) If you all like, when I get a photo tent worked out to take some better pics I'll be happy to post them.:) :)