Couple of crocked ornaments

[Gordon Seto]

Maple globe with finial from Cocobolo pen blank.

I had some difficulty with this sea urchin shell; it has a kidney shape. The big gap was ugly. Next time, I should choose the shell with that in consideration. I think the disk was too heavy for the shape. Comments are welcome.

Gordon

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking ornaments Gordon. Like those icicles. Well done.

[Jerry Allen]

Very nice--I like them!

[Rick Gifford]

Man I love seeing other peoples creations. That is good work. Looks very nice. Thank you for sharing!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Great concept and very nice work Gordon! They make for some very interesting ornaments!

[Tim Gruss]

Very nice. I also like to see how different our creative abilities can be from one person to another. I'm now inspired to implement off center turning into something.

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Man, Gordon, those are some nifty looking pieces. That off-center turning thing gives me the jibblies, though, thinking about the strange way that wood must be spinning. Did you have a mentor help you with the technique, or did you teach yourself?

[Gordon Seto]

Henry,

I took a two week class with Jean Francois Escoulen and Mark Sfirri at Arrowmont. The off-center work has always fascinates me. It seemed there was absence of information for beginners before the articles in recent issues of AAW journal.

Actually you can do a lot with just turning between the centers. There are several things you have to watch when you explore.
Turn down the lathe speed
Use a safe drive (allowing the blank to slip if you have a catch)
Rotate the piece by hand to clear the tool rest before turning on the lathe. Keep your hand behind the tool rest.
Do a small scale first, gradually increase the off-set and size.
By nature of this style of turning, you can't move the tool rest as close as normal turning. There is always a lot of tool overhang; a good shallow flute detail gouge is a must to reduce chattering. My current favorites are the Thompson shallow flute detail gouges. Detail gouges are not just spindle gouges that has a pointy grind; they have more steel left for rigidity.
Use the highest speed that is comfortable to you, don't push your gouge. You are making interrupted cuts -wood, air, wood, air... The air has no resistance for your tool to advance; you will never get a smooth cut if your tool is bouncing in and out.
Once you remove some unbalanced wood, you can increase your speed gradually. Therefore Electronic Variable Speed is a very nice feature to have.
Have fun.

Gordon

[Don Orr]

Beautiful work Gordon, as usual. I remember your pieces at the Yankee Symposium very well. You really took to the eccentric/offset techniques and use them to produce excellent work.

Your tips and advice are much apprecited too.

[Kevin Moran]

This is inspirational work. Well done, Gordon. Thanks for sharing,

[John Timberlake]

Great looking ornaments, Gordon. I always like your off center turnings.