Segmented Opportunites For Improvement

[Doug Reesor]

My latest 2 efforts with segmenting bowls. Both bowls are about 9" in diameter. The 2 color one is maple and some mystery pallet wood. The other is ash, black walnut, maple & cherry. There happy thing about this stuff is there is always the next bowl to make improvements on. I am still working on the precision of the joints. Please give me your feedback.

Doug

[Robert McGowen]

Great job, Doug! I like the maple and mystery wood bowl best for two reasons. One is that the pattern just seems more pleasing to the eye. The second, which is the most important, is that the form is also very nice. The bottom layer of both bowls is very well done. You have probably found out that when using dark wood, it is a lot easier to get away with a seam that isn't exactly perfect, as it is harder to see. The seams on the light colored maple appear tight and the joints are lined up well. Very nice.........

[Ken Glass]

Doug,
Nice looking bowls. Segmented bowls take precision and patience. Both have good lines and great use of Woods. What kind of device/sled did you use for cutting the segments? Looking forward to the next ones.

[Doug Reesor]

Ken,

I invested some money in a decent 12" miter-saw (RIGID) and got a 100 tooth carbide tip blade to go with it. Using a few of the tips out of Malcolm Tibbetts' book has also helped. I think one of the secrets to this segmenting business is very accurate cutting!

Doug

[Paul Engle]

Nice looking stuff , one thing I have found doing segment work is you have to be very obsessed with with each joint and each rings alignment,they each have to be the best, accurate cuts on the ends of each piece must be exact and the same . repeatability is a requirement that must be obtained, one segment out of kilter and as you see it throws the whole thing off. It becomes a so so piece, and we only get that with ... yep practice practice practice. MT's work is spectacular as are others of his caliber due to the focus on making each piece perfect before proceding to the next ring / segment.I was at a site of another renowned segmenter and he made a statement if each one ( segment/ ring ) was not up to standard it got tossed and another made, he would not use a ring that had a glue joint less than perfect. Also he did not use a ring press, he made cone/s on his lathe for each dia up to 16 inch to use the lathe ts as a press which the cone will center up the ring, then he just had to make sure the joint/s were aligned preciesly, I started with a press then I made a couple of cones and the cone is way better and it allows one to rotate the piece and get each ring aligned just right ( I dry fit each ring and mark the alignment first then glue each ring up , let set 10-15 minutes then do the next one), keep at it , you have some nice work there!!!

[Richard Madison]

Doug,
As Robert said, very nice bowl shapes. Good job flattening the rings, as the ring to ring joints look good from here. The seg. bottom layer can be difficult unless all joints are perfect and you glue the whole layer at one time. Moisture in the glue causes the center points of the segments to warp and distort when glued 2x2. Can sometimes fix this by boring a center hole (to maybe 2" dia.) and installing a plug.

Bottom line is that you are progressing well technically, as well as turning some nicely shaped work. MT's reply to another recent post addresses this. See Mark Hix' recent thread, still on page 1 at about 10 pm saturday.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Doug those are a couple of beauties. I really like the first one. Well done.