On this blog I post photos and commentary regarding my woodturning (and, occasionally, woodworking) projects. While my efforts to stay current by adding new photos and descriptions sometimes fall behind, keep checking back to see what's new. Comments are appreciated.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Spalted Elm Bowls
More Cherry Bowls
Goblets
Castle Spinning Wheel
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Large spalted maple bowl
Inside-Out Ornaments and Vase
Segmented vase
This vase or urn is composed of six rings, each containing twelve identical segments, plus a disk for the foot - 73 pieces of wood altogether! The woods from the top down are padauk, maple, cherry, maple, walnut, maple and cherry. It measures 6"H x 4.5"D. The small pieces comprising a ring are cut on a "sled" on my table saw so that each piece in the ring is of identical size and all pieces are cut at exactly a 15 degree angle at both ends. The pieces are then glued together to form the ring, and the rings are then glued together to form the rough shape to be turned. Then the vase is turned, inside and out. (There are a couple of tricks along the way....)
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Miniature Birdhouses
Here are a group of miniature birdhouses that I turned as part of a "challenge" in our woodturners' club. We typically have a demonstration of a particular type of turning or project at our monthly meeting, and the next month try to produce the project on our own. These are the first birdhouses I have tried; it's actually a lot of fun to do. The sizes range from 1.75" x 1.75" (the little feeder) to 1.75" x 5.25" (the 3-level condominium).
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
A second - even more different - square bowl
Here's another cherry bowl turned using the "flying corners" approach (see preceding post). I didn't find the shape of this one particularly attractive when I was done, so I glued up and turned the multi-colored cap from some scraps (from the bottom up: walnut, maple, cherry, bloodwood, and cocobolo; the knob is cherry). The result is certainly unusual, whatever else you may think of it! It measures 8" from side to side; the center "dish" is about 3.5" across.
Another - very different - square bowl
The square bowls in the last (Dec. 18) posting were turned using a technique in which scrap pieces are added to the sides of a square blank, and this larger blank then bandsawed round. The bowl is then turned, as if the scrap pieces were the edges of a round bowl. When that is done, the scrap pieces are bandsawed off, leaving a bowl with straight sides. This bowl, however, was turned with just the square blank mounted in the lathe - so there were sharp, flying corners for the entire turning. Tends to focus one's attention. This bowl was turned from 8/4 cherry, and measures about 8.5" from side-to-side.