Back to the drawing board

The club challenge for October in inside-out. I had an idea to incorporate my multi axis turning on the inside face. So I chucked up a piece of Home Depot redwood and turned a prototype.















I had to leave the ends square so I had some area to glue once its turned inside out. Normally I would turn all the way to the ends of the blank. Because this is only a prototype I didn't do the preliminary glue up.














Instead i turned it as a solid piece and then quartered it on my band saw before turning the sections inside out. The results weren't what I had in mind so it went in the recycling bin and I went back to the drawing board.














My second idea was more successful and closer to what I had in mind as my concept. I started by gluing 4 pieces together with a paper joint and turning a wide cove.











The paper glue joints were the split apart and the 4 pieces turned inside out and glued together permanently. I opted to turn on 4 axes with a 90 degree twist to match the 4 diamond shaped openings formed by the inside-out process.









It's not perfect but it proves the concept. The glue joints could be much better; that's one of the reasons I'm not a segmented turner. I'm also not sure how this concept could be incorporated into a finished piece. For now I'm just happy that I was able to get my proof of concept done.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Toroid

I've had this idea in my head for quite a while. In fact I did a small prototype a couple years ago. Today was the day to do it for real. The basic idea was to do a donut shape but have it hollow as well. The sketch above was drawn on a napkin at lunch to explain to my wife what I was thinking and how I thought I could get to done.













I ended up changing the plan and the method a bit to accommodate a larger blank but the results are pretty much what I had in mind.












The wood is red streaked Box Elder. The blank started out at 9.5" x 4" and ended up around 9" x 3".













Alternate view.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Phase I

I think I've got the steps figured out. The blank is about 9 1/2 by 9 1/2 by 4 1/2. First it will be mounted in end grain (spindle) orientation and the outside profile shaped. I plan to turn a tenon on the bottom so I can drill and shape the opening. That tenon will be removed before moving on. The blank will then be switched to face grain orientation and a tenon turned on what will be the back side. The back profile will also be partially turned. Next the blank will be flipped over so the front face can be turned and the inside hollowed. I plan to do this through a large opening, probably 4" diameter. Next the blank will be flipped again and either jam chucked or vacuum chucked so the tenon can be removed and the back side finished. Then the plug to fill the opening on the front will be turned and then finally a stopper turned for the spout.





This is the blank I selected. It is a half log that started at 12" wide, 13" long, and 5 1/2" thick. I trimmed about 1 1/4" off each edge and the sliced about 3/4" off the back side that will be used to make the plug for the front side. I further trimmed the blank after doing the rough layout so there's less material to remove. Next up is the actual turning process.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Olive the other reindeer

I picked up some Olive from a friend last weekend. Tonight I started roughing out some of the pieces. This is 1 medium sized log cut into 3 sections.










The sections were all mounted between centers and rough turned on the outside. They're temporarily stored in a garbage bag and will be rough hollowed in the next few days.










The rest of my night was spent helping my neighbor with some Christmas presents. They'll both be very personalized to match the personalities and hobbies. The older boy is into drama so were making a pair of drama masks. To do this we turned a modified cone that we'll cut in half to give us the 2 masks that we need.








We talked about leaving them solid but I wanted to have them be closer to actual masks so we ended up hollowing out the form so they're about 1/2" thick. We still have a bit more turning to do then we can sand them and cut them in half.













We're still talking about how to do the faces. I don't think we should cut out the eyes and mouth, I'm leaning towards some relief carving, i think he's leaning towards doing the faces via woodburning.

For the younger son we'll be making a football. We may end up leaving it solid but I'm thinking it should be hollowed in 2 halves as it represents a lightweight ball.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A foot in the door.

I had an idea a couple of nights ago and had to try it out. This was the first opportunity to give it a shot. I started by cutting a piece of Birdseye maple from the veneer log core I got a couple weeks ago. It's only 6" diameter so I was very limited in size but the quality of the wood made up for the lack of size. The piece was ripped in half to give me 2 blanks 6" diameter, 6 1/2" long, and 3" deep.












I marked the center on both sides and mounted it between centers. The drive center is a 1" diameter Woodriver multi tooth drive center (stebcenter). The live center the Jet live center that came with my lathe.  It's nearly identical to the Oneway live center.













The outside shaped and a tenon turned so the inside can be hollowed. I have not sanded yet, the finish is straight off the gouge. I love the look of the Birdseye, unfortunately it doesn't show up very well on what will become the rim or on the end grain.












The bowl was flipped around and mounted in the chuck.  The rim was shaped, and the center is now ready to be hollowed out. The blank wasn't quite big enough to core, and even if it was a little bigger the Birdseye is much less pronounced as the diameter gets smaller.











After hollowing the inside of the bowl was sanded before flipped around again and mounted on my vacuum chuck. The tenon was removed, a small recess turned, and the outside sanded smooth. The vacuum drum I'm using here is a 3" PVC pipe coupler.












The inside of the finished bowl. The rim is under cut significantly so it's not as heavy as it appears. The under cut rim made sanding difficult so the interior isn't as smooth as I would like. Such is life.

Bottom view, this is where my idea came to fruition. Turning the collar for my recent hollow form gave me the idea that I could do the same thing for a foot. I followed the same process as I did for the collar, except instead of fitting it for the opening in the hollow form I fit it for the recess I turned in the bottom. The wood for the ring is Desert Ironwood.

Profile view. The foot gives it lift, the color gives it contrast, and it's a nice surprise for the buyer when they flip it over to see the extra effort put into making the piece special.

Here's my sketch from this evening, before I headed out to the shop.  The shape is different on the outside than what I had drawn but the overall effect is exactly what I had envisioned when I thought of using the collar as a foot. 

Twisted box how-to

Laying out and numbering the centers for a 3 sided multi-axis pieces with a 120 degree twist.  The 2 diagrams represent opposite ends of the same blank.  Find and mark the center of each end of the blank.  Draw a line diagonally from corner to corner on each end of the blank.  This line should pass through the center mark and should be parallel on both ends.  This line is crucial as it will give us 1 of our 3 centerpoints and will give us an intermediate point that will allow us to find the other 2 points easily.  Using a compass draw a circle using the true center point as the pivot point.  For a 3" square blank I use a 1" diameter circle (1/2" radius).  Using a larger circle is possible but it will result in a slightly different shape (flatter sides) but will make it easier for the center points to be turned off by accident.  I always make the circles the same size on both ends.  I also do all of the layout and numbering before any cuts have been made. 

The diagonal line will intersect the circle at 2 points, once in the upper left, and again in the lower right.  When doing a lidded box I always number the top first and always number the point where the line intersects the circle in the upper left as point #1.  The intersection in the lower right will be used to find points 2 and 3.  Using a compass set to the radius as the original circle, place the pivot point on the intermediate point in the lower right corner.  Draw an arc that intersects the circle at 2 points and also passes through the original center point.  The 2 points where this new arc intersects the circle are the other 2 points that we need.

If we've done the layout correctly we should have 3 points on each end that are properly aligned to one another and are 120 degrees apart.  The next step is numbering the blank.  I always number the blanks in the same order and using the same method.  The top side is always side A and is always numbered first.

The intersection of the circle and the diagonal line in the upper left hand corner (opposite the intermediate point used to find points 2 and 3) is always labeled as point #1.  The remaining points on Side A are then always labeled going clockwise from point #1. I always number the points to the insde (interior) of the blank.  Numbering on the outside increases the chances that the numbers will be turned off.  This is an issue that can be overcame if it happens but it is easily avoidable by simply numbering on the inside of the circle.  

The layout for Side B can then be completed.  Point 1 should not be parallel to point 1 on Side A.  The other 2 points are then numbered going in a counterclockwise direction.  The direction of the twist can be controlled by putting point 1 opposite point 2 or opposite point 3 (I never taken the time to figure out which direction is which). 

After the layout is complete I start the turnin process.  Step 1 is to mount the blank between the true center points and turn a tenon on each end.  The lid portion can then be parted off (or cut off on a bandsaw, another reason to leave the blank square) and both halves hollowed, a tenon and recess formed to join the lid and body.  To turn the twisted exterior it's simply a matter of lining up point 1 on Side A with point 1 on Side B and turn that face.  Then line up points 2 and 2 and turn the face, and then points 3 and 3 and turn that face.  I usually end up turning each face 3 or 4 times to get the wall thickness I want and to get all the faces even.

Day 7: experimentation

While picking my son up from school today I had a long wait in line so I took out a notebook and started to sketch.  I had an idea for a clamshell style box and set to work on it this evening.  This is the top half of that box with the inside of the box dyed blue and magenta.  The rim and the outside will not be dyed.

The bottom of the box, the inside will also be dyed.

The top of the box has been placed on the bottom.  this is similar to how the box will look when closed.