George.W's 2011 thread- COMPLETED

[The Shark]

The 'forms' up to your usual standards George and makes the most of the woods hidden beauty.

The cylinder looks so special as is that I personally would be at a loss to find the courage to dump any of it in shavings, got me pondering 'display' methods for such a piece.

Absolutely agree with Chas on both counts! It seems almost criminal to lose any of the wood on the cylinder, but it must convert into something. Thinking cap time.

Malc

 

[Paul.J]

Cracking hollow form George and the Yew is just gorgeous
If you are after ideas for the cylinder how about one of your oval shaped boxes on one of your plinths.

 

[skeetoids]

Hi George,

Another beautiful form and wood, nice to see a more natural finish, really brings out the warmth in the wood.

The spindle is incredible, such figuring, looks great as is

Cheers,

Lee.

 

[cornucopia]

Thank you folks- that particular cylinder is of to a good friend of mine in America but I have plenty more where that came from which I will dry for box's.

 

[OldWood]

These are both stunning work - the first form flows so smoothly, the shape helped so much by the grain. The 2nd is interesting in that it is not what one expects and like one of the earlier posters I wonder how it would look if the stem was effectively cut into the bowl.

And now the question - forgetting about the tooling for the moment, how does one hold a piece for turning a form like these ? I am getting more confidant in my turning and would love to try a hollow form, but am not quite sure where to start Is there a WIP somewhere that I could follow or a YouTube video ?

Rob

 

[cornucopia]

Thank you for your kind comments Rob- I cant think of a you tube video or wip - but i hold all of my forms on a faceplate- the yew one's on this thread so far were on a 3" vb36 faceplate- I know a few turners who hold them on the serrated gripper jaws

 

[OldWood]

Thanks for your guidance, George. Unfortunately I don't have any small faceplates and having a Wadkins Bursgreen with a 1 3/8 UNC nose thread, I imagine these are like the proverbial hen's teeth. I tend to use glue chucks which would probably be OK - is a flat base OK or a rebated one?

Rob

 

[CHJ]

Thanks for your guidance, George. Unfortunately I don't have any small faceplates and having a Wadkins Bursgreen with a 1 3/8 UNC nose thread, I imagine these are like the proverbial hen's teeth. I tend to use glue chucks which would probably be OK - is a flat base OK or a rebated one?

Rob

If you have a decent scroll chuck with dovetail jaws you can use a faceplate ring to achieve a stronger hold.

<<<Clicky image

 

[cornucopia]

Thanks for your guidance, George. Unfortunately I don't have any small faceplates and having a Wadkins Bursgreen with a 1 3/8 UNC nose thread, I imagine these are like the proverbial hen's teeth. I tend to use glue chucks which would probably be OK - is a flat base OK or a rebated one?

Rob

I would not recommend using any type of glue chuck Rob especially when learning as the chance of a catch is much higher and it will rip it off easily- i have catch's that will rip a dozen two inch screws out so glue really isn’t going to be good enough

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

The 'forms' up to your usual standards George and makes the most of the woods hidden beauty.

The cylinder looks so special as is that I personally would be at a loss to find the courage to dump any of it in shavings, got me pondering 'display' methods for such a piece.

here here, IMHO that timber looks amazing. I would make a piece by doing as little to it as possible. I'm not a turner, so I'm not sure how possible this is, but, could you somehow cut three cylinders out of that one piece? I mean in a Russian-doll type way, i.e, one out of another out of another, then take the wall of each cylinder down so that when there is a light inside it it will shine through. Either candle or L.E.D. Just an idea as the burr and colour of that timber is spectacular.

Cheers _Dan.

 

[Bodrighy]

I;'d be tempted to make a long cylinder box similar to the other one you did. That way you would have most of the figuring, grain etc still showing. Still as you say it is destined for someone else I guess it isn't up to you anyway. :lol:

Pete

 

[OldWood]

Glue chucks - one of the weaknesses I've found with glue chucks is that the standard method of application of hot wax glue from some sort of heating device is essentially flawed when it comes to using it to glue large chunks of wood together - that is large with respect to the amount of glue.

You melt say 4 blobs of wax from the hot glue gun onto a cold piece of wood and then slap another cold piece of wood on top. This is nonsense in gluing terms as the glue is cooling and solidifying all the time so the joint ends up thick and poorly bonded. Most glue joint failures are through the glue line itself and this way of working is just asking for trouble.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to find that the solution to this is to use a hot air gun to melt small portions of the wax onto one surface and use the hot air that is spilling off to heat the other surface so that when the two are brought together not only is the wax going to be well spread, but the glue is open for adequate time to do some alignment with centring marks.

I've just turned a rough lump of wood, some 15 inches across its corners into a 9" by 3" lamp base on a 4" glue chuck and will certainly aim to work through some deeper bowls to hollow forms held this way.

Rob

 

[OldWood]

The other thing I did mean to bring into the discussion with respect to the yew cylinders and sections shown is whether the wood turning world has found a way of retaining the magic colouring that occurs with some yew, and is much evident in the pictures of those items.

I first met the fantastic reds and purples when I was working with my cabinet making brother some 20 years ago, and scrounged some bits for my own furniture. I had one thick wainey edged block with all these colours so I booked-ended it, finished it with french polish and mounted it as a decorative piece. Sadly over the years it has just gone to shades of brown.

I have always understood that the colours are present due to moisture and that they disappear as the wood really dries out but I wonder if that is correct.

Rob

 

[Bodrighy]

You need to have the glue dripping out of the end before using of the gun before applying it for a good solid glue chuck to be safe. I have seen a 4' x 3' off centre piece turned using a glue chuck and wedges, no problem at all, until it came to getting it off. They used a hair dryer in the end to soften the glue up again. Most people use the glue too cold, I did until a pro showed me the right way. Takes a good 15 minutes heating before it is ready.

Pete

 

[cornucopia]

the colour is nothing to do with moisture Rob- as you can cut into a 100 year old board of yew and still find bright orange and purple etc- it’s to do with uv exposure to the light- I have found that the finish's with uv inhibitor's in them work well at reducing the effect.

RE- the glue chuck- Glue chucks will not work with My style of forms-the pressure's involved when working several inches away from the headstock held on a base area of 4" are far greater than for a bowl that’s 3"away with a base of 16".
do not put yourself (and potentially others reading this) at risk and try it.

 

[OldWood]

Thanks George for your warning about the gluing. Your point about the work piece length is the valid one - ie the leverage length. A glue joint will tolerate a sheer force as in holding a short large diameter piece but will not cope well with the pull forces from a what is effectively a butt joint when the work piece is long. Actually that is always the problem with holding a long item whatever holding method is used.

That's interesting about the yew - and of course I should have remembered that when working with my brother I had an inlaid table from the Sheridan period to strip and repolish. The colours of the inlays were incredible once the old french polish was stripped off and the surface carefully scraped - sharp reds, whites and greens. Can you give me a name of a finish that is UV resistant - it would be worth stripping back my Yew wall hanging and putting a new finish on it.

My apologies for taking the subject so far Off Topic

Rob

 

[cornucopia]

no problem Rob

there's two finish's i'm trying out to help prevent fadeing
my favourite is osmo uv oil third one down on this page- it says exterior but i've had no problems using it on my work.
the second product is liberon's superior danish oil
I prefer the osmo simply for silky feel and satin/matt finish it has.

 

[OldWood]

Thanks a lot, George - that Osmo oil has been mentioned here before and I'd forgotten about it. I'm to the west of Edinburgh so Glasgow isn't that far away - in fact if I hunt far enough I may be able to find a local outlet too.

Useful link as they also do an 'un-greying' oil which I could well use.

Cheers
Rob

 

[gus3049]

Sort of on-topic.

Before I moved in here permanently, I found some old planks of wood in the barn. Knocked up a quick table as we had nothing to eat off.

Wish I had known what I know now. I would quite fancy having a go at some layered or segmented bowls with it.

 

[cornucopia]

I said everything i make in 2011- so i know some people find pens a bore but if i make it this year its in this thread