WIP Competition: Spiral Carved Chair Side Table

[wizer]

Competition Entry
Spiral Carved Chair Side Table
Beginner Category

Well I'd better get this started if I've got any chance in finishing it by 2010's compo

Believe it or not I'm working from some rough hand sketches and a great deal of reference material. I'll try to get some working drawings up but it should be clear to see as it develops.

The basic concept was conceivedby our very own Blister who turned something similar. I liked the idea but I wanted to put my own spin (or twirl) on it. The main column will be a carved spiral. I have not fully decided yet, but it will probably be ebonised and the top may contain some sort of glass or ceramic inlay.

We start with a lump of 6" square Oak from our very own cricketing tool minimalist

After a little head scratching and help from my turning friends, I got it mounted on the lathe. It's affixed by means of a faceplate ring and revolving centre. The idea is that I can take it off and re-mount it without worrying about it going out of true (that's the theory).

Roughing it down was fun I decided not to muck about taking the corners off on the bandsaw, so it was a lot of slow careful work. When it got near to round I could ramp the speed up a bit.

I found some heavy cracking around a knot near one end and decided to cut it off. This was not a problem as I'd planned a little extra length. I marked out the final length of the main column and then cut equal tenons on each end with a parting tool. With this done I could then cut out the cracked knot.

I used the thin parting tool to cut down within about 3" and then, with the lathe off, I took a tenon saw and cut through.

With the cracked waste wood out of the way, I could remount the column and true it up with the roughing gouge.

I know what your thinking. How has he got this far without a disaster?? ... Here it comes....

After I'd trued it up I took out the skew and decided to plane it smooth. This went fine, but when I looked closely, I noticed a crack in the wood.

:evil: It goes right to the other end.

hmmm what to do, what to do. It was close to the end of the day so I left it. When I came back a couple of days later, it doesn't appear to have opened up any more. After some thought, I've decided to keep going with it. These are all new techniques for me, so there's bound to be a few c*ck up somewhere along the lines. I have another length, so this can be a practice piece.

So, onward. I took a dressmakers tape and measured the diameter.

Roughly 385mm. I marked out 5 divisions at 77mm around the circumference. The length was 480mm and this was divided into 6 at 80mm.

This is the hard bit to explain. But I basically used masking tape to join each diagonal intersection. This resulted in 5 spirals.

...and that's it for now. The basic idea going forward is to carve\scoop out the spaces in between the masking tape, leaving thin raised spirals.

I'm not sure how best to proceed. I'm trying to work out how I'm going to do the bulk removal. I have an arbortech but I'm not sure if it's going to be too aggressive. I was just looking at the duragrit bits for a dremel.

anyone care to comment?

 

[miles_hot]

shame you don't have a trend router lathe - it was a thing with a router mounted on a plate which was moved along a bit for each fraction of a rotation... I have heard of people marking out as you have and just routing it out - mind you that would take some skill I think!

Could be helped by using a chisel along the tape edge and then hacking out the bulk?

Miles

 

[wizer]

I thought about making a jig to go over the bed of the lathe. But I really want this to have a carved look to it. It's not going to be perfect identical spirals. A bit more pre-historic than that

Hand tools will probably win out on a cost basis. I'll try the arbortech and see how aggressive it is. It might get me started.

 

[DaveL]

As Tom knows I have a router lathe but then that would be cheating. :roll:

Tom, I think I would have dripped some thin CA glue into that crack before running the tape onto the blank. I know I have seen a how to for cutting this sort of thing but am not sure were, I will have a hunt round for it. :-k

I have just run some CA on to a knot that was hidden inside the blank I am using for the second oak goblet, I hope this stops it parting company and righting of the piece. The knot does add interest to the stem.

 

[wizer]

Cheers Dave. I probably should have filled the crack with CA. But I thought that most of it would be carved away. I have some idea for a finish that will probably hide it. I don't think that it will open right up now. It's been in my workshop for a couple of weeks and on the lathe like that for about 4 days with out any movement. I'm going to leave it til the weekend to make sure.



Can a Mod please move this to the Projects section (Or a dedicated compo section)? Cheers.

 

[John. B]

Tom,
I can recommend Stuart Mortimer's book 'Techniques of Spiral Work'
It tells you everything you want to know about cutting spirals.
If you are coming to the club next Wednesday, (08.00 to 15.00)
you can borrow mine.
That is, if you can wait a week. :lol: :lol:

John. B

 

[wizer]

Thanks for the info John and that's a kind offer. However, I wasn't planning on coming to club next week. It means a day off work, petrol, lunch, etc, etc.

I'll see if my local library has the book.

 

[woodbloke]

Can a Mod please move this to the Projects section (Or a dedicated compo section)? Cheers.

...and please label it 'WIP Competition' - Rob

 

[big soft moose]

wizzer

is this going in the turning comp as well (double dipping ) if so i'm not going to say owt else :lol

 

[wizer]

No Pete, absolutely not. I have another, smaller, plan for that. This project will take me all of the time allotted and probably much more.

 

[big soft moose]

No Pete, absolutely not. I have another, smaller, plan for that. This project will take me all of the time allotted and probably much more.

Okay in that case i am free to suggest you use a power file and or a proxxon power carver on the spiral - both remove wood relatively fast but neither are as aggresive as an arbortech.

 

[wizer]

yes I've considered those. I'm not sure I can afford to buy a whole new toy er tool.

I need to have a play and see what's best.

 

[DaveL]

OK I have had a look round and found this thread, which shows how to do it.

 

[billw]

That's in the beginner section? :shock:

I'd better start saving up to buy those chisels now :lol:

 

[wizer]

OK I have had a look round and found this thread, which shows how to do it.

I honestly don't remember that thread, even tho I posted in it. :shock: Thanks Dave, it'll be useful but mine will be a bit wackier than that. Kinda spoils the WIP tho :roll:

That's in the beginner section? :shock:

I'd better start saving up to buy those chisels now :lol:

Bill, trust me, I'm very much a beginner in all things wood, despite being here since 2005. But even so. I've only been turning since xmas and the only thing I have ever carved is a bowl about 4yrs ago. Personally, I don't think I've got a chance with this, but I thought it'd be a 'fun project'.

 

[wizer]

Well I've been talking about this elsewhere so I thought I'd update it.

I plucked up the courage to get the ArborTech out. I was given it for xmas and only used it on a bit of scrap when I got it. The good thing about the guard that it comes with is that you can use it as a depth stop. So I set the depth to the tenon diameter, I'll probably reduce the tenon size later on but for now it acts as a marker.

I tried to keep exactly in the middle of the tape. It was quite hard to see what I was doing and a little awkward to follow the spiral. But, with care, I managed to get a 'valley' all around each spiral.

I decided to stop with the arbortech after that as I felt it was a little too aggressive and I couldn't easily see where I was cutting with it.

Time to dig out the carving tools.

I search high and low for the power cord to this tool but found it nowhere! Eventually I had to reach for the mallet :roll: :wink: It's a Pfiel 2/25 that I bought yrs ago when carving a bowl. Sadly, back then, I kept my lovely new carving chisels in a garden shed and the dreaded rust attacked them. That said they seem to have held their edge. I used the above tool to come up to the blue tape line. It was a case of chipping away at it.

Once I'd got away the waste between the lines I came back at it with a steeper curved gouge.

This started to round out the valley and clean things up.

It still looks quite rough and has a lot of work to go. With the radio on and the garage doors open on a sunny day, it was a very enjoyable time.

 

[DaveL]

Tom,

Looks like you are having some fun there. 8) That's good progress, keep taking the pictures.

I have not even thought about my comp entry yet. :?

 

[wizer]

Mini-update.

I've gone on to the rasp now. It's slow work. Everytime I finish up in the workshop I give it 5-10mins before I come in.

I started off with a half round rasp from Lidl. It was doing quite well, but whilst at Axminster the other week I picked up one of their course Swiss Valorbe rasps. It's a little better but I needn't have bothered, the Lidl would have got me there.

I think I'll be shaping with the rasps for at least the next few weeks.

 

[Gill]

Hi Tom

Here's an alternative to your method, using a scroll saw.

http://www.scrollsawer.com/issue36/Cutt ... pirals.php



Gill

 

[wizer]

cheers Gill. Interesting technique but I'm not sure I can get 6 inches under my scroll saw