Woodbox 23

Gallery Here:
http://www.badger.cx/gallery/v/woodworking/segmentedpen/

This is a new pen style for me, something I was inspired to do by a challenge at the http://penturners.org. The challenge was to turn a new pen, using a “segmented” style, in the slimline style. I’ve never done it, but thought it might be fun to try.

The woods used in this pen are Bloodwood, Holly, Rosewood, and the ends are African Blackwood. I learned a lot doing this, including that my drilling set up is less than precise. I also forgot to keep track of the order of the pieces when assembling. The end result is that the pen has a real “patchwork” feel to it, which I quite like.

All in all, I’m happy with the pen, it was a lot of fun to figure out.

Here is the details:

Woods: Bloodwood, Holly, Rosewood, African Blackwood.
Finish: Sanded to 400 grit, and Mylands Friction Polish
Kit: Slimline Gold from Craft Supplies, USA

Assembly: I glued long thin strips of Bloodwood, and Rosewood to an even thinner strip of Holly. After the glue dried I drilled the hole down the center (or close). Then I cut it into half inch pieces. I was short a bit on each tube, so I capped the ends with some small pieces of African Blackwood. I turned each section 90 degrees during assembly to get the rotating effect.

A fun challenge, and a cool pen. Win!

Blogged with Flock

The Blog With No Name: Turning Whistles

Blogged with Flock

The latest flyer from Craft Supplies came with this cute little holiday project. I might have crank some of these out for the holidays. I have some left over maple that would work very well for this.

Snowman Bottle Stopper Plans (PDF)

Happy holidays, and happy turning!

I had this block of 2″-3″ Maple I found in the bin at Woodcraft. They get these cuts form a local instrument shop, these are the off cuts, or flawed pieces that they can’t use. It’s a pretty good deal, since the wood is sold by the pound. The block I had was 13″ by 10″ I think? And pretty thick solid, good color. The only flaw was this small dark spot. It runs through the wood at a shallow angle. I cut out two chunks about 6.5″ in diameter, and chucked one up this weekend.

Here is the result:

It’s my largest bowl yet. And the most functional. This is before I’ve put any finish on it, so it’s currently untreated. I have, buried somewhere in my shop, a can of Salad Bowl Finish by General Finish that I want to try out, since I intend to actually USE this bowl as a real bowl. I have another chunk of the same maple I’m going to make a matching bowl for my wife with. That will be an interesting challenge, to replicate the same form and feel.

Here are the steps I took.

• Cut the square blank out of the large chunk.
• Cut it roughly round on the band saw. The blade I have right now is pretty wide so I couldn’t get a perfect round, but I was able to remove most of the wood, and rough it out pretty well.
• Pinch it up on the lathe between centers, and turn it a bit more round.
• I also carved a dove tailed inset into the bottom with my diamond scraper.
• Using a small parting tool I cut away most of the bottom portion, and left only a nub that I would chisel off later.
• Removed the blank from between the centers.
• Replaced spur drive with four jaw chuck
• Chucked up the blank in the inset dove tail, and checked it’s balance manually.
• Using a roughing gouge I turned the outside true and gave it some shape. I was a bit out of practice and it caught a lot. I’m still working on my form here.
• Once it was roughly shaped, I popped the whole chuck off, with bowl, and set it my vise. I then drilled a 1″ hole in it middle with a Fornster bit. I should have done this before, but oh well.
• Back on the lathe to start hollowing out the bowl.
• Using a combination of bowl gouge with Irish Grind, and the Diamond Scraper I cut away most of the material. My grind needs touching up on my gouge, but I have no jig for grinding it, so that’s why the combination of tools.
• using a round nosed scraped I finished the inside shape
• using a bunch of a different sandpapers, and attempts I got the inside mostly smooth, with some minor tear out rough spots, but much better than my last bowl.
• Sanding the outside to finish it up and off the chuck it comes.

Over all I’m quite pleased with it. It’s a sturdy bowl, probably a little thick on the bottom, but I had cut in too much when cutting the bottom, so I was a little cautious about that. It feels good in the hand, a good shape for holding in your hands and eating from, which is what I was going for.