Woodturning A Tall Ash Goblet
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It’s been a while since I have turned a goblet. A piece of ash from our club wood raffle seems perfect. But there are issues to be dealt with.
The major issue is the length of wood hanging out from the chuck. I had to be careful not to have a catch that would rip the wood out of the chuck. In fact, I did have one such catch but the project survived.
I first hollowed the cup portion while I still had a lot of wood to stabilize things. Then the exterior of the cup. With the cup done, I gradually worked down the stem sanding and finishing as I went. The final scary part is parting off the base after all that work.
My goblet is 2″ diameter and 8″ long finished with shellac.
A Stylized Bowl From Club Raffle Wood
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Part of our club wood raffle is encourage turning something from the wood. So, my natural inclination was to turn a small bowl from this wood that I think is ash.
However, with the small size, I wanted to dress it up a little. So, I reduced the diameter of the center hollow portion and reversed the curve on the lip. The tradeoff is a smaller bowl but I think this shows off the grain more. It is also more difficult to turn.
The finished bowl is 5 inches diameter and 3 inches high, finished with walnut oil. I like it.
Enjoy!
Helping Maple Firewood Achieve Its Life Purpose
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When my brother came to visit and to turn a people feeder, the chunk of maple he brought did not make it into the people feeder.
Yet, it had some unique characteristics, particularly a knob where wood had grown over a broken limb. Despite a long spell in the firewood pile, it still called out to soar as a thing of beauty. I finally relented but could not figure out how to use my lathe.
Instead I used a Proxxon carving tool first with a carbide cutting wheel, then a rasp, and finally with a sanding disk. I hollowed out the remaining chunk trying to preserve the weathered exterior and that beautiful knob.
While I did focus on removing wood, my larger focus was to not leak my blood onto the fresh wood. Those cutters would cut my flesh as easily as they cut wood.
When finished, I applied a generous soaking from walnut oil.
Maybe it can sit near the people feeder for other candy.
Woodturning A People Feeder – Feeders Are Not Only For Birds
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As I noted in the last video, my brother came to visit and brought his agenda – to turn a “people feeder”. The wood he brought did not work out. So, we used what I believe is gum.
A people feeder dispenses candy from a hopper into a shallow dish. A people feeder has four parts: 1) a clear container for the candy; 2) a lid that fits the container; 3) a upper portion that holds the container and has hole for the candy to drop through; 4) a shallow dish from which one “feeds himself”. a dowel keeps the two wood pieces together.
This people feeder is about 7 inches diameter finished with Howard Butcher Block Conditioner. This one is designed for peanut M&M’s which are more difficult to dispense than plain M&M’s.
Useful Links
Home Made Vaporizer for “Pyrography”/Woodburning
DIY Pyrography Pen And Tip For My Woodburning
Enjoy
Maple Firewood Bowl – This Ugly Duckling Is Not A Swan
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My brother came to visit and brought his agenda – to turn a “people feeder” from a piece of big leaf maple he salvaged from his firewood. The people feeder has potential but what about this firewood. The wood had some character like a large knob that maybe was burl or an overgrown limb. But it also had character in the form of cracks.
In this video, I start to turn this wood to see if we can use it for the people feeder. As you’ll see, it did not become a people feeder.
Kinetic Art – Don’t Let Glass Have All The Fun
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After seeing a decorative glass item at a craft store, I had to try to make a similar wood item. The original was a hexagon, mine is a round. The original was glass, mine is wood. Mine can roll around.
I’m not sure what the wood is. It has many characteristics of maple but is much more porous. My piece is eight inches in diameter and five inches tall. It is finished with lacquer.
What would you do with it?
Happy New Year.
Recycled Wood Snowman Offers Season’s Greetings
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At our last woodturning club meeting, I won a chunk of wood in our raffle. It was a mystery wood salvage from a members job from discarded packing material. What do I do with a short piece of 4×4 with drying checks.
In the Christmas Ornament Challenge, there were several very nice snowmen. But, I did not want to try for a very nice finish on this wood. I decided to keep him rustic and only slightly sanded with coarse sandpaper. Even if he were rustic, my snowman needed a formal hat as all ther other snowmen have. It’s a peer pressure thing. For his hat, I burned the wood surface with a mini propane torch.
Then I used my pyrography tools to burn in his facial features. He is a stunning 5 inches tall and just under 3 inches diameter. He has no finish. His center is drilled out to keep his weight down. After all, he has been on a diet this year so far.
I have no firm idea of what kind of wood he is. But it does resemble pine.
Merry Christmas
Woodturning Multi Axis Christmas Gift
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I asked my wife for a Christmas project. Her response was to turn a lid for fancy glass jar for a Christmas gift. The jar could contain candy, goodies or many other thoughtful items.
That was a good idea. But why not take it to the next level and decorate the lid with multi-axis features to provide more interest than only beautiful wood.
The wood is walnut finished with lacquer. Size depends on the jar and imagination.
Videos:
- Woodturning Christmas Ornament Using Infinite Axis Chuck
- Woodturning Jewelry With Infinite Axis Chuck
- Eccentric Spindle Woodturning With Infinite Axis Chuck
- Woodturning Eccentric Twig Vase With Infinite Axis Chuck
- Star Trek NG Alien Probe Appeared In My Mind
- Woodturning Walnut Box with Eccentric Lid
Plans:
Woodturning Laminated Christmas Ornament
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While wrapping up this year’s Christmas Ornament Challenge, I wanted to make one more Christmas ornament.
For this ornament, I used left over laminations from a rolling pin projects and oriented the layers on a diagonal. After rounding, I cut the ornament in half to make hollowing easy, then glued it back together with a walnut slice in between.
To finish the ornament, I had to turn bushings from HDPE for my pen mandrel. The finials are turned from a tropical pen blank. The Christmas ornament is finished with brushing lacquer and buffed. It is 3.5″ by 7.5″
Useful Link:
Easy DIY Tenon Cutters for Woodturning
Woodturning Christmas Ornament Using Infinite Axis Chuck
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The Christmas Ornament Challenge is accepting entries through November. Enter yours at www.AsWoodTurns.com/Challenges/.
For this project, I decided to do something different. Instead of a hollow globe with finials, I decided to substitute a disk for the globe and place decorative elements on the sides. The Infinite Axis Chuck is perfect for turning the decorative elements.
My ornament is about 7 inches tall and 3 inches across the disk and finished with brushing lacquer.
My process (as modified for next time):
- Saw parallel cuts on the top and bottom of the wood for the disk.
- Mark line through centers of top, front, and bottom.
- Drill mortise hole in top and bottom. Depth is not important since the center will be covered.
- Mount flat on the top surface of chuck jaws with live center holding the wood. Turn a shallow tenon so that the tenon will be removed when the disk is rounded.
- Mount onto the tenon and drill a mortise to fit long neck chuck jaws. Depth is not critical.
- Reverse mount and drill a mortise from the other side.
- Finish the profile of the disc, sand and finish.
- Turn and finish top and bottom finials.
- Turn and finish two discs from contrasting wood with the Infinite Axis Chuck, incorporating a tenon to fit the mortise in the disc portion. Information on building the infinite axis chuck can be found in this video and web page.
Videos: