A Christmas Bell Ornament Inside Out
This woodturning is a Christmas bell turned inside out. It proved to be a challenge to both visualize and to execute. It’s made of apricot finished with shellac.
An inside out turning is assembled from strips of wood. These are temporarily glued together and turned to form the inner shape and finished. Then the strips are separated, rotated, and glued back together making an inner void. Then the outer shape is turned.
This bell is part of the Christmas Ornament Woodturning Challenge 2012. Please view the playlist at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4W9FE566kZhU-Mo7smbQgsUb-wpUJGom.
Christmas Ornament Woodturning Challenge 2012
Carl Jacobson and I are challenging all woodturners to turn a Christmas ornament and shoot a video of them turning it. Upload it & we’ll put it in the Christmas Ornament Woodturning Challenge 2012 playlist on YouTube. Afterwards, use the ornament to enhance the true spirit of Christmas. Deadline = Santa’s departure for his rounds.
Here’s a link to the playlist. Come back often between now and Christmas for updates.
A Snowman Ornament Dressed For Christmas
This woodturning is a nice snow gentleman dressed for the winter season. He’s made of hard maple with a walnut hat and yarn scarf. His belt is a burn. Overall, he’s coated in mineral oil and beeswax.
He will be part of a Christmas Ornament Challenge.
A Field of Mushrooms (Part 4 & Final)
I’m woodturning a natural edge mushroom in apricot. In this video, I’m extending my series exploring what difference the turning axis could make on a mushroom turning. While turning the other three mushrooms, another axis experiment occurred to me. so here we go with another experiment.
With this final apricot branch, I’m simply shifting the turning axis an inch or so from center but still parallel with the center.
As usual, the challenge is in the mushroom’s cap. With the natural, irregular edge, it’s hard to find the edge or to ride a gouge’s bevel.
The finish is mineral oil and beeswax in a 75%/25% ratio. This is Eli Avisera’s recipe. I love the honey smell from the beeswax. I used the oil/wax also as a sanding compound to both lubricate the sand paper and capture the dust.
This mushroom completes this experiment. I’m done! It’s time for holidays woodturning!
Woodturning A Field of Mushrooms (Part 3)
Woodturning a natural edge mushroom in apricot. In this video, I complete a series exploring what difference the turning axis could make on a mushroom turning. A viewer questioned how I oriented the turning axis, so here we go with an experiment.
With this third apricot branch, I’m orienting the turning axis much more dramatically – running from bark edge on one side to the opposite side’s bark edge. The actual angle would vary with the diameter and the length of the wood.
As usual, the challenge is in the mushroom’s cap. With the natural, irregular edge, it’s hard to find the edge or to ride a gouge’s bevel.
The finish is mineral oil and beeswax in a 75%/25% ratio. This is Eli Avisera’s recipe. I love the honey smell from the beeswax. I used the oil/wax also as a sanding compound to both lubricate the sand paper and capture the dust.
This mushroom completes this experiment.
I think the wood made more difference than the off-axis turning. The off-axis is evident if you’re looking for it. It may even make a subtle difference to the casual observer.
A Field of Mushrooms (Part 2)
Woodturning a natural edge mushroom in apricot. In this video, I continue a series exploring what difference the turning axis could make on a mushroom turning. A viewer questioned how I oriented the turning axis, so here we go with an experiment.
With this second apricot branch, I’m orienting the turning axis a few degrees off center. Actually, I did not measure the angle. Rather, I just placed the drive and tail centers half way between the center and the edge of the bark. The actual angle would vary with the diameter and the length of the wood.
As usual, the challenge is in the mushroom’s cap. With the natural, irregular edge, it’s hard to find the edge or to ride a gouge’s bevel. This only also had an area of rot in the mushroom cap.
The finish is mineral oil and beeswax in a 75%/25% ratio. This is Eli Avisera’s recipe. I love the honey smell from the beeswax. I used the oil/wax also as a sanding compound to both lubricate the sand paper and capture the dust.
I’ll be making one more mushroom for this experiment.
In this mushroom, the wood made much more difference than the turning axis, probably due to the large diameter.
A Field of Mushrooms (Part 1)
This woodturning project is a natural edge mushroom in apricot. A viewer questioned how I oriented the turning axis on the last video. Since I didn’t have a defined answer, I decided to do an experiment.
With three apricot branches, I will orient the turning axis differently in each one: one straight thru the pith; one diagonally thru the bark line; and one half way between. We’ll see what differences there may be.
As usual, the challenge is in the mushroom’s cap. With the natural, irregular edge, it’s hard to find the edge or to ride a gouge’s bevel.
The finish is mineral oil and beeswax in a 75%/25% ratio. This is Eli Avisera’s recipe. Beeswax has a fringe benefit of smelling like honey when you use it. On this mushroom, I used the oil/wax also as a sanding compound. It both lubricates the sand paper and captures the dust that would otherwise go into the air.
I’ll be making more and larger mushrooms – two more for this experiment; size will always depend on the available wood.
A Mushroom in Apricot
This woodturning project is a small natural edge mushroom in apricot. I saw Walt Weis at the Oregon State Fair making his version of mushrooms. The mushroom is 3″ tall, and a little over 2″ across the cap and finished with mineral oil and beeswax. The wood is green or wet apricot harvested about 9 months ago. Already in 1 day, the drying process has created some interesting irregularities in the mushroom cap and stem.
Walt turned his mushrooms a little off axis to elongate the mushroom cap. The challenge is in the mushroom’s cap. With the offset axis and irregular edge, it’s hard to find the edge or to ride a gouge’s bevel. On the outside of the cap, I’m cutting a lot of air. On the inside of the cap, it’s very easy to catch the wood. Any catch here would destroy the delicate cap.
Rot in the wood was a challenge. I had to discard several inches of my blank to find enough sound wood. I intended to keep the bark on the natural edge. I treated the bark with CA glue a couple of times but it still flew off later. Oh well, I still have the natural edge of the wood itself.
This video also shows the danger of using a cloth on a lathe. My paper towel got caught three times. Had it been cloth, I would be nursing a mangled hand now. I would not wear a glove when working a lathe for the same reasons.
The finish is mineral oil and beeswax in a 75%/25% ratio. This is Eli Avisera’s recipe. Beeswax has a fringe benefit of smelling like honey when you use it. On this mushroom, I used the oil/wax also as a sanding compound. It both lubricates the sand paper and captures the dust that would otherwise go into the air.
I’ll be making more and larger mushroom; size will always depend on the available wood.
Petite Square Bowl in Cherry
This woodturning project is a petite square bowl in cherry. It was based by a demonstration by Eli Avisera. The blank is 5″ square, 3/4″ thick, finished with semi-gloss lacquer.
The challenge with a square bowl are the corners. The corners appear as shadows; it is hard to know exactly where to start cutting with the gouge. Eli Avisera had a great tip here: Start in a little bit from the corner but only rub the bevel of the gouge; Back out to the corner listening to the sound of the gouge; Once the sound changes, turn the gouge slightly into the wood to start cutting.
Following Eli’s example, I made a template for the curve of the bowl and a foam padded jamb chuck. Matching the curves of the bowl and the jamb chuck is important to avoid pressures later with finishing the bottom of the bowl.
To form the arcs in the inside of the bowl: number the sides; starting with side 1, loosen the chuck and pull the side of the blank 2 or 3 mm out from the chuck and re-tighten; Make the arc with the skew; repeat with sides 2 thru 4. Eli used a skew, but next time I would use a square nosed scraper.
Eli recommended handing sanding with a flexible rubber block to preserve the edges of the bowl. Often leading edges would be rounded over when sanding on the lathe. However, based on a tip from a woodturner at the Oregon State Fair, I used a power sander with the bowl still on the lathe. The trick is to keep the sanding pad on solid wood and very lightly sand out the the corners – watching very carefully the angle of the pad versus the wood. It worked.
I should have stopped with 4 pairs of arcs, the fifth set was disappointing. But, overall, this is a nice project.
Unusual Salt Shaker in Maple
This woodturning project is a salt shaker or salturn in hard maple. It was inspired by a demonstration by Terry Gerros from Willamette Valley Woodturners to Cascade Woodturners. The blank is 3″x3″x6″ tall, finished with shellac friction polish,
This salt shaker does not have a removeable opening or removeable top. Nor does it have holes in the top from which salt is shaken. Instead, the bottom is a small funnel. As salt is poured into the funnel it flows thru the single hole into the cavity of the salt shaker. The inside is an inverted funnel that keeps salt inside until shaken. When shaken, salt re-enters the hole on top of the funnel and shakes out to season the food.
People expect to turn it upside down but don’t get salt that way. Then they look for holes in the top and don’t see any. Then they wonder how in the world, this is supposed to be a salt shaker.
The design and turning is simple. The most difficult part is fitting the funnel to the top or outside of the shaker.
To reduce sanding dust, I applied an mineral oil/beeswax mixture before sanding. This could also have been used for a final food safe finish. This idea came from Eli Avisera, an Israeli woodturner. I melted 4 ounces of beeswax in 1 pint of mineral oil in a double boiler. (Please do not risk a fire by applying direct heat to wax.) It makes a soft paste that is easily applied with a paper towel.
I made two.