This one's just a practice piece I did to see if I could make straight-cut pieces appear to be curved. Some turners call these weed-pots and others call them vases. Not intended to hold water...
The ashtray in the photo was a slice of white oak log, I sliced a 4 inch slab off and carved out the bowl and cut the slots for cigar rest.
I am a happy man. You have made me very grateful. For this is the very first time that the Crown Jewels have ever been adequately & deliriously praised by an unprejudiced person. Still it is the cigars' own fault that this is so for it is a cigar which excites envy & jealousy in the smoker because he knows & feels the truth of which you have said; that there is no other cigar that is just like it. There are cigars which resemble it but only in appearance, not in spirit & not in the ability to dare & do. There is no other cigar that can make a person want to go away & get by himself & think this life over & wonder if it is altogether worth while. I will send you some more when you get out. Let me know. Any man of fine intelligence who is acquainted with Crown Jewels prizes them above any other gems & saves them & hoards them. I gave Harry Rogers a box two years ago & he has them yet. Let me know when you are out.
I am a happy man. You have made me very grateful. For this is the very first time that the Crown Jewels have ever been adequately & deliriously praised by an unprejudiced person. Still it is the cigars' own fault that this is so for it is a cigar which excites envy & jealousy in the smoker because he knows & feels the truth of which you have said; that there is no other cigar that is just like it. There are cigars which resemble it but only in appearance, not in spirit & not in the ability to dare & do. There is no other cigar that can make a person want to go away & get by himself & think this life over & wonder if it is altogether worth while. I will send you some more when you get out. Let me know. Any man of fine intelligence who is acquainted with Crown Jewels prizes them above any other gems & saves them & hoards them. I gave Harry Rogers a box two years ago & he has them yet. Let me know when you are out.
Nice work everyone. Locust Wheel Form. 12 inches in dia carved.
That's the most awesomest thing I've seen since ever. Is it in a museum down there? A gallery? Where can I see it?
“It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)
That’s incredible, Rodger @First_Warrior. I’m hard put to envision how that piece was held on the lathe to begin with. And the hollowing is a whole ‘nother question.
The legs came as a result of a failure. I applied for membership to a seven state craft guild by submitting several pieces of my work. I was rejected because I hadn't worked long enough to create my own signature in my work and the bases of the bowls needed attention. I started to really focus on my bases and the legs appeared. By lifting the bowl up the eye can travel through the base and the bowl " floats " and the bowl sneaks across the surface that it rests on.The second time I applied to the guild I was accepted. Over the past 35 years I've made hundreds of these legged vessels and I've sold almost every one.
Ok,Ok, here goes. Crosscut with a chainsaw a section of log 6 inches longer that it's diameter. Then rip the piece through the center with the grain. You now have 2 bowl blanks when viewed from the crosscut end look like the letter D. Turn them over with the flat ripped side up and scribe a circle on the face. Take the saw and cut the corners the off angling the saw away from the center of the scribed circle. Take them inside to a bench. Put the flat side down and the bark side up and find the approx. center and chop shallow hole about 2 inches square through the bark. Take a 2 prong drive center and align prongs parallel with the grain and beat it in with a brass mallet. The rim of the bowl will follow the natural curve of the outside of the tree. Mount the piece on the lathe and bring up the tailstock to support the base. You now have 30 pounds of wood spinning on the lathe.Working from the tailstock in hog off enough wood to increase speed. if the work piece is large cut a tendon in the base about 6 inches in diameter and 4 inches in length. Shape the blank towards the headstock to define the rim. Turn a shallow recess in the end of the tendon to accept a 3 inch faceplate. Dismount ,take to a bench and screw in the faceplate. Knock out the 2 prong center and mount the bowl on the headstock by the faceplate. Bring the tailstock up for support. True the outside and start hollowing retaining the tailstock for support.When you have some weight off the inside push back the tailstock and complete the hollowing keeping in mind that the ends of the bowl are higher than the sides so in order to have an even thickness the bowl gouge hits wood, air,wood,air until you get below the sides. It takes sharp tools and light touch. When you have even wall thickness sand it and dismount. Unscrew the faceplate and mount a large , long padded tendon on the headstock and invert the bowl with the rim facing the padded tendon. Bring up the tailstock to support the tendon where the faceplate was mounted. Hollow the tendon and dismount. I then take the bowl and invert it , layout the legs and rough cut them with a coping saw. Then its several carving and sanding fixtures on a couple of flex shaft machines. There you have it. Damn I need a cigar.
Wow! I’ve tried a few tricky things on the lathe but nothing close to that. It’ll take a few readings of it before I’m able to grasp and visualize the process. The photo makes the bowl look elliptical rather than round (but then, it would be, wouldn’t it, due to the outside curve of the log) and I’d have guessed the legs to have been made separately.
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At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
The ashtray in the photo was a slice of white oak log, I sliced a 4 inch slab off and carved out the bowl and cut the slots for cigar rest.
four storage bins, 16 inch cubes, with soft close slides.
* I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *
That's the most awesomest thing I've seen since ever. Is it in a museum down there? A gallery? Where can I see it?
@jlmarta ; @peter4jc ;
it took longer to complete than i expected & it was definitely a learning experience.
but well worth the wait.
we had a small, old, cheap-o MDF storage bench in that space before and this is light-years better.
* I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *
Sneaky Series legged vessel. Curly maple 16 inches diameter. Turned and carved.
It’s beautiful.
Over the past 35 years I've made hundreds of these legged vessels and I've sold almost every one.
Mount the piece on the lathe and bring up the tailstock to support the base. You now have 30 pounds of wood spinning on the lathe.Working from the tailstock in hog off enough wood to increase speed. if the work piece is large cut a tendon in the base about 6 inches in diameter and 4 inches in length. Shape the blank towards the headstock to define the rim. Turn a shallow recess in the end of the tendon to accept a 3 inch faceplate. Dismount ,take to a bench and screw in the faceplate. Knock out the 2 prong center and mount the bowl on the headstock by the faceplate. Bring the tailstock up for support. True the outside and start hollowing retaining the tailstock for support.When you have some weight off the inside push back the tailstock and complete the hollowing keeping in mind that the ends of the bowl are higher than the sides so in order to have an even thickness the bowl gouge hits wood, air,wood,air until you get below the sides. It takes sharp tools and light touch. When you have even wall thickness sand it and dismount. Unscrew the faceplate and mount a large , long padded tendon on the headstock and invert the bowl with the rim facing the padded tendon. Bring up the tailstock to support the tendon where the faceplate was mounted. Hollow the tendon and dismount. I then take the bowl and invert it , layout the legs and rough cut them with a coping saw. Then its several carving and sanding fixtures on a couple of flex shaft machines. There you have it. Damn I need a cigar.
You are, indeed, da man, Rodger.