Sad News-David Ellsworth dies

 Hi Everyone,

I just saw this online-wood turner David Ellsworth has passed away:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DK-gph0soCn/

He was a marvelous wood turner who influenced wood turning with his hollowing techniques and tool design. He will be sorely missed.

 

VW 

The Anniversary Tray-Completion Photos

 Hi Everyone,

 The anniversary tray is done! Here are the photos:

I'm really quite pleased with how this came out and I hope the folks I give it to will enjoy it.

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 Ok,  I'm going to take a short break and then come back and re-organize the wood shop and clean it well. After that I am going to be rough turning a large block of American cherry that is green and unseasoned. That will have to be handled differently from dry wood and we'll talk about that in the coming weeks.

See you all soon and as always, thanks for dropping by.

Best always, 

VW 

 

 

The Anniversary Tray-almost done

 Hi Everyone,

 Well, I was spending a quiet evening at home when I decided to go out to the wood shop and finish turning the anniversary tray. After about an hour, I finished hollowing out the top of the turning blank and here it is so far:

I'm very pleased with how it came out. It needs sanding and then the finished applied but it's a good thickness and it doesn't wobble. The wood grain has a pronounced ripple to it so when the whole thing is done it will look really nice.

Ok, tomorrow I'll sand it and begin the finishing process. I'll post completion photos in a couple of days.

 VW

The Anniversary Tray continued: Underneath the tray

 Hi All,

 Well I worked some more on the tray today and it looks really nice. Here's a photo and a description of today's work:

I finished turning the foot and shaping it fit into the large wood chuck I have. I also finished the turning and sanding-I sanded it to 400 grit and it really is lovely.

This is really light weight wood. For comparison I would put it in the soft pine-cedar category. It turns, sands, and finishes really well. 

After I sanded it I applied a coat of salad bowl finish and took it off the lathe as I had some other projects to work on today. It's inside drying now and it is almost dry. It feels like satin to the touch.

Tomorrow I'll put it back on the lathe and apply a second coat of finish and then let it dry. This weekend I'll flip it over and hollow it out.

Stay tuned,
VW

The Wedding Anniversary Tray continued

 Hi Everyone,

 Well I worked on the turning blank earlier today and got the underside shaped. Here's a couple of photos:

This first photo shows the foot of the tray. I'm going to make it a little bit thicker so the Nova chuck can really grab on to it when I flip it over:

And here is the underside. You can really see the heart wood clearly here:

This needs more shaping and smoothing and cleanup before I flip it over and I'll see to this tomorrow.

The next problem is should I make it into a tray with a flat bottom inside that could be used for serving food or should I turn it into a shallow bowl instead? And should I add some handles?

I'll think about it. Stay tuned,

VW

Wedding Anniversary Tray-Black Limba

 Hi Everyone,

 I've got a turning project to share with you-a large turned tray to honor the 65th wedding anniversary for a charming couple. 

Here's the story:

Our next door neighbor has parents who live in New Mexico but travel here from time to time to visit. I've gotten to know them over the years and they're really great. They're always interested in the wood shop and I miss them when they return home. Come to find out this August they'll be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary. I think this calls for a present.

Discussion and Plans

I have a large 16"x16"x2" black limba turning blank that I would like to use for this project. Limba is a large tree that grows in western Africa-black limba has dark grey or black streaks and white limba has no streaks. The blank I have has many black streaks and is greyish in color. And it's 2 inches thick so I can turn this with a foot and still get enough depth out of it for a tray. 

I'll have to set up the lathe for this by moving the headstock to the opposite end of the lathe (I'll show you a photo of this a little bit later on) and change the tool rest but I should be able to get a wide platter out of this.

Here's a photo of the blank I'm going to use:

 As I think they won't be here until July I have plenty of time to work on it. 

So I have to go to a dental appointment shortly but when I come back I'll get a face plate attached and set up the lathe for a wide turn.

See you all later.

VW

The Maple Salad Bowl Project-Completion Photos

 Hello Everyone,

Well the maple bowl is finally finished. It persevered through the lathe issues I had, the run in with the fingernail gouge and some other conniptions but it made it and I'm quite happy with it.

Here's the completion photos:

A word about hard maple: it may not have the flashy color or grain patterns of other woods but it turns beautifully. I've made plates almost the thickness of index cards out of it. It's strong and it holds up in kitchen use and survives being dropped. It's one of my favorite woods.

I think this one deserves a signature.

________________

Ok, what's next? I have several small projects to finish and then I'll probably take a break of a week or two and sharpen everything and clean out the wood shop. Also I have my summer garden to get going on and I'll be working on that too.

So stay tuned. There will be more turning this summer!

Best,

VW

Recent Work

 Hi Everyone,

 Here are a couple of photos of some recent completed work:

Here is a box of scrap wood for my grandson who loves to do crafts and build stuff. I've sanded it all smooth and rounded off corners and edges. He'll have this all over the place in a day or two:

Next is a pie server I made for my daughter-in-law's mother for Mother's Day. The handle is marble wood:

And lastly here is a couch tray made out of a slice of a walnut tree:

That's it for the weekend. See you all soon.

VW

The Maple Salad Bowl Project, continued: Shaping the Foot with Cole Jaws

 Hi Everyone,

Well Happy May Day to everyone here-I hope you're all having a nice day. Now that the music box is finished and everything is working properly again it's time to finish the maple salad bowl.

Let's talk about bowl feet-this is the part of bowl that sits between the bowl and the surface it sits on, in this case a table. They can be simple or very elaborate. They can be turned into the shape of a ring or carved into tiny feet. But what they all have in common is that they have to hold the bowl up without tipping over or wobbling so whatever is in it, doesn't fall out. And they add a more refined appearance to the bowl. 

The foot on this bowl was added separately to create both  foot and to add a strong attachment point for the lathe while I was hollowing it out. Now that this is done it's time to remove some of the height of the foot so it sits closer to the table top and to clean it up and put on the finish.

To do this I used a set of Cole Jaws so let's look at some photos now:

Cole Jaws are wedge-shaped aluminum jaws that attach to the body of a chuck, in this case my large Nova chuck.

 The jaws also come with a set of rubber bumpers which screw into the screw holes on the faces of the jaws:

 So when I place the bowl onto the jaws and close them the bumpers hold the bowl and then this entire thing is mounted on the lathe for turning:

Here is the bowl mounted on the lathe. You can see the bumpers in place. I had done several minutes of turning to make sure the bowl was spinning correctly and it was securely attached. And it worked!

The speed limit for this set up is 600 rpm but with my recent experience with everything not working properly I turned it a 350 rpm. It took a little while but I managed to remove about 3/8" of wood from the foot. I sanded it to 320 grit and decided to stop there:

Here it is with a coat of salad bowl finish on it. This turning for this project is finished:

I'm going to add several more coats of salad bowl finish to it then flip it over and polish it.  I'll post completion photos in a couple of days.

 

VW

The Music Box Project-Pt. 2-The Mechanism and Completion Photos

 Hi Everyone,

Well, the music box is done. Getting the mechanism screwed in place was a hassle but I eventually managed to set two screws in it and get attached securely to the bottom of the box

Here are the screw holes for the tiny screws:

Here is the box with the mechanism in place:

 

And this is the completed music box:

 

Ok, this one is done.

_________________________

What's next? Well, I have several bedside tables to make, a couple of patio chairs, and several bowls and platters so I'll be busy this summer.

But right now, I think I'll get some coffee, put my feet up and watch an old movie.

 See you all soon,

VW

The Camera Works-We got Photos! The Music Box project continued-Part 1: Completing the Box portion

 Hello Everyone,

Well, the batteries for the camera got here and I got them charged up so we have photos again. 

I've finished making the box part of the music box project so I'll post that right now. Later today I'll post part 2 which will be the installation of the mechanism.

Here's what it looks like right now:

In this photo you can see the replacement top out of redwood and I added a finial out of ebony. I really liked the rounded shape of the box and the top together but I'm very pleased with the finial. It contrasts well with both the shape of the box and the red and soft ivory colors.

I just finished making and installing the finial and here is how that went:

I had a small piece of ebony leftover from a prior project and decided to use that. In the photo you can see 3 lines on the surface of the ebony-the left section will become the stem to attach the finial to the box top, the middle section will be the finial, and the last section will be turning waste:

The stem needs to fit into the box tightly and it needed to be small enough to disappear underneath the finial so I decided to turn it to a 1/4" diameter. The easiest way to do this is get a small 1/4" diameter wrench and use it as a measuring jig. That way I can drill a 1/4" diameter hole in the top and have it fit perfectly:

 

 

I set up the wood on the lathe and started turning:

 

 

 

 

In this photo you can see it much narrower. Most of the wood has been turned away:

 

 

 

 

Lastly, here is the finished finial. The stem is a perfect 1/4" and the hole in the top is 1/4" too. It fit tightly:

And here is the top and finial together:

I'm going to stop for lunch and then screw in the mechanism. I'll be back with photos and completion photos later today.

VW

The Music Box Project-still alive with a new lid

 Ok I'm back,

 The music box has a new lid out of old growth redwood. It's a very simple shape (unfortunately the camera is still down-no photos) and it fits the shape, size, and contrasts well with the box. Here's what happened:

I picked up the pieces of the original lid and after deciding that the lid was not reconstructable, I discarded the pieces and went looking for another piece of wood. I found a small piece of white oak and proceeded to turn it to shape. The problem with it was I couldn't get it to spin true on the lathe. It had a terrible wobble to it in spite of my truing it up carefully. I checked everything and the lathe and equipment was working normally so I eventually gave up and set the oak lid aside.

I looked at the pieces of wood I had left and decided to use a piece of some old growth redwood that I've had forever. The wood was a part of a bookshelf that my fiance (now husband) had made of bricks and some redwood boards. The bookshelf and most of the redwood is long gone-I have a couple of pieces left and decided to use one of them.

The redwood turned perfectly. Its very soft wood but it is turnable and without a finish, it's a soft pink color. And since it's been in the family for almost 44 years now it's appropriate that it go to our grandson. 

Tomorrow I'm going to do a little more sanding on the box portion and then apply the first of several coats of polyurethane to both pieces. 

I'll also go out and see if I can replace the camera battery tomorrow.

So the project is back on and headed for completion.

Stay tuned,
VW

The Music Box Project-the lid self destructed

 Well Good Morning Everyone,

 To make this short and sweet, I put the lid on the lathe and began turning it and after about 5 minutes of turning, it broke into 3 pieces. The finial split off first, then the middle section came off. When I tried to salvage the large piece, it fractured along the grain. So this was a short turning experience.

There's no point in crying over spilt milk so I'm currently digging through the wood pile to find another thick piece of wood that I can turn in one piece. Stay tuned for that.

Oh, and the battery in the camera has bit the dust. I'll have to go and fine another one.

 Hang in there,

VW

Music Box Project-box and lid

 Hi Everyone,

Well, this was a loooong day in the wood shop but I got a lot done.  The battery in my camera ran out of power ("The battery is exhausted." yeah...) so I don't have photos for everything. So let's get going with the photos I do have:

The Box

This photo below was the box when I began working this morning. It was hollowed out to 3/4" deep but I needed to remove enough wood to make the bottom of the box about 3/8" thick so the winding stem would jut out from the bottom enough to make winding an easy task. So what I did rather than do a lot of measuring was to drill a 1" diameter hole straight though the box and out through the bottom. That way I could easy measure the thickness to the remaining wood with a depth gauge.

This is the box after it was drilled. I used a series of Forstner bits to hollow out most of the box and hand turned it when the bottom reached about 1/2" thickness.

 I went upstairs and got the music box mechanism and did a dry fit and it fits (the camera fizzled at this point so I don't have any photos but it did work).
I did some sanding cleaned up the inside of the box with scraper and some sandpaper. Other than the finish, this part of the turn is complete.

The Lid

I let the camera charge up a bit, had a bit of lunch, and went back down to the wood shop to work on the lid.

The lid consists of 3 parts-2 parts are for the lid and the 3rd part will be a finial. It is made out of Brazilian cherry and it will be a dark red color when finished.

I wanted to make this box really memorable so I decided on making the basic shape similar to a Raffan box. Raffan boxes are a type of small turned box made popular by wood turner Richard Raffan that have a wide base, a narrow opening, and a lid that is about as wide as the base. So I looked in my wood pile and I had a piece of Brazilian cherry wide enough for the lid.*

 

I cut three pieces and drilled a small hole in each piece so I could correctly line the pieces up when it became time to glue them together.

Before I did any gluing though I cut the lip that will fit in the box. It's just a tad loose but not enough to discard. I sanded it smooth so it's ready for a finish.

The next step involved creating a heptagon out of the round lid. I did this to create a "winged" effect. I'm a little hard pressed to describe this so I'll just have to show you tomorrow when I turn the lid:
 

The last several photos show how I glued it up. It's down in the wood shop clamped together and drying. I used JB Weld extreme glue for this as I don't want the parts to come apart when I'm turning the top.

Ok, tomorrow I'll turn the lid and sand it smooth and hopefully that part of the project will be complete. 

The last steps involve placing the mechanism in the box with small screws and of course applying the finish which will be done before I put the mechanism in.

Stay tuned we're almost there.

VW

*Those of you who are wood turners I'm sure are familiar with the work of Richard Raffan. His designs are simple but beautifully executed.
His first book The Art of Turned Bowls is a classic and has a place in my wood working library. I'm not sure if it's still in print but it bares looking for a copy.

Lathe Up and running

 Hi Everyone,

 Well the lathe is up and running again. Here's what went wrong:

The lathe has a series of pulleys that are held in place with very small screws called set screws. In the first photo below you can see the pulleys inside of the lathe housing.

In this second photo you can see a small black dot which is on one of the pulleys inside the housing. This black dot is the drill hole for the set screw.

 

The set screw hold the pulley in place while the motor is turned on and this all causes the wood attached to the lathe to spin in a circle. The pulley in the photo has two set screws and they have to be screwed in tightly.

What happened was the vibrations that the spinning causes, caused the screws to loosen and then fall out. So when I was working last week on a small box, it suddenly stopped turning while the electric motor keep on working.

So I got some replacement screws for it and used some Loctite to hold the screws in place. I let the Loctite dry for several days just in case and decided to give it all a go this morning.
 
I have another pizza server to make and I set aside a small piece of marble wood for that project. Since its small I decided to turn the handle for the server as a test project and it came out very well.

I had no vibrations and the wood turned true. I came out really nice. Here's a photos:

Marble wood is really wild looking wood and this is going to look great for this project.

I'll post some finish photos in a day or two.

______

Now that the lathe is up and running I'm going to take a quick coffee break and go back outside and begin the music box project.

Stay Tuned.

 

 

Lathe not working

 Hi Everyone,

The lathe is down for the time being so I'm stopping all the projects for the next week until I figure out what's wrong.

Stay tuned,

VW

Music Box Birthday Project-discussion and plans

 Hi Everyone,

 While I'm waiting for some equipment to arrive, let's get started on the music box project.

 

Discussion

I'm going to make a small music box for my grandson who will be turning 9 years old in a couple of weeks. He's a delightful little guy and I love making things for him and since he doesn't have a music box, that made deciding to do this project easy as pie.

Plans 

I'm going to start with a block of hard maple for the box part of the project that was part of the wood plank I bought for the maple salad bowl. It's 3" thick and has a 4 3/4" diameter. I turned it into a round blank last weekend and I trued up the sides. I choose maple, not only because it was readily available in the shop, but because maple is dense enough to turn the sides and especially the bottom of the box very thin.

I also have a square piece of purple heart for the beginnings of the lid. Lastly I have a music box mechanism from the folks at Music Box Attic in Canoga Park, CA. Their website has all sorts of stuff for music boxes, mechanisms, you name it. I bares taking a look at the website if you're considering a project like this.

Anyway, placing the mechanism into the box so the winding stem protrudes far enough through the bottom of the box to be easily wound but not be seen from the outside. So that's the key here.

I also ordered an extra long winding stem that is 1/2" long so the thickness of the box bottom will have to be thin enough for this.

So the first thing I'm going to do is make an outline of the bottom of the mechanism and mark out where the winding stem and screw holes go. Then I'll make a drawing of the thickness of the bottom of the box. Then I'll begin turning the box, then the lid and finial, and lastly the finish. When this is all done, it will be time to screw in the mechanism and the project will be finished.

Ok, grab some coffee and stay tuned!

VW