Unexpected

[joe greiner]

This should not have worked out as well as it did. I'd planned on making a simple cedar bowl about 9" (230mm) diameter x 4" (100mm) high. The lower portion of the blank had a substantial inclusion (might have been an embedded twig which had rotted). I started turning it away between centres, and when that was completed I was left with a just barely robust stem and a tenon for chuck mounting. So far, so good. I shaped the outside for a more-or-less vertical wall. I flipped the piece, and augmented the support with a steady rest. As I was cutting the inside, some small cracks developed in the wall. I thought I could deal with them later, and proceeded with the hollowing. 'Twas not to be. Two small chunks jumped out of the wall. The remaining wall was too ugly to save, so I cut off the two remnants, and completed hollowing the dish of the bowl.

I finished the bottom by mounting the bowl in my Longworth chuck, with the steady rest providing insurance against snapping the stem. I like to provide an outboard step of about 0.5mm to lift the bases of many of my turnings; the extra grooves are just showing off. Final dimensions are 8½" (215mm) diameter x 2½" (65mm) high. The dish is about 4mm thick. I don't really miss the higher wall; it was mostly white sapwood, which was distracting.

I made a thin plywood disk for a faceplate on my rotisserie drive shaft. I attached it to the bowl with hot-melt adhesive, with a masking tape interface to facilitate removal. I let the rotisserie run for about 16 hours, with 8 coats of gloss polyurethane applied over the first 4 hours. Even with 8 coats, there are a couple regions of incomplete soaking; I'll be applying some sanding sealer for the final sanding next time. And there's a spot where I had to remove some bug poop; I should have used a shorter umbrella over the rotisserie. Furthermore, although not visible in the pictures, the rotisserie didn't totally prevent runs because the driveshaft was almost vertical to reduce wobbling. I think I can revise a longer driveshaft to run more horizontal by means of an auxiliary support with thrust control. The simple fix would be to provide thrust on the dish side, but it'd leave a footprint in the bowl.

I left the bottom uncoated to allow the cedar aroma to emanate. (OK; the real reason is that I'd exhausted the spray can.)

Joe

[littlebuddha]

Nice piece Joe not to sure if i like the white tape though:D might be the lights/flash in the pick but the finished pic the foot looks as though to much spray finish heavy gloss, might be wrong and its just the lighting but if not i would cut back a little and wax. Hopefully its just he pic, Oh change the white tape as well to a see through type will look better:D:D Lb.:2tsup:

[artme]

Great job:2tsup::2tsup: but I have to agree with LB.

[Ad de Crom]

Joe, you really don't miss the higher wall as I can see on the last pic.
Well this unexpected came out very well, no doubt.
You created a very fine turning, looks very good.
Ad :2tsup:

[Calm]

Very elegant lines i like it lots.

[joe greiner]

Thank ya kindly. mates. Mostly lighting, I think: natural light outdoors on the North side of the house ('twould be South if it was in Oz), or shaded by the umbrella. A bounce card might help to light the profile and base better. Very difficult to achieve an even coating on the shape though, so you're probably at least partially right, LB and artme.

Joe

[wheelinround]

LB said it all Joe

I like it shame about the other bits shame they couldn't be reattached they look good

I agree with LB about the spraying maybe to heavy handed with the coats spray cans are hard to adjust tho :; for light coats with a spray can (not sure how close you spray) usually I pull back a bit and light spray allow a few moments between coats depending on type of spray being used this can be 20 mins or so.

Joe do you use the handle type attachement to spray with or straight off the can.:?

[hughie]

Joe,

nice save, stuff'n up is easy. :U save'm takes imagination and skill. :;

[joe greiner]

No regrets about the wall, Ray. The shape would've been nice, a little like a compote, but the colour distribution didn't seem very handsome.

I aimed for an interval of about 20 minutes between coats, but working on other things boosted it to about 35 minutes average (still within the 2-hour window to avoid sanding). At 5.5 rpm (about 11 seconds each revolution), I gave it about 3 shots (in different regions) in about 1/2 minute, so straight from the can wasn't too tedious. In something larger, such as a car door, I'd use a handle attachment or a regular spray gun.

Thanks again.

Joe

[Chipman]

Looks good, Often happens that way, you start off making something and eventually turns into someting else! Let the wood decide what it wants to be!!!!

A suggestion about finish! I assume you didn't want to use a friction polish like shellawax. If you have your own spraygun, why not try lacquer. It dries much more quickly and less likely to get bugs and dust in it.

If you don't, try hand rubbed polyurethane,,, much better control, you can do it right on the lathe. There is a product made by minwax (seen it at bunnings) or you could just dilute regular polyurethane down by 25%. It is simply applied with a clean lint free cloth (piece of old singlet etc) Between coats (or 2 coats) cut back with 400 or 600 wet and dry paper. Finish off with a good wax.

Keep turning!:2tsup:

Chipman

[BernieP]

G'Day Joe

Really nice piece, look nice with a big sponge cake sitting on it, yum. That steady rest is excellent consider the design stolen, hope you don't mind.

Cheers
Bernie

[joe greiner]

Thanks, Chipman. I really need to do more planning for my finishing. I've found spray-can lacquer at auto parts suppliers, but only used it once. And it would have worked better with initial sanding sealer. I have another rotisserie motor with opposite rotation as an auxiliary drive on the lathe, so low speed for coating and higher speed for rubbing is available. (Outboard spindle is LH thread.)

And thanks to you too, Bernie. If you want to steal the steady rest design, you might as well do it right. Here 'tis: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=68735

Joe

[Hardenfast]

Nice one Joe. I've yet to acquire/construct a steady rest so I'm not really ready to have a shot at some of these longer vessels you guys do. I'll have a close look at the link you've provided above - many thanks.

I haven't yet tried a polyurethane finish on any lathe work either - been happy to stick with the Shellawax etc so far. Although, as Chipman has said I've seen some "Wipe on Poly" here at Bunnings - both in the Semi and Glass versions. Maybe I'll give that a shot and see how it goes.

I like the finished shape, even if it wasn't your original plan. I never seem to have a final design in mind for my stuff so the finished product is always in accordance with my expectations.

Wayne

[Chipman]

For those who are intrested, here is a pic of bowl I turned up at Easter time as a present (originally full of chocolate Lindt balls!)

It is made from Nuginea Rosewood and finished with satin wipe on ployurethane

Chipman:U

[joe greiner]

Looks good, Chipman. Although I'd be more drawn to it full of the candy. :wink:

I usually favour satin or semi-gloss for better presentation of the wood. The gloss finish on the raised dish was sort of experimental.

Joe

[OGYT]

Nice save on the piece, Joe.