Skew's box(es?)

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Well... I headed out to the shed today with the full intentions of turning one box, maybe two, and doing some glue-ups for another couple of concepts that I want to try.

I thought I'd get the cutting & gluing out of the way first so I could play with turning while waiting for glue to dry. Bad decision. I did the basic cutting, then went to find my PVA glue. I only used it the other day, but where did I put it?

About an hour worth of shuffling boxes & moving wood later, I spotted it sitting on the end of my lathe bed, just t'other side of my tailstock. :- OK, so I grab it, take it to the blanks and go to squeeze some out.

Invert the bottle and... hear this oozy "thwop" noise inside the bottle. The last 1/4 of the bottle has gelled & set. :oo: It did that last time, too... and that's why I put it on the lathe bed last time, to remind me to replace it! :doh:

Anyways, the first box started off as this; it's 100x100x70mm Congo Mahogany (Thanks again, Jefferson. :2tsup:) It was originally 100mm each way, but I was doing something else earlier in the week and needed a small offcut, so picked up what I thought was a Tas Oak 4x4 and sliced the end off before I realised my boo-boo. :B I'm having one of those weeks.

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So, 30mm narrower than I'd first planned... what to do, what to do? OK, an idea has come into my head... I'll split it down in half, to give me two 35mm(ish) deep blanks.

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Originally I was going to hot-melt glue a tenon on it for mounting in the chuck, but with the change in plan I've simply drilled both halves to take a worm-screw.

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It's going to be a winged box, of sorts, (I seem to be going through a "winged thing" phase at the moment!) so I've attached some sacrificial pieces of crapiarta to save my fingers from chop-chop. There'll be pieces attached to the remaining sides, but I couldn't scrape enough glue together to get that far.

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That's as far as I got with this particular box today... :sigh:

It'll be the first I complete (once I source more glue) so, even though I've pix of several others I started, I'll wait to post them until I get around to actually doing those boxes. Just to give some continuity, and the thread doesn't chop'n'change between 'em.

(I did manage to get a solid couple of hours turning in, but as that was finishing a 14" textured bowl and a 12" winged bowl, I don't think they're eligible for this particular thread. :innocent:)

[ElizaLeahy]

so go put the bowls in the general turning!!! Wanna see more then wood stuck together

[Waldo]

Sometimes it's safer to stay out of the joint. That way:

• you won't stuff things up that you didn't know you were going to stuff up;
• you won't have to curse that thing that you put over there in a I'll-never=ever-lose-it-if-I-put-it-there place; and
• and you wouldn't have started something because you knew you had run out of something else just so you could do something but never got anything done really in the first place. :doh:

Bring an old glue bottle around and I'll fill it with some Titebond for you. :2tsup: (just not a big old glue bottle)

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

OK, so I finagled myself an hour or so of happy time on the lathe before dinner. :2tsup:

So... I scraped together enough glue to finish gluing on the sacrificial pieces, then rounded the lot on the BS so I wouldn't chunk my fingers.

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Using the holes I earlier drilled into one face of each, I mounted the pieces onto a wormscrew in my chuck. And just for any novices who don't know what a wormscrew is:

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This allowed me to hot-melt glue on some offcuts of wood as use for tenons, then to turn them round. This way I know that they're true to my work and everything should spin nice & true when I reverse mount. I also rounded the outside properly, again to reduce the finger chunking factor.

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OK... I've reverse mounted one of the halves and made a start on hollowing it out. I want this to be nice & spherical, and exactly 60mm wide at the lip.

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Now to work the outside, leaving a 5mm flat at the lip for future funny stuff. :)

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Funny stuff? Yeah... to make something to hold the two halves together, so the lid sits on the box properly. I don't have the "extra" timber to turn a normal lip :C so I'll make a glue-in piece from a bit of scrap. To accomodate it, I've made a rebate just inside the lip. 2.5mm wide & 2.5 mm deep.

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And that's more or less that stage of that half complete... so time for a quick sand & polish. :U

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Hmmm... that didn't come up too badly, did it? And I like the contrast between the Congo Mahogany and the Crapiarta. I was going to use a very dark walnut scrap for the ring in the lip, but... yet another change of plans! I'll use a light coloured wood instead!

Right. Put that piece aside and move onto the second half. It was turned in exactly the same way as the pix above, except I haven't turned the lip in it or applied a polish yet.

Now... Hmmm... :think: I've this scrap piece of Huon Pine that's too small for anything else and I've been using as a wedge for stopping kerfs from closing when tablesawing... :B So I quickly throw it on the chuck and profile it...

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And once separated it has this profile:

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The last step for the day was to turn the recess in the lip of the second half and glue the ring in. The box is almost half done! Well... the insides are almost done, anyway...

With luck I'll get some more happy time on the lathe tomorrow and I'll finish the ring and move on to turning the outside.

Don't hold your breath. :D

[ElizaLeahy]

So far looks pretty wonderful - I really really like the shine! How did you get that high a shine!

A rebated ring huh? Being clever ain't we?

:)

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

So far looks pretty wonderful - I really really like the shine! How did you get that high a shine!

Sand to 400 grit, EEE and then good ol' Shellawax.

There's two tricks: when applying EEE buff it in hard, then use a clean cloth to remove all of the excess. Keep using clean bits of the rag until absolutely no more "colour" comes off the wood.

When applying Shellawax, it's gotta get hot. And I mean finger-burning hot. It can be a painful exercise if your rag is only thin. DAMHIKT. :p I stand so that I can see the light reflected in the surface while buffing, and keep burning my fingers, moving the rag back & forth until I can't see any "rings" moving in the reflection as I move the rag.



A rebated ring huh? Being clever ain't we? :)

:U I really don't have much choice. My wood was only 7x10x10 and when I split it in half (2x 3.5x10x10) I've only just barely got enough to make the shape of the box I have in mind. When it's finished, you'll see that any mistakes in the shape I make will be pretty obvious.

So... not enough wood to add the lip? The only answer is to glue more in... and if I'm gonna do that, I may as well make it into a feature... :D

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Didn't get much done this arvo. :C

Started with the half with the ring glued in to make the lip and cleaned it up a bit. Sanded & polished while I was at it.

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Of course, at this stage it's mandatory to do a test-fit. Mmmm... not bad. A bit sloppy, but I was a bit over-enthusiastic in sanding the Huon. Very, very soft stuff. :B

You may be able to see why I left that shoulder around the outside of the lip... it'll hopefully seperate the two curves to give the impression that they continue on inside. It's not so obvious right now.

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Do you reckon I can get away with calling it finished and passing it off as a "mirrored mushroom" box?

So... that makes two halves of the two halves finished. :rolleyes: The easy half, unfortunately. I must've had a brain-fart yesterday, because I'd originally planned to turn the other sides first, which would have been easy to jam chuck.

Now I have to do it the other way around, and this side is much harder to jam chuck. :doh:

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You can see it's only a tiny thing that fits inside the bowl of the box... and being hemispherical there's not going to be any "jamming" about it. :~ Bugger, bugger, bugger. No choice but to bring up the tailstock support.

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Well... that half is finished. I'm really not happy with it at this stage, but because of my blunder I had to bring the tailstock up and I simply can't get the tools in at the angle I need to proceed further.

I think the wings are a consistent thickness (another blunder - I put my spring calipers down for a second and they promptly shot through on holidays. So I had to finish the job by guesstimating with my fingers. :B) but the body of the box itself is too thick. I'm guessing it's at around 7-8mm thick, when I only wanted 3 or 4mm.

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The moment of truth will be when it goes through the bandsaw and has the sacrificial pieces removed. Then any errors in formwill show in all their glory details.

So... it's not getting the chop just yet. I'll wait until I've turned the other half later this week, as in the meantime I may just possibly have a brainwave over a simple method to remount it and bring it to the specs I want.

I won't be holding my breath.

[tea lady]

:think: What you need is some really tall Cole jaws. :shrug: Or my doh-nut chuck that I haven't made yet but that is in my head.:D

Curious to see what this qill look like in the end.:)

How did you mount that little bit of houn in the chuck? Has it got a waste block too? or just a tennon or worm screw? I think I need to make a similar thing for something I have in mind.

[ElizaLeahy]

Me too!

[Waldo]

Do you reckon I can get away with calling it finished and passing it off as a "mirrored mushroom" box?


I'd call it "Fat Lady wearing tight fitting togs" :D

(bathers for you Vics)

:fish: ing. Hmmph.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I'd call it "Fat Lady wearing tight fitting togs"

(bathers for you Vics)

I like it! Y'know, I may just make a box along those lines... :D

BTW, I've always called 'em togs too! :p


:think: What you need is some really tall Cole jaws. :shrug: Or my doh-nut chuck that I haven't made yet but that is in my head.:D

I have all these things. Somewhere. :B

I've found that cole jaws are terrible for this sort of thing. Esp. when they have "long" jaws. They're OK for light finishing cuts when cleaning up a foot, for example, but I want to do some serious removal.

If I'd thought ahead, that piece of MDF I used to fix the jam-chuck "dome" to the faceplate would've been some 8" diameter. Then I could simply drill a few holes in it to take coach bolts and convert it into a donut-chuck, with the dome still centering everything.

That way I could remove the donut & use the tailstock to get to the point I am now (which needs constant measuring of the wing thickness, hence a donut would be in the way) and then replace the donut to do the bit I haven't done.

:think: Thanks, TL! I think that's exactly how I'll do the second half. :U And maybe remount the first so I can get it where I want it.


Curious to see what this will look like in the end.:)

Basically, one winged bowl upside down on another. With the bodies hopefully forming a sphere. :fingerscrossed:


How did you mount that little bit of houn in the chuck? Has it got a waste block too? or just a tennon or worm screw? I think I need to make a similar thing for something I have in mind.

Simply slapped on a worm-screw. I didn't particularly care what happened to the waste bit out of the middle, just so long as I didn't hit metal with my chisel. :rolleyes:

Although I have put it back in my scrap box. One never knows when those odd-shaped bits will come in handy.

[mick61]

G`day your right about the cole jaws being risky DAMHIKT.
Mick:D

P.S. Looking very nice so far

[Tex B]

Amazing stuff, Skew.

Almost makes me want to buy a lathe, but then I realise how many years it would take to make boxes like this. :(

So I'll follow your thread and continue to be impressed.

Tex

[Waldo]

Didn't say I didn't like it. :no: Just a spot of fishing.

One day I'll get round-to-it and turn the lathe on, and what I knock out will look a darn sight worse than two fat ladies wearing tight fitting togs :U . In the meantime I'll just look and watch. :2tsup:

[Sawdust Maker]

Amazing stuff, Skew.

Almost makes me want to buy a lathe, but then I realise how many years it would take to make boxes like this. :(

So I'll follow your thread and continue to be impressed.

Tex

C'mon
get a lathe, they're fun ( and we all can't be as good as skew)
I also find mine is a stress release tool - now how do I get the commonwealth govt to pay for it :U

BTW
Skew your ideas are absolutely brilliant

[Ed Reiss]

....hmmmm, interesting concept, Skew, looking forward to seeing the end result.

[Dommo]

Looking good Skew!!:2tsup:

I really like your blow by blow naration and photos. I find it really helpful to understand your process and it also helps to understand some of the terminology used.

Can't wait to see the end result :)

[Evan Pavlidis]

Nice work skew :2tsup:; eagerly awaiting for the end result; good looking bit of timber you have there. That polish suits it well.

Cheers, Evan :)

[Ozkaban]

Looking awesome so far Skew!

I like the troubleshooting you are doing along the way. I'm forever getting the steps out of order then having to come up with some nifty way of remounting stuff. The donut chuck idea is great TL!

Eagerly awaiting more progress!

Cheers,
Dave

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Only got half an hour in this arvo. Made a couple of stupid blunders early on, which have convinced me I'm it's not a good idea to carry on turning this evening.

I removed the first jam-chuck from the faceplate & made a new one, with an 8" piece of ply as the backing plate, for when I build the jam chuck. (I'll post pix when I get around to building it, which should be next post.)

Took my measurements, checked the new jam chuck for fit, all good. :2tsup:

I found my spring calipers (buried under an inch of shavings) and decided to throw the first piece back on and ensure the wing was a constant thickness. It only took a poofteenth of, then I dismounted it to check my handiwork.

SHOCK! HORROR! :oo: There's burn marks inside the bowl from where the jam-chuck wasn't quite right!

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OK, OK... hopefully it's not as bad as it looks, mainly charred finish and it'll hand sand out. But what a PITA! :~ Alright, just so's it doesn't happen to the second half when I hollow it, I take a bit more off the jam chuck and triple check it for fit. Be-ew-diful fit!

Put the first piece aside, mount the second and start hollowing the back. La-di-dum, la-di-dee. Job done easily & quickly. Yay! Except for the actual "sphere bit" in the middle, but that's what the doughnut chuck will be for.

Dismount, have a look... :doh:

I belatedly realised just why the jam-chuck had been "too tall" for that first piece! I'd turned it for this second one, which has the added Huon lip, right? So it's a bit deeper, yes? And then turned the other piece first!

Of course, 'cos I shaved that bit off so that the first one fitted, that meant that the second piece wasn't properly supported... all the pressure of the tailstock was being taken by the Huon lip. It has compressed as flat as a pancake.

Worse, the heat generated caused the glue to soften and the whole piece has started to lift.

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Now, if I'd turned this piece first and then shaved the jam chuck down to turn the piece I turned first second, I wouldn't have either problem. :B

It's just pure stupidity that I did it in the order I did... I've had a long, mind-numbi9ng day at work and, sadly, the ol' brain-cells didn't fire up until too late.

Tomorrow I'll turn away the Huon - which is why I've left the spigot still on - and make a replacement. And yet another jam-chuck. :rolleyes: But no more today... I've no wish to put "third time lucky" to the test.

[tea lady]

:C Just wasn't the day for it I guess.:doh: Al I did today was mucking about to. Nothing to show. :rolleyes:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Thanks for the kind words, people. :2tsup:


:C Just wasn't the day for it I guess.:doh: Al I did today was mucking about to. Nothing to show. :rolleyes:

Yep. Exactly my reasoning.


I like the troubleshooting you are doing along the way. I'm forever getting the steps out of order then having to come up with some nifty way of remounting stuff.


I really like your blow by blow naration and photos. I find it really helpful to understand your process and it also helps to understand some of the terminology used.

As I understand it, the whole point of this box challenge is to share the ideas & problems behind our pieces. What better way than a warts 'n all WIP? :U

Hopefully this WIP will allow others to turn similar boxes for themselves, providing an idea of the basic steps and some of the possible problems along the way. (Oh yeah! The problems! :doh:)

I really should have planned it better, but them's the breaks. It's what happens when your design decisions are made with a chisel in your hand instead of a pencil.

I haven't covered which tools were used where, because that's irrelevant. You can use whatever tools you feel most comfortable with at each stage.

But just to include the info; for the bulk hollowing I've used an Oland tool, my new Thompson 3/8" detail- and bowl-gouges (still unhandled :B) for shaping and, for the really, really hard to reach places, I've been using a big ol' screwdriver ground to a severe LH rounded scraper profile.

The screwdriver is actually making nice finishing cuts!

[jefferson]

Andy, you've gone to a lot of trouble to put your WIP into photos and words. I've learnt a lot already. :2tsup:

So, my thanks from all the learners like me out there.

[Ed Reiss]

go have a couple of cold one's...kick a cat or two, things will be better in the mornin':U

[scooter]

Gday all, interesting thread, Andy, enjoying your narrative & pics. Problem solving skills too. :)


Cheers.................Sean

[Waldo]

:aro-u: You're back in from the cold again. :2tsup:

I'm, reading and trying to learn Skew. :2tsup: Reataining it, well that's another question. :U

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Again, I only managed to snaffle a couple of hours in the shed for today. :~ Still, I managed to build the doughnut chuck and "properly" turn the parts that were causing me so much grief on the jam chuck. :2tsup:

OK, here you can see just how much thinner I wanted to make them: it' around 6mm! :oo: I'm so glad I didn't decide "Buggrit, that'll do..."

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You may notice that I left a rough edge on the inside of the chuck ring. I really should've sanded that smooth, 'cos only moments from finishing for the day, while applying EEE, I sliced the hell outta my RH pinky on it. :C

So, turned down to size & then a finish applied:

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... then repeated for the other half and, besides taking them out of the chuck, that was it for the day! Tomorrow I'll fix up the inside of the lid (those char marks) add the new lip ring to the box and, hopefully, finish it completely.


---=<(*)>=---

Just for those who aren't sure what a Doughnut Chuck is and can't really work out the details from the above pics:

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The scrap piece of ply wedged in between the faceplate piece & the mouth of the box is there purely so that the ends of the screws don't project out the back of the faceplate so far. I've a habit of grabbing the drive-shaft just behind the faceplate to help brake the work when I switch the lathe off... and with those sharp, pointy bits spinning around out of sight there'd be a chance of slashing my wrist if they were any longer than they are!

(As you can see from the pic, there's still a bit protruding; if I had more time I'd have mucked around cutting the screws to the right length. But I'm short on time, so... :B)


---=<(*)>=---

One problem some people have with a Doughnut Chuck is centering the work in it properly.

It's really a simple enough job, I do it exactly the same way I check for centre when remounting a piece in the chuck.

First, I mount the piece fairly snugly, but not over-tight. Then I bring the toolrest into position, pick a reference point on the blank that I want centered, then lay a hex key on the tool-rest, close to the reference point.

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I slowly turn the piece around by hand until the gap is at it's widest at the hex-key. Then I nudge the piece over (I just whack it with the palm of my hand) until the gap is only half it's size. I keep repeating this process, until the gap is the same all the way around.

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Then the chuck/whatever is snugged up tight, I double-check the centre (with the hex-key again) and then away we go! :U

[ElizaLeahy]

non of the piccies work! I wanna see the picciesssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:(

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

'Twas a forum problem... for some reason, after posting 'em and letting me attach 'em to the post, it went ahead and deleted 'em! :oo:

[ElizaLeahy]

I can't envision the end result!

But the steps are amazing.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

You'll probably be soooo disappointed when the box is finished. :U

If all goes well it's going to look pretty simple... and you'll think "all that work for just that?!"

[tea lady]

Yeah! But when we look at stuff now, we can't work our how much work it was, so think nothing of it.:doh: (or words to that effect.:rolleyes: ):D

[kdm]

Thanks for the info on the doughnut chuck Skew, it'll come in handy at some point I'm sure :2tsup:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Done. :)

For simplicities sake, I simply turned the pieces over in the Doughnut Chuck - protected them with a piece of rag to prevent marking - and then turned out the old ring, fitted a new piece of timber and then turned the lip to shape:

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Oh... and sanded the char marks out of the inside of the lid. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a piece of Huon Pine large enough to replace the piece I squashed. :C

And the end result?

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[ElizaLeahy]

You could call it the spider box! It has 8 legs!

It's going to walk off any moment...

[Ed Reiss]

...nicely done Skew :2tsup:

might I suggest that the overall look would benefit if the "wings" were somewhat thinner :U

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

...nicely done Skew :2tsup:

might I suggest that the overall look would benefit if the "wings" were somewhat thinner :U

Agreed wholeheartedly. They're 4mm, but I forgot to allow for the greater width showed 'cos the sides are at a tangent and have come up not quite double that. :doh:

I should've halved the thickness.... but 2mm is getting scarily thin for a part that's supporting the whole box.

I've also been tempted to attack it with a small die-grinder or whatever, and grinding the bevelled sections away. So they're perpendicular to what it currently is. Maybe for the next one. If there sis a next one. :;

[mick61]

Great job Skew I like the fact that you have kept the wall thickness constant,not easy to do Welldone:2tsup:
Mick:D

[kdm]

Mating manta rays?
:U

Great WIP - lots of food for thought.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

#2

45 minutes, nothing on TV and a scrap bit of redgum...

40mm dia & 90mm tall, I tried echoing the shape of the foot in the lid.

[Waldo]

#2

45 minutes, nothing on TV and a scrap bit of redgum...

There would be if SWMBO didn't flog the remote 1/2 way through what I was watching. :doh:

All these WIP's make a bloke feel inadequate. Beaut job mate. :2tsup:

[Sawdust Maker]

Skew
Nice work
IMHO would have looked good with the huon contrast

Like the second one as well - brilliant :2tsup:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

There would be if SWMBO didn't flog the remote 1/2 way through what I was watching. :doh:

The ol' pre-remote Tellies had some things right. :U


IMHO would have looked good with the huon contrast

Yeah, I'm a bit miffed about that. I was expecting the 2nd piece to polish darker than it did... now I'm thinking that I should have ebonised it. Ah well. :shrug:

[Waldo]

The ol' pre-remote Tellies had some things right. :U

'Cept I'd have to get up every ad break to flick channels myself.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

SWMBO has legs, doesn't she? :innocent:

[Waldo]

And you know that would work.

[tea lady]

Ah! Winged box! I think you've got it upside down.:D And a quicky. :cool: Nice.:U

[jefferson]

Andy, an education as always. Thanks for sharing the process with us all. :2tsup::2tsup: It is a lot of work to get all the words and pics together, so most appreciated.

The wings flare a little too much for me, though I suspect you were testing the boundaries at little??? :rolleyes:

And was it that Congo Mahogany? If so, you must tell us your finishing secrets.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Yeah, 'twas the Congo Mahogany. :2tsup: Comes up real nice, doesn't it?

It's soft and a bit prone to tearout, but with good clean cuts it only took me a few minutes to sand through to 400 grit then simply finished with EEE & Shellawax.

Mind you, I probably spent as long applying the EEE/Shellawax as I did sanding, if not longer. (I don't have much in the way of fingerprints left on a couple of fingers. :;)

The wings are a bit flary; they would've looked better if I made 'em a tad thinner. But as I was trying to keep everything "spherical" and wanted them to be the legs of the box, I was pretty much limited to that shape.

The next one may have a cm or two of the centre "ball" showing between them instead of almost meeting the way they do. The lip seperating them didn't quite work the way I'd hoped.

Ah well. :shrug:

[Rum Pig]

Looks good to me:2tsup::2tsup:
It would take me at lot longer than 45 min to turn that:rolleyes:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Been starved for turning time lately, but had a lunch-time knock-off today :woot: so snuck into the shed.

Thought I'd have a play with a bit of Mango that Cliff kindly sent down a while back. After having a play with it, I've decided that Mango is definitely not on my "favourite woods" list. :rolleyes:

I had no idea what I was going to do with it, simply throwing it on the lathe for a play. After quickly roughing it to round and removing splits, etc. I was left with a fairly odd shape, which had a "dome" on the end. Hmmm... OK, if I part off the dome for use as the lid, then the piece still in the chuck will make a gobletty sort of base. So that's what happened.

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After hollowing the innards and applying a finish, I reverse chucked it onto a jam-chuck and hollowed the foot as well. It's a fairly large foot and the box itself is quite thin, so I want to remove as much excess weight as possible to make it feel nice & light in the hand.

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In the last photo, the tailstock is only there to hold it in place while I took the happy-snap. The jam chuck held it well enough until almost the end, when I got a bit over-exuberant applying the shellawax. :B You can see where I was still finishing - the unpolished bit where the stem meets the bow - when it decided to go wandering.

Nothing that a Dremel and felt-pad didn't fix in short order. :;

OK, so the box bottom came out alright, now to do something with the top. Usually I'd jam it into the box and turn them both at the same time, but this time I thought I'd do a TTiT impression and go for something different... a potpourri box!

Mango doesn't strike me as being the best choice for lattice-work, but if I keep the rings fairly large (not trying to compete with certain other people) it should work out fine.

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Being pushed for time, I wanted this to be done fairly quickly, so rather than make up fancy jigs I decided on a basic, bare-bones job. Just a bit of 90x45 pine stud cut to length and a bevel down one side.

I simply drilled through the centre of the "dome" blank and screwed it onto the bevel. It did take a few shots to get it centered accurately enough while placing the axis where I wanted it, but only maybe 10 minutes worth of time all up.

After turning one set of rings, I simply loosened off the screw and turned the dome around 1/3 of the way, then retightened. And again for the final set of rings. Precision work it ain't but it got the job done. :;

When finished, a finial will fill the screw hole nicely.

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To hollow it out, I again took a shortcut and instead of using a jam-chuck type setup I simply threw an old spigot in the chuck, cupped it out a bit and the screwed the block onto it using the screw the "other way" through the blank. It meant I couldn't hollow out the whole dome as per usual, needing to work around the screw.

But it's a simple enough matter to part off the central "pillar" once all is done and finished. Just like parting off on a pen mandrel, except at a more awkward angle.

However (why is there always a "however"? :sigh:) this is where I came unstuck.

Instead of hollowing to thickness with calipers then turning the rings, I roughly hollowed, marked out the rings, then hollowed a bit more, deepened the rings, hollowed, etc. trying to "creep up" to the mark.

So, there I was, croucehd over the lathe, trying to see what the hell I was doing while working around that pillar, when... "WHAT'RE YOU MAKING?" One of 'er indoors friends had dropped in & seen the garage door open. :~

114097

At that point, I downed tools for a damage assessment, took a final photo and called it quits. Right now I can still hear 'em giggling in the lounge about my being "in a snit." :rolleyes:

But I'm not. I got over it pretty quickly.

As a matter of fact, as soon as I made my cuppa and realised she'd left her handbag on the bench right next to the sugar... :dev:

[Waldo]

Tar and damnations, when do plans ever work out? :~

[ElizaLeahy]

Well, the cup bit worked beautifully. Now you get to make a contrasting lid.

I like your idea of the screwy thing. I'll have to study it more to understand it.

You didn't really with the sugar, did you?

[Ozkaban]

I like where you were heading with it. It's kinda how I work - Just have a crack at it and figure out the mounting of stuff along the way.

I like the way you were going about the lattice work too - having the three different angles on top. Looks great!

Cheers,
Dave

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I like where you were heading with it. It's kinda how I work - Just have a crack at it and figure out the mounting of stuff along the way.

Sometimes I'll plan a job out, but today I was just having fun. I learned a few new things, too.


I like your idea of the screwy thing. I'll have to study it more to understand it.

The screwy thingy is very basic, but not very accurate. For pieces like Ken makes, it'd be totally useless.


You didn't really with the sugar, did you?

:yes: She does it deliberately, thinking it's funny. I've tried telling her that one day I'll lose a finger, but still... :~

She can just count herself lucky that I couldn't be bothered finding the honey. :p

[Sawdust Maker]

nice effort skew

A dead mouse in the bag would've been better

[Waldo]

Ouch. :U

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Snuck another one this arvo, after coming home early and discovering no-one home... and that I'd forgotten my keys. :B

'Tis nothing special, just further experimentation on the last form. (Which I still need to make a lid fir.)

90mm dia x 100mm high, Jarrah. I'm undecided whether to turn a finial or a simple knob, but it'll probably be a pale wood rater than a drk one. Huon Pine, perhaps.

[Waldo]

Strewth mate, you're putting in more turning of late than a baby has its nappy changed. :2tsup:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Being able to actually find the lathe helps. :innocent:

[Waldo]

So you've put stickers on each lathe saying "lathe" so you don't get them confused with boxes? :D

[wheelinround]

I was sure I had read this thread Skew :no::doh: great another wizard of wood to follow :U

[tea lady]

Being able to actually find the lathe helps. :innocent:and loose the keys.:D

[Waldo]

'is nibs probably put them in a safe place, last safe place was where the EEE was, but 'e forgot where the safe place was. :doh:

[tea lady]

'is nibs probably put them in a safe place, last safe place was where the EEE was, but 'e forgot where the safe place was. :doh:They is prolly hiding in plain sight again. They is bu&&ers for doing that.

[Waldo]

I'd best be careful, I might here a "thunk" on the shed roof.

[tea lady]

i'd best be careful, i might here a "thunk" on the shed roof.:d