A wing and a prayer

[tony_A]

Ive had the idea for a winged vase but have been waiting for a suitable piece of timber. This branch came from hacking the dead wood out of one of the garden shrubs, one of the Hakea's. This is what I started with.
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After some careful and gentle turning this is what I came up with.

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Was rather nervous as I started turning but the piece felt quite solid once in the chuck. The branch was still partly green and turned quite easily and fortunately it didn't demand a blood sacrifice. The piece of wood isn't brilliant but is growing on us now that it has been finished. Basically just tried this out of interest .

C&C welcome

Tony

[Ian Artlett]

well I,ll be buggered never dreamed of doing that, how did you chuck it

[Nubsnstubs]

Ive had the idea for a winged vase but have been waiting for a suitable piece of timber. This branch came from hacking the dead wood out of one of the garden shrubs, one of the Hakea's. This is what I started with.
460905

After some careful and gentle turning this is what I came up with.

460906

460907

460908

460909

Was rather nervous as I started turning but the piece felt quite solid once in the chuck. The branch was still partly green and turned quite easily and fortunately it didn't demand a blood sacrifice. The piece of wood isn't brilliant but is growing on us now that it has been finished. Basically just tried this out of interest .

C&C welcome

Tony

Tony, thanks for posting this. That's an outside the box project. You did a spectacular job on it. Thanks. ........ Jerry (in Tucson)

[Uncle Al]

I would have to take a few 'brave pills' before attempting something like that Tony. I am glad you have completed it without any physical dramas. Now that I know it can be done I will store the image in the back of my mind just in case I get the urge to experiment.
Hakea is a nice timber to turn, I have made a few tool handles out of it over the years.

Alan...

[Simplicity]

I would expect you did quite a bit of air turning followed by will this now shatter.

Fantastic effort an I can see quite a bit of skill involved.


Cheers Matt

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Brava, Sir, Brava! Well done, I say.

Appropriately named, too. :)

In a way it's a pity you showed it to us here, now. That would rank very highly in the Australian Woodturning Exhibition; it'd blitz the score-cards in form and difficulty of turning.

Care to push your luck and try for another one? :innocent:

[turnerted]

Fantastic piece .
What size is it ?
Ted

[Potts]

Senbloodysational, absolutely gob smacked.

[smiife]

Well done Tony , very brave effort , 10 out 10 for difficulty :2tsup:

[tony_A]

Thank you all for your comments guys, glad you liked it.

Alan, I mounted the piece between centres and turned a tenon then mounted in the chuck. Despite the appearance of the base the tenon was quite solid.

Matt, I was extremely cautious to start but it soon became apparent (after a little catch) that it was reasonably solid. I did stop and check for movement/weakness regularly.

Thanks Skew, Ill see how I go with another. I have learnt a bit from this piece and have a good idea what sort of wood I would want if trying again. In my mind this one isn't quite good enough to enter in a competition. A couple of little imperfections that have been strategically hidden from the camera.

Ted, the piece is 250 mm tall by 180 wide.

Hi smiife, As I said above, once i got into it it wasnt as scary as I first thought. But it was up there on the difficulty scale. Had a couple of little catches and they both took a bit of bark off the edge.

Tony

[artful bodger]

An interesting and bold piece of turning (almost sculptural), well done.
Saw an image on tv last night that reminded me of the form.
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[tony_A]

Thanks AB, sometimes an idea works, sometimes its firewood. As your image shows, there is not much that hasn't been done before.

Tony

[powderpost]

Tony, how did you stop the "wings" from flexing?

Jim

[tony_A]

G'day Jim. I turned the outside first then turned the inside in small steps taking each step to final thickness before moving on.

Tony

[brainstrust]

holy crap, that is a work of art. The more I look at it the more I luv it. :2tsup::2tsup:

[powderpost]

I was interested in seeing this piece made by Tony. We have exchanged PM's and Tony has suggested I post the contents of that communication. I was then and still am a little hesitant in doing so, I do not want to take anything from Tony's effort.

In the late 80's our wood turning was visited by Todd Hoyer, a well known American turner, Todd specialised in this form then and made "vase" form. Like Tony, he turned the outside shape first. Todd then made rings (about 6 or so from memory) and then secured them in place with duct tape. The inside was turned a self made tool heavy duty scraper sharpened to a point and "textured". The wood used was freshly cut eucalyptus alba, or poplar gum.

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As a result of that demo, I had a go at making one also. Mine was made from freshly cut, red mahogany. I turned mine green as red mahogany is pretty hard when dry.

My effort.

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Both these vases are approximately 270mm high and about 170mm at the widest part. Hope some get inspiration from this thread.

Jim

[tony_A]

I found Jim's story interesting and thought one or two other turners may appreciate it. I can appreciate Jim feeling a bit uneasy about this, I expect I would if the tables were turned. But at the end of the day we post stuff here to help, encourage and inspire each other.

Tony

[powderpost]

Late this afternoon I found the second piece from that session in 1988, by Todd. Will see if I can get a photo tomorrow. It is along the same lines bit more like a squat hollow form with no sides.

Jim

[powderpost]

Found the piece that Todd Hoyer turned at a demo at our club meet in 1988. I mentioned this in a previous post. It measures about 220 x 110mm. More than a bit challenging.

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Jim

[tony_A]

Wow, that's an interesting piece Jim, thanks for posting the pictures. Turning that wouldn't be easy and getting a good finish on the inside even harder. I'm sure there are all sorts of possibilities based around this concept and Ill probably have a go at another when a piece of wood gives me inspiration. However, for a feature or display piece my preference is for a classical shaped vase.

Tony

[NeilS]

I was then and still am a little hesitant in doing so, I do not want to take anything from Tony's effort.



Likewise, I am also hesitant to post the following for the same reason. I did appreciate Tony sharing his interesting and challenging piece, so no disrespect to him. I also appreciated Jim's posting his and Todd Hoyer's piece and techniques.

All of the above pieces are examples of deep hollowing that come with the additional challenge from the flexing of the wings. At least with deep hollowing there are techniques for securing the wings externally or internally, although Tony has been able to execute his without those. I take my beret off to him!

And, here is another take on the wing theme.


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Because the 'wings' were slightly curved across they acted like aircraft wings (ie they lifted towards the longer top surface) creating significant vibration and a roar not dissimilar to a propeller or bull roarer. It was quite a challenging piece to complete with a satisfactory finish given the degree of flex across its 60cm/24" wing span. I had to develop a way of completing the 'feet" so that it sat stably and balanced. Perhaps a thread for another time on that.

The sort of thing you do for an exhibition or to show off with on a forum....:U

[tony_A]

My word that's a classy piece Neil, thanks for posting.
I consider my original piece a bit of an experiment and posted it to see what comments it generated. In that context I am happy for others to post related work that creates discussion and provides us all with a bit of inspiration.

Tony

[mick661]

Nice work

[brainstrust]

having a fresh look at it and i like it even more. Imagine being surrounded by that quality of stuff......:2tsup: