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Hardenfast
1st May 2008, 10:37 PM
Evening all.

I haven't had time for any lathe work over the last few months, but the wet weather of late gave me a few hours to have a play. Segmented bowls are my passion so I decided to have a shot at another one.

I still had heaps of reclaimed staircase components from a recent renovation in Sydney, comprised of sections of Australian Cedar and Kauri Pine. It's a very ordinary collection of old, old timbers from a 130 year old terrace house in Redfern - apparently the original Redfern Police Station. It's sections of newel posts & balusters (Aus Cedar), treads & stringers (Kauri) - all full of nails, screws, tacks and covered in layers of old paint and shellac. Pieces like this:


72543

It takes some work to get usable sections out of this stuff - dodging nails (not always!), old mortice slots etc - and it can be hard on your equipment. However for segmented works you only need relatively small pieces, so it's not too hard to slice up enough bits for a bowl. I like the contrast between the Cedar and Kauri, and they are close enough in density so there's very little differential movement. I reckon by now it's probably fairly well seasoned too. :)

So, in my usual cavalier way I started off with no actual design in mind - just cut up a few bits and see what they suggest. I wanted to do something with a bit of geometrical feature so made up a disc for the base out of 12 wedge shape pieces of Cedar separated by 1mm slices of Kauri. It looked like an interesting start.


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I followed that up with some segmented rings - some six segments & some twelve - to build up some height. I decided to experiment with fitting a few shapes (diamonds etc) into the centre layer just to see how it's done.
There's a little bit of mucking around but it's not too hard. Before the bowl had the top layers added I cut a chuck mortice on the inside with a forstner bit, put it on the lathe and shaped the bottom.


72536

Once that was done, for the top layer I cut up another twelve wedge shaped segments of Cedar - again separated by 1mm Kauri slices to match the base, but I made this layer 50mm deep so I had a bit of material to shape a rim out of. I always use just a Selleys Tradesmans Choice PVA for all segmented jointed - never had a failure with it. I find I can cut the segments and leave them to dry in rings while I'm doing other things. It actually doesn't atke too long to cut & glue up the pieces.

So anyway, when it was dry I threw it on the lathe via the base mortice I cut earlier and roughed out the inside & cleaned up the outside.


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A quick sand through the grits up to 600 - one coat of Shellwax - and there it was - SEGMENTUS GEOMETRICO! Over all size around 250mm diameter by 110mm high.


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I'm quite happy with it as a quick experimental project, and am looking forward to getting a little more adventurous when time permits. Despite the extra work required in reclaiming this old timber there's a certain appeal in producing something like this, and there's a bit of history to it as well.

By the way, thanks to TTIT and others I've now developed a fetish for producing eggs out of any offcuts which look interesting. Trouble is, everyone who sees them wants one of each so I'm now trying to make 3 or 4 of each timber when I do them. Here's a few in a segmented bowl I made a while back (same reclaimed timbers!). I had just done 3 eggs from some spalted hoop pine which came out quite well.


72540

Let me know what you think.

Wayne

coffenup
1st May 2008, 10:55 PM
love it thats a project for the future I dream of doing a segmented bowl or vase
Fantatic work
Regards Michael:2tsup:

prozac
1st May 2008, 11:03 PM
Nice work Hardenfast, and good use of timber in an experimental situation.

prozac

Chipman
1st May 2008, 11:28 PM
Great work:2tsup::2tsup:

If that is an experiment, can't wait to see the final project!!!

Chipman:D

BobL
2nd May 2008, 12:32 AM
Looks painstaking but the final outcome looks worth it!

OGYT
2nd May 2008, 05:08 AM
I admire all you segmenters. I don't have the patience for it. Well done! :)

Rum Pig
2nd May 2008, 09:13 AM
That is one good looking bowl I do not have the patience or the time or the equipment to even think of such a task but you certainly have mastered it. I do like the idea of using old recycled timber, I mean were can you get a bowl that is 100 years old and look that good.:2tsup::2tsup:

Cheers Justin:drink2:

littlebuddha
2nd May 2008, 09:23 AM
Nice work, not got around to doing segment work, well done one but never got back to it, so many ideas not enough time, love the spaltered eggs, and love that you use reclaimed timber. I have cried over the years that i have seen hardwood bars backfittings burnt when they refit a pub with plastics..nice work..LB

wheelinround
2nd May 2008, 09:57 AM
Wayne amazing no wonder you've been quiet:2tsup::2tsup:
all hand sawn I bet :p:;

Now you just need to enter it at Sydney WWS

Ray

Frank&Earnest
2nd May 2008, 11:41 AM
Congratulations Wayne, inspirational work. I'll definitely give it a try after finishing the 30 or so projects I have already started. Or will I start no. 31 now?:D

artme
2nd May 2008, 01:49 PM
Wonderful!!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Hardenfast
3rd May 2008, 03:23 PM
Many thanks for the generous comments, all.

Hand sawn, Ray? Well, sort of. I used both hands to position the timber carefully on the table saw and the mitre saw so there's an element of hand work involved.

Frank, Michael, LB etc... have a go at a simple 3 layer segmented piece - its actually not that hard. Trust me. That was my first project and this one is only the 4th segmented bowl that I've attempted. I can't even use my chisels properly yet - especially the dreaded skew.

It's easier than it looks and the results can be very pleasing - you're only limited by your imagination, and you can easily make up an interesting piece out of offcuts you have laying around.

Wayne

ss_11000
5th May 2008, 12:49 AM
:2tsup::clap:

very nice work!

joe greiner
5th May 2008, 11:04 PM
Excellent, Wayne; just flat out excellent. (Or perhaps I should say "eggcellent?") And a nice touch with the historical reference.

I don't think I can duplicate the precision of the segmenting crowd. But, in addition to the accent effect, the thin strips of contrasting timber can enable a cheat of sorts: Plane or sand the timber to match your saw kerf. Cut through all mitres (mostly imperfect) to produce parallel sides, and place the thin strips in the gaps. The Celtic Knot isn't the only way to utilise this trick.

Joe

Ad de Crom
6th May 2008, 02:06 AM
Wayne, as you know I'm doing this sometimes too, and segmented work is one of my favorite turnings, well I can tell you, your segmented bowl is excellent.
What kind of a mitre saw are you using, probably in combination with a disc sander, your segments are looking so perfect.
Really a great job!!

Ad :2tsup:

Hardenfast
6th May 2008, 09:43 AM
Hello Ad. Nothing special in the mitre saw - just a Makita 300mm Sliding Compound Mitre. You need to be a little carefully in docking the smaller pieces, of course. And yes, a disc sander is very handy as well for very fine trimming where required.

Morning Joe. This was a new process for me - using the little 1mm slices for contrast. They were a pain in the acre, both to cut to a consistent thickness and to keep in place during the glue up - I must make up a few jigs. Still, it's a very effective finish and I'm sure I'll do it again at some stage. And yes, I'm sure something similar has been used many times to disguise dodgy joints etc. I've notices that the box makers sometimes use little thin corner "feathers" of contrasting timber by slotting them into kerf cuts for effect. Same principle I guess, and it looks good.

Also, these things are not always as precise as you think. I've found that it's easiest to glue up the ring sections into two equal halves, and then fit the two halves together. As you can imagine there's nearly always a slight angle discrepancy by the time you try to add the last segment in each ring. I usually lightly trim each half ring on the table saw to ensure that they are both perfectly straight and 180° to the centre axis. A disc sander is also OK for this.

It's a fascinating field with limitless options. It suits me perfectly because I always have access to small & interesting offcuts, but rarely to larger solid turning sections. My carpenter/joiner background actually gives me confidence in the assemby process - it's the lathe work where I still struggle.

Wayne