Practice makes perfect-I wish!

[Chipman]

One of the things I do at school is to make gifts for staff at the end of the year.... this time it was bowls filled with chocolates.

Here is the first lot. All are finished with shellawax



Cheers,
Chipman

[Chipman]

Next lot were turned square:
Finished with lacquer...some are too glossy for me but they were finished to suit the people getting them. Some think glossy is best!


Chipman

[masoth]

Inspiring work Chipman. What number of workers are there to turn for?

soth

[Chipman]

Now for some inlay work:


The first is a square turned plate (canadian maple) with a red mallee inlaid heart to match the theme in this teacher's house. You will notice the finish is a bit patchy???? Just after this photo was taken, I stripped it off and re-sprayed it.

Finally a red mallee burl ring box with inlaid ring and heart from jelutong... this is a wedding-day ring box. As burl tends to move, I used a "O" ring to hold the lid on. The inside was also lined with felt and a removable sloping shelf (to set it up fo a single ring or remove it for two rings) I wish I had remembered to take a photo inside the box.... it even had the young lady's initial in gold under the lid! By the time I had all these gifts done, I was so tired, I forgot to do it:? By the way, all the cracks were filled with CA following the help given by SKEW and others. The finish is about 6 coats of wipe on poly and a buff up with wax.

Anyway, hopefully, the whole exercise has helped to give me a bit more practice and improve my skills. Still learning and got quite a way to go yet!

Cheers,

Chipman

[Ed Reiss]

Nice turnings Chipman!:2tsup:

[Chipman]

Inspiring work Chipman. What number of workers are there to turn for?

soth

10.... one was leaving, the others were acknowledgement of what they had done throughout the year

[Mobil Man]

Lots of nice turnings. I'm sure they will will be happy with them. Gotta question on the inlay on a turning. I've kicked the idea around in my head but wonder how to make sure the inlay is/stays centered. Thought of maybe a platter [example] with inlay. The inlay has to be done before turning. How to guarantee center. As the ring on your ring box. Or have you found a way to do it on an already turned item. Hope I'm making myself clear.

[lubbing5cherubs]

beautifiul bueatiful stuff. especially your heart inlay. Top notch
bye Toni

[DJ’s Timber]

Good stuff :2tsup:

Looks like your finishing is coming good in leaps and bounds :;

[Chipman]

Lots of nice turnings. I'm sure they will will be happy with them. Gotta question on the inlay on a turning. I've kicked the idea around in my head but wonder how to make sure the inlay is/stays centered. Thought of maybe a platter [example] with inlay. The inlay has to be done before turning. How to guarantee center. As the ring on your ring box. Or have you found a way to do it on an already turned item. Hope I'm making myself clear.


This very issue of centreing put me off for a long time too but as I really wanted to do it, I perservered until I worked out a way to do it.

The ring...easy. With the lid still mounted in the lathe, cut a small groove for the ring. (I used a home made tool to get the narrow width) Next mounted a block of jelutong (close grained) and turned a thin walled cylinder to form the ring (this took a lot of careful measuring and a few failures) Finally it was glued in and clamped and when dry, cut it off, put it back into the lathe and sanded into profile. The ring is inlayed about 3-4 mm deep.

The heart was a challenge. I centred the heart and ring as a drawing first on the computer then printed it out and used a hot iron to transfer the drawing onto the lid (laser print when put face down will transfer when heated). To cut the recess, I drilled lots of holes in the heart shape using a drill press to control the depth then used a sharp craft knife and small chisel to trim it and clean it out followed by the dremel to finish it off. The heart shape was made by glueing the heart drawing onto the inlay piece (about 4-5mm thick) and cut out on the band saw and carefully sanded and filed to fit the recess. Finally glued into position, lid remounted on the lathe and trimmed up.

Sounds easy but I actually did it 3 times! (same lid 3 different inlays) First time, not happy with the choice of timber for the heart...too close in appearance to the mallee burl. Next time, after all that, the heart did not appear to be quite centred so cut it out and evened it up and inlayed it again.

Note that mallee burl is very hard and due to the difficult grain, is a real challenge to work with. As it was for a good friend and I enjoy a challenge, it was worth the effort! It certainly would not have been a paying proposition.

I think if I had to do it again, I would try and track down someone with a laser engraver/cnc carver.


If you were doing this in a larger object, it could be off centre by 1 - 2 mm and it would not show up but in small objects, it really stands out. The inlay in the corner of the plate did not have this issue.

Cheers,

Chipman

[wheelinround]

:o more CH wow all nice plenty time on your hands

my Shellawax finishes not happening like that :~

[Chipman]

:o more CH wow all nice plenty time on your hands

my Shellawax finishes not happening like that :~

Time on my hands...I wish! had to fit this lot in around marking exams and writing reporsts.. so started early (beginning of November) and did a bit at a time.

As for shellawax finish....I had a good teacher DJ and also a guy on UBEAUT's stand at the Melbourne wood show.

My hints... work in steps down through the grits to atleast 800...preferably 1500 then eee ultrashine (wipe a thin film on and use a small spot with eee on it and work from the centre out on medium to high speed) Next with a clean cloth wipe off the surface then I use the shellawax cream. Spread a thin film on and then with a small spot and pressure work from the centre out at medium to high speed.

Just what works for me. I have some shellawax glow but I have no luck with it at all?!!!????

Thanks,

Chipman

[new_guy90]

wow very cool

i love the inlay very impressive how you carved it :2tsup: