- Joined
- Jan 22, 2014
- Messages
- 578
Hello to those of you that followed my fabrication of the Bling Rings in "Member's Projects" section.
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=24853
The purpose of this exercise was to try and incorporate metal art that I created on my machine shop equipment - into wood art that I made with traditional wood working equipment to create a multi-media Indian themed vase. I turned a lot of wood projects some years back that you can see here:
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=20308
But this is the first wood turning project that I've made in 13 years now with the exception of a small base for my Elmer's Fancy motor. The story there is I married my current wife back in 2001 and share the garage with her laundry room and so she wasn't too keen on a bunch of dust and chips everywhere. I used that to my advantage and invested in welding, fabricating and machine shop equipment over the past few years because I convinced her there was no dust. :lmao:
The next problem was that I didn't have enough room for a lathe and mill and so I set-up my mini mill on the bed of the wood lathe, precluding me from being able to use the lathe anyway. When I wanted to make this project, I found that I could move the mini mill out of the way just enough to share the lathe bed space and leave me with some room to turn.
I found that my wood turning skills were a little bit rusty but it came back pretty quickly once the chips started flying. I also remembered what I DON'T like about working with wood, it's always moving and doesn't hold tolerances or concentricity for long.
After starting on this turning, I decided that it would have to be done in an unconventional manner. Instead of gluing up all of the wood and turning it, I had to turn it in 3 pieces to about a 98% finished state and then do the glue-up and finish work. This was primarily for fear of catching the tool and running it across my finished bling rings.
I used Curly Maple for the main body and Bubinga for the end caps. I used black veneer to better define the edges of the rings. I haven't yet decided on the finish, but I'm leaning towards a honey color stain with polyurethane finish, or Tung/Danish Oil which would be about the same color with less sheen.
The pics show where I'm at today, and this week I will do the boring and finish the top flare. After that, I will hollow the vessel using a special, hand-made tool a friend in the Inland Woodturners Club made for our members. I try to maintain about 1/4" wall thickness on most projects but I will stop short if I get too nervous.
Rick
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=24853
The purpose of this exercise was to try and incorporate metal art that I created on my machine shop equipment - into wood art that I made with traditional wood working equipment to create a multi-media Indian themed vase. I turned a lot of wood projects some years back that you can see here:
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=20308
But this is the first wood turning project that I've made in 13 years now with the exception of a small base for my Elmer's Fancy motor. The story there is I married my current wife back in 2001 and share the garage with her laundry room and so she wasn't too keen on a bunch of dust and chips everywhere. I used that to my advantage and invested in welding, fabricating and machine shop equipment over the past few years because I convinced her there was no dust. :lmao:
The next problem was that I didn't have enough room for a lathe and mill and so I set-up my mini mill on the bed of the wood lathe, precluding me from being able to use the lathe anyway. When I wanted to make this project, I found that I could move the mini mill out of the way just enough to share the lathe bed space and leave me with some room to turn.
I found that my wood turning skills were a little bit rusty but it came back pretty quickly once the chips started flying. I also remembered what I DON'T like about working with wood, it's always moving and doesn't hold tolerances or concentricity for long.
After starting on this turning, I decided that it would have to be done in an unconventional manner. Instead of gluing up all of the wood and turning it, I had to turn it in 3 pieces to about a 98% finished state and then do the glue-up and finish work. This was primarily for fear of catching the tool and running it across my finished bling rings.
I used Curly Maple for the main body and Bubinga for the end caps. I used black veneer to better define the edges of the rings. I haven't yet decided on the finish, but I'm leaning towards a honey color stain with polyurethane finish, or Tung/Danish Oil which would be about the same color with less sheen.
The pics show where I'm at today, and this week I will do the boring and finish the top flare. After that, I will hollow the vessel using a special, hand-made tool a friend in the Inland Woodturners Club made for our members. I try to maintain about 1/4" wall thickness on most projects but I will stop short if I get too nervous.
Rick