For our this session we continued working on the cone portion of the Fun Turn. The goal was to finish it this time. This meant no more chatting and no more cookie breaks until it was done. Yeah, right…

It’s unfortunate that the photos don’t do justice to the beautiful grain pattern on the burl. Since the grain grows in a deformed manner it is quite striking, especially within the Cherry. It’s easy to see why wood of this type is so popular among woodturners. I’m looking forward to the application of the finish which I expect will just make this grain ‘jump out’.

When we first began this project Dave had mentioned how much he enjoyed turning hollow vessels. He also said how much he enjoyed turning burls. Now I know why! Indeed, this is a FUN turn!

We continued turning the cone, bringing it closer and closer to it’s tapered, conical shape:

Once the cone was turned as far as we could with the present chuck we decided to rechuck. The method we chose involved using a Lathe Spindle Tap from Beale Tools. The tap corresponds to the headstock thread size and allows you to make a jam chuck that will mount directly on the lathe. You simply drill a block of wood using your Jacobs chuck, tap it, and then thread it onto the headstock spindle. Then you shape it as desired. In our case we turned it to fit the hole in the end of the vessel:

When the chuck was shaped the vessel was chucked between it and the tailstock:

From there we proceeded to give the cone it’s final shape and bring it to a point:

A bit of sanding finalized the tip:

Here is the finished cone showing the beautiful grain of the burl:

We finished what we set out to do, even after fitting in a few snacks and a lot of chat.

Next, we’ll go back to working on the base since we can now determine the size of the hole required. And of course, there’s the finial yet to do.

Back to the shop…