After only a few evenings and a couple of Saturday afternoons our project is finished!

What started as an idea ‘turned’ into a piece that we can take comfort in knowing was a job well done. The object of the Fun Turn was to have fun, and fun we certainly had! This was a great experience, and definitely a learning one!

For me this project was enjoyable on so many levels. First and foremost, of course, was working with Dave Wilkins. Dave has gained a lot of woodturning knowledge in the relatively few years that he has been turning and he freely imparts what he has learned. His willingness to share and his undeniable zeal for challenges made working with him truly a Fun Turn! The project itself gave me many opportunities to move outside of my comfort zone, from ‘turning air’ to doing a hollow vessel to the fine finial work. However, above all the biggest enjoyment for me was the collaboration aspect, particularly with the brainstorming of ideas. There were several instances where we found that the old axiom, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, was exemplified. It is one thing to look at a project on your own and decide on a design or course of action thinking it’s the best one and another to work with someone else where the decisions are compounded, each one building on the each others perspective.

Continue reading 'The NWG Fun Turn Contest – Pt. 6'

This session of our Nova Woodturners Guild Fun Turn focused on finishing the base and creating the finial.

Since the vessel was now finished we could get a better understanding of it’s relationship to the base and after some ‘eyeballing’ it was decided that the ‘legs’ were a bit too long. We were also looking for more of an arc than the strict ‘U’ shape that we had.

We figured that by shortening them about an inch and a quarter both these considerations would be covered.

Prior to turning the legs shorter it was decided that to minimize stress and to ensure a more stable workpiece that we would hot glue a couple of stabilizers across the legs:

Continue reading 'The NWG Fun Turn Contest – Pt. 5'

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:
Continue reading 'The NWG Fun Turn Contest – Pt. 4'

Dave and I got together the other night for another turning session for the NWG Fun Turn project.

In order to turn the hole in the base we would need the diameter of the finished hollow vessel, so for this session we switched from the base to the Cherry burl.

This was to be the first burl that I turned, or rather, took part in turning. It also was the first hollow vessel.

Positioning it correctly on the lathe was important to ensure that it would rotate properly. It was also important to position it correctly to get the best look since a lot of the wood would be lost on the smaller end of the cone. Obviously it’s pretty hard to tell exactly what the burl will unveil as it is turned but a conscious effort to get the best from the wood was made.

Once it was secured between centers it was roughed to round, the ends cut and a tenon turned on one end:

Continue reading 'The NWG Fun Turn Contest – Pt. 3'