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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

I stole somebody's idea

Posts

I stole somebody's idea

#1

I stole somebody's idea

Mike Schwing from Md.

>And I made a couple of boxes in the same fashion. I tried to make different shapes/forms but they all turned out the same way. I was following a tutorial on Pam Reilly's awesome boxes, of which I, er..my wife owns one, and they ain't all that easy! The first one burned well in the fireplace, and so did the fourth one. They're Christmas gifts, I would never sell work that so closely follows the well known shape of another. I tried to do Pam justice but my skills fall short in this arena, and my eyes have trouble focusing in on tiny little finials, even though Wally has no trouble and he is more than double my age.

Tall one is 5" tall, bubinga, shorter ones are ambrosia maple. Finials are blackwood and cocobolo, I think. The bubinga top is one piece including finial. All are sanded to 12000, 2 coats of sanding sealer and then buffed on 3 wheels.

Comments welcomed, but mostly I was just glad to actually make these and realize some skills I didn't have before. A year or so ago all I could make from that same stick of ambrosia maple were solid egg shapes.


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Re: I stole somebody's idea

#2

Re: I stole somebody's idea

MP Wall

>Very nice indeed. Very thin parting tool for that grain match up? 12k grit boggles my mind, I am way too impatient for that high a figure and I guess it shows. Finials are nice but maybe its time for bi or tri focals or a flip down magnifier. ;-) Great work. MP Wall

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#3

Leo Van Der Loo

Re: I stole somebody's idea

Leo Van Der Loo

>Mike those are very nice boxes, and well done.

And yes I also found that those darned pyramid building egyptians have been copying my shapes, LOL.

O well must be flattering.

Have fun and take care

Leo V

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#4

Re: I stole somebody's idea

RonZ

>Hi Mike,

Nice attempt. Pam, your niche is safe for now. =o)

I don't know in which order you did it but the sanding sealer should come after the 400 grit or otherwise the pores get closed up at 600 and higher rendering the sanding sealers function, useless.

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#5

Re: I stole somebody's idea

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Thanks Ron. Sanding sealer, in this case, simply functions as the finish, not a sealer.

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#6

I like 'em!

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Mike,

Well done! And it's not stealing. It's just a different interpretation of another turner's style. :>)

The only thing I'd do differently (and this is just me) is that I would turn a small bead at either side of the separation line between the lid and the body. It makes it easier to grip when you pull the lid off. Otherwise, people are always pulling on the delicate finials!

I've been meaning to make some of these kind of boxes for a while now. Maybe I will turn some after the Christmas rush is over. And I have just the wood in mind. I have some mahogany that was given to me by Phil Duffy when I attended Bill Grumbine's BBQ this past summer.

See ya around,

Dominic

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#7

Re: I like 'em!

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Thanks Dom. The beads were killing me. I ruined the first top I tried by adding some beads. If I was going to make these regularly I'd try to improve on it by implementing your idea, but tiny little beads apparently aren't in my skill set at present. These little things always make me realize that I don't have skills with tiny little things. I'm more of a clunky kind of guy it seems. These are just some last minute gift requests from Mrs. Ding, and I wanted to try Pam's box tutorial, so it seemed a good fit.

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#8

Sanding sealer.

Fred in NC

>RonZ, I often wondered about the sanding sealer myself; it needs pores to go into. I suspect that with the finer grits the pores start getting filled, and also there is some burnishing action.

Thanks for pointing that out. Fred in NC.

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#9

Give it a try

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Fred, the results of using Mylands Cellulose Sanding Sealer on highly polished/sanded surfaces is very pleasing. When it is all done, the finish leaves enough of the pore structure visible/touchable that it has a nice look and feel to it, as opposed to a film based finish that seals off all traces of the wood's surface. (which is perfectly appropriate in some circumstances)

It is easy to achieve either a satin, semi-gloss or gloss finish, too. Simply applying a coat of sealer and steel wooling it off will give a great sheen. After that, if you hold your hands on the finished surface while the lathe rotates to get it warm/almost hot, a high semi-gloss will appear. Recoating at that point and repeating those steps will make it deeper. If still more gloss is desired, buffing on wheels will bring it to pretty darned high gloss. It is really good stuff, and I prefer it to their cellulose lacquer product. It seems to hold up better to the buffing wheels.

BTW, I have recently been using Liberon 0000 steel wool and it is an extremely high quality product! Way, way, way better than the other shrink wrapped, home depot stuff of the same grit/nomenclature. I have also discovered that polishing back and forth in straight lines produces a higher sheen than circular. Funny, because all of my life, from my experience in auto body shops, I have wet sanded in straight lines vs. circles as the buffs add enough circular motion, but I never considered that with finishes for wood.

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#10

Re: I stole somebody's idea

Mark Kauder

>MIke,

I like them. The Finials are just right.

Mark

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#11

Thanks, Mike - I will try it.

Fred in NC

>

Re: I stole somebody's idea

#12

Re: I like 'em!

Tony in VA

>Mike,

Where is the tutorial you mention? Is it on WoodCentral? Those boxes look great. I would like to give them a shot.

Thanks!

Tony Kennick in VA