small vessels

Re: small vessels

TomW in SouthJersey

>John - Very nice. The finish looks perfect on these. I agree on the rhododendron root grain pattern. I would not have guessed. I've been looking for an excuse to tear out the ones under my front windows.

Tom

Re: small vessels

JL

>Very nice. The rhododendron is fascinating. How big a piece did you start with?

Re: small vessels

John K Jordan

>>The rhododendron is fascinating.

>How big a piece did you start with?

I used a piece about 1-1/2" by 3-3/4" - it doesn't take much! That piece had big black interesting fissures on two sides.

I have a number of pieces of this wood, most of them about 1-1/2" or 2" in diameter, tapering down to a bit smaller on the other end. The pieces are from 4" to 8" long. Some are mostly the convoluted grain, others are more straight. I also made a pen from a piece.

A friend gave me all of these along with a huge stash of walnut, cherry, and other woods, all which have been air drying for the last 20 years or so. What a guy! It was obious that the rhododendron and warped considerably when drying, so it might pay to be patient with it when green.

JKJ in East TN

Re: small vessels

Dave Peebles Lyons, Ohio!

>John,

That rhododendron root has the most amazing grain I have ever seen.

Well done,

Dave

Re: small vessels

JL

>I would like to see your pen out of that. The patterns are quite interesting.

Re: small vessels

Dick Parr

>Great shape on both along with a great finish.

Dick In Knoxville

Re: small vessels

Tom Mullane

>I agree with JL, I would love to see a pen made from that... in fact I volunteer to do it if you send me some... LOL...

Re: small vessels

tek-Brunswick, Ohio

>I remember from biology class (long ago), the cell structure of tree roots is a lot different than that of the upper part of the tree. They have a different function so they evolved differently. I have bowl made from Apple, made from the stump where the root and regular wood join. There are two entirely different grain patterns in the bowl. The root wood was also much softer and weaker than the other wood. Does anyone have more experience with roots and how they compare to other wood?

Re: small vessels

Ron in Drums PA

>These are really nice!

Re: small vessels

ken chase

>wow! beautiful. I'm new to turning so this question may be naive. Are special gouges required for this project? Mu goal is to produce beautiful vessels like this.

Thanks

Ken Chase

Palm Desert CA

Re: small vessels

John K Jordan

>>wow! beautiful. I'm new to turning so this

>question may be naive. Are special gouges

>required for this project? Mu goal is to produce

>beautiful vessels like this.

Ken,

I'm relatively new to turning as well, turning about a year altogether (with a year and a half break in the middle to move to and set up a farm!) These little pots are very quick to make and the gals love em. And CHEAP to make since you can use small pieces or scraps from other projects.

Nothing special is needed. Although easy to make they do require and a steady hand. The main tool I used was a 3/8" spindle gouge with some help from other tools (skew chisel, parting tool, scraper) but you could do the whole thing with just the detail gouge. You need a drill press or some way to drill a hole in the center, and perhaps some hollowing tools unless you skip that. (People put dried flowers in these so a simple drilled hole can be enough) A chuck is handy. Note - if gripped in a chuck, you can easily drill a hole exactly in the center on the lathe with a drill bit held in vise grip pliers - I have a few bits mounted in wooden handles for this.

I turn these between centers with either a cone center on the tailstock or a scrap wood plug turned to fit into the hole. You could also turn the entire thing by grabbing one end with a chuck but that will take a bit longer piece of wood. Be careful with a cone since it can split the wood with too much force.

I did this: turned a rough cylinder between centers, turned the basic shape but left the base a cylinder (for grabbing witht the chuck) and squared up the ends. Drilled a hole in the center on the drill press. Mounted the base end in a chuck to hollow the inside some and refine the rim around the opening. Sanded and finished the top of the rim and the inside. Remounted between centers and turned the outside, partially parted off at the bottom, sanded and finished. Finished parting off, then cleaned up the bottom by hand. If I didn't have a chuck I would probably turn a jam chuck from a scrap block mounted on a face plate, otherwise it would be difficult to put nice internal curves inside the lip. I *think* it was Rude Olsolnik who did this another way - ground down a spade bit to allow drilling the inside profile instead of turning. That would be a lot quicker if making hundreds of these to sell at craft fairs.

One hint - take your time and get the surface perfect before finishing. Important for all work, but especially for small things since a turner-induced defect looks twice as bad on a 4" object as on an 8" object! One thing I learned right away is not to expect finish to hide anything. I usually start with 320 grit paper (or 150 grit if I'm really sloppy) then 400 and perhaps 600.

JKJ in East TN