latest work

Re: latest work

john lucas

You did a good job. The finial is excellent with very clean lines. Yes it's probably a little large but not that bad. It sort of becomes about the finial instead of being about the hollow form.

Re: Canarywood? *LINK*

William Duffield

Centrolobium would not have been my first guess for the finial species.

Beautifully executed!


Wood Database - Canarywood

Re: latest work

Dennis in Southern Oregon

Very nice Gary. I like the crisp detail you achieved on the finial.

Re: Canarywood?

GaryG in MD

I know what you mean, and have to agree, but the linked page says the heartwood can be a darker reddish brown. Most of the canarywood I have (from a trusted seller) is lighter and more variegated. We're pretty much at the mercy of the sellers re ID when we buy this stuff. I've had this piece sitting around for about ten years. I just checked to see where I got it, and it's not from a seller I've had any more experience with, or can say I trust. So it's a pig in a poke. It actually looks a lot like padauk, which is kind of scary in afterthought, because I'm very allergic to padauk! But I didn't have a reaction, so it's not that. ...GG

thanks, John

GaryG in MD

Agreed.

In real life, seen in 3D and not yypically directly from the side, it actually appears more balanced, and I'm happy with it. ...GG

Thanks, Dennis

GaryG in MD

I did the best I could off the tool and minimized sanding.

I only had one skew spiral, and that was at an early enough stage that it was easily removed. I need a lot more practice with that tool, but I'm a lot more comfortable with a low-angle detail gouge (a skew with the ends curved up!), so I tend to use it most of the time for this kind of thing. ...GG

Re: latest work

Brad Vietje

Very nice work. Doubtful of the Canarywood -- looks like some Redheart I turned a while back.

Safe spinning,

Brad Vietje

Newbury, VT

thanks, Brad

GaryG in MD

It's a lot more ring porous than redheart -- I just compared it to some RH pen pen blanks I have here.

I'll be honest -- it looks a lot like padauk, which scares the crap out of me now in retrospect, because I had a very bad allergic reaction to some wood that was sold to me as padauk, and this, thankfully, didn't give me a problem. So now, the question is whether the other stuff was really padauk. It was variegated and very unusual, which is why I bought it in the first place, but otherwise did, indeed, seem to be padauk. When I turned a French rolling pin for my daughter out of it, I got a bad rash. So now I don't know what to think.

That looks like tulipwood....

Re: That looks like tulipwood....

Don Evans

Agree, looks like tulipwood that I have in stock.

Re: That looks like tulipwood....

Don Orr

Which in the Dalbergia genus with rosewoods-well known to be allergenic.

Using the fibonacci scale

Dick Coers

The base should be 3/5 of the height, the top should be 2/5. Yours looks quite the opposite.

Re: Using the fibonacci scale

GaryG in MD

Dick, I appreciate your opinion, but I'm going to have to disagree, thrice.

First, I wasn't doing Fib.

Second, the math doesn't say which part gets which dimension.

Third, IMO, that would be way too delicate.

Not at all the effect I wanted.

Here are some examples from Cindy that are more in keeping with my vision:

https://img.yumpu.com/32624780/1/358x459/finial-design-article-cindy-drozda.jpg?quality=80

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/c1/78/c8/c178c89f0961ecf8e2705ba46ce9c18b.jpg

http://www.cindydrozda.com/images/artwork/9443CarterWEB.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3KOPw6zkbhE/Uh-Yd5tz6QI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/4knyO4RRbiQ/s1600/12541ozGoddess4WEB.jpg

...GG

Re: Using the fibonacci scale

Dick Coers

Your last paragraph of the original post suggests you weren't content with the proportions. The math always works if you want to use it. The hollow form height is proportional to the finial. The major elements of the finial are proportional to each other. The break in the hollow form is proportional to the height of the vessel. If you place a Fibonacci caliper against your piece, the lower section of the caliper would be on the table and the second arm should be on the top of the hollow form. The outside caliper arm would be on the top of the finial. Here is an example on a glass piece I purchased. The same thing works for a coke bottle, where designers place the name on a can of beer, etc. Walk around your kitchen with a caliper and you'd be amazed how close it comes to simple items purchased at the grocery store. It's done because the proportions are pleasing to the eye. If you want to make the finial a foot tall, it's your prerogative. Sorry about the poor photo quality, I needed a third hand.

Re: Using the fibonacci scale

John K Jordan

>>>The math always works if you want to use it.

Mike Darlow in "Woodturning Design" makes a good case for why the math can be a fuzzy.

JKJ

Re: Using the fibonacci scale

GaryG in MD

Dick,

I appreciate carrying on this discussion with you.

With all due respect, your example is a "knob" to me (regardless of the shape) and not at all what I wanted in this case.

The four images I attached of some finialed pieces made by Cindy are much more what I had in mind here.

My intent was not to use Fib. proportions here (not that I disagree with their use in some cases), but I had some other criteria (below). I might add that you could turn your Fib. caliper around and make your knob taller than the body, too -- there is no rule about which proportion goes where.

My comment about proportions in the original post was more to the effect of perturbations. The body is 5" in diameter by 2-1/8" high. I decided to make the finial the same height as the body diameter. My first design had the finial only 4" high, but it looked stunted to me. As I have said to John, the 2D photo, shot from the height of the finial, rather than the body, makes it appear more extreme. In real life in 3D from a "typical" viewing angle, the finial does not dominate the appearance nearly as much as it does in that photo.

If we want to talk about "magic" numbers, the body height is just barely under one-third of the total height (the old "rule of thirds" trick), and I prefer being "slightly under" when so much "air" is involved -- it not being a solid rectangle.

Thanks for your thoughts. All good. ...GG

Nitty-gritty wood ID

GaryG in MD

Thanks Brian, Don, and Don for your comments.

They are very well taken, regarding the padauk vs. tulipwood question.

It would make a LOT of sense if that rolling pin were really tulipwood.

But it's not -- it's really padauk, and I'm quite allergic to it (which is not a big surprise if you read the literature on padauk).

I have checked the microscopic pore structure.

Exotic tulipwood (dalbergia) has a more ring porous structure, while padauk is more diffuse porous. I might add that there are a number of different kinds of padauk (per, for example, Mark Baker's book "Wood for Woodturners").

Also, although we normally think of padauk as being a uniform reddish brown, that's not strictly the case. Here's a good example of the variegated version from Hobbit House:

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/padauk/padauk%2015%20s50%20plh.htm

Go about a third of the way down or see photo here below.

This is a great database, if you're not familiar with it.

Regardless of the rolling pin, I still agree that the finial looks a lot more like padauk to me than canarywood! I certainly agree with William on that count. And I have no inherent trust in that seller, so I really shouldn't have turned that piece of wood without looking at it more carefully! Duh. Luckily, I must not be allergic to "that kind of padauk" like I was to the variegated kind. Whew. Dodged a bullet. This is a good warning to you all -- if you're turning an exotic, make sure what it really is first!! And, yes, watch out for those dalbergia species! But padauk is not for everyone either!

...GG

Re: thanks, Brad

William Duffield

I have both padauk and tulipwood in stock, and in finished pieces. The label on my padauk doesn't say which species. There are saveral members of the Pterocarpus genus. The rolling pin in your picture is padauk or something closely related, but not tulipwood.

It is interesting to compare the descriptions and pictures of the elated species linked from this page:

http://www.wood-database.com/african-padauk/

And, then, some bad news that you're all just going to have to deal with: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/preventing-color-changes-in-exotic-woods/

Re: thanks, Brad

GaryG in MD

Agreed! ...GG