Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Time for some bling with a piece......
JamieDonaldson
...of nicely figured maple. I still like turning squares from blanks that are not very thick, and the dye with some metallic flair really makes eye candy. First TransTint dye application was black, sanded back, then red dye followed by the flair lightly sprayed before glossy finish. 10"square X 2"H 
Square forms from blanks that ......
JamieDonaldson
....not very thick, with a bonus of nice figure to enhance. 
Re: Square forms from blanks that ......
Barry Irby
Excellent work on that rim thickness. Very nice to see one with such even thickness. Wonderful piece.
(I've been known to cheat on these. Turn them round and then cut them square to keep the corners sharp.)
Re: Square forms from blanks that ......
John K Jordan
Beautiful piece! Now I want to take the Donaldson course in wood dye.
Barry, I've never tried turning round then cutting square. One reason I like to turn square(ish) is to make bigger pieces with narrower wood!
JKJ
Re: Square forms from blanks that ......
Dick Coers
Also seen a secondary wood to glued the edges and then sawn off. Reduces chances or chip out.
Very nice Jamie!
Sawing off waste wood is cheating,....
JamieDonaldson
...as well as dangerous! Glue joints on end grain are notoriously weak, and some turners have been injured when those glue joints failed. Just turn square pieces the honest way!
Re: Sawing off waste wood is cheating,....
mikeee12345
Jamie,
Beautiful piece!
Re: Square forms from blanks that ......
John K Jordan
>>>...secondary wood to glued the edges and then sawn off. Reduces chances or chip out.
I've turned maybe a dozen squarish platter/dishes (a little less dished) from a variety of woods and for some reason never saw a bit of chip out. I turn at a reasonably high speed with light cuts, maybe that helps. Or maybe I've just been lucky. I like to use a Hunter Hercules tool in bevel-rubbing cutting mode instead of a bowl gouge.
JKJ
Have mercy!
Mike Stafford
That is beautiful and the depth of finish is such that I can stare into it.
Re: Sawing off waste wood is cheating,....
David Walser
When I first started turning never-mind-how-many-years-ago, I saw a square edged bowl and thought I'd turn one myself. Getting the edges even and without chip-out off the lathe proved frustrating (and more than a little pucker inducing for a new turner!), but I got it done. High speed with very light cuts proved to be the key.
Then, a few years later, I saw a Bob Hamilton video on YouTube demonstrating a square edged bowl. He used a hand plane to clean up the the edges after he was through turning. I felt like a perfect fool. One of the few times I've felt perfect at anything.
Beautiful Jamie
john lucas
My friend Charles Alvis who passed away use to make large square platters. He was a past president of the AAW. I asked Charles one day about how to turn them without getting chip out. I always got chipout on the uphill portion of the grain on 2 opposing corners. He said it was just good technique. Well years later after making a lot of square mirrors I learned. It's just sharp tools and not pushing the cut. It also helps to not have any pressure on the bevel. If you push against the bevel you get chatter on the wings of the bowl and sometimes the leading edge of the wing will be thinner than the trailing edge mostly because of that pressure.
Re: Time for some bling with a piece......
David Smith
Wow! just beautiful.
Wonderful Piece......
jake niedling
I gotta to ask what's the flair lightly sprayed before glossy finish? I need some of that flair for my turnings. 
The flair I used on this piece is...............
JamieDonaldson
....a product from autoaircolors.com and is a color shift material from the custom auto industry. This particular one is flair tint violet, water based, and I apply with a simple mouth atomizer.