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’round tuits

November 18, 2017 by Bob Easton 7 Comments

photo of hand carved round tuitsGratitude: Having so many choices of things to do.

When you get a round tuit, …

cherry, hand-turned, hand carved, finished with common paste wax

Filed Under: Woodcarving, Woodturning

Carving on a Turned Lidded Container

May 8, 2013 by Bob Easton 1 Comment

Walnut. 2 and 3/4 inches in diameter. 3 and 3/8 inches tall. The grain matches from container to lid. This is the first container turned on the treadle lathe, and my first turned container in about 30 years. Coins in the photo are for size reference, a 2 Euro (Italian/Dante) and a US Quarter (Indiana/Indy 500 – we used to live 1/2 mile from there.) The pig is an Austrian good luck charm. Turning and carving details follow these photos.

photo of a turned walnut box with monogrammed lidphoto of a turned walnut box with monogrammed lidphoto of a turned walnut box with monogrammed lidphoto of a turned walnut box with monogrammed lid

Having watched half a gazillion YouTube videos about container turning techniques, I did this one a bit differently than what I saw in any of the videos. Being of Scottish heritage and a bit “thrifty,” I haven’t yet bought one of the 4-jaw chucks we so often see used for this type of work.

Instead, I sandwiched the walnut blank between two pine waste blocks (saves wasting 50 cents worth of walnut) and mounted the sandwich on a simple $10 faceplate. I trued the blank with a live center taking up the tail. After truing the blank into a cylinder, I trued a perpendicular face on the tail end of the blank, i.e on the end of the waste block there. That prepared a surface for mounting yet another simple $10 faceplate for working the lid.

The rest of the turning followed fairly standard procedure.

  • Turn a rough profile for the entire container.
  • Refine the lid profile to nearly final shape.
  • Part off the lid piece.
  • Mount a faceplate on the lid piece.
  • Remove the body from the lathe and mount the lid piece.
  • This leaves the inside of the lid accessible. Hollow the inside to desired depth. Refine, sand and finish the inside.
  • Remove the lid from the lathe and mount the body.
  • Turn a tenon on the body that accepts the lid as a very snug press fit.
  • Remove the lid’s waste block and faceplate. (The waste block was glued in place with a paper separator layer, hence easily cut off.)
  • Press the lid onto the body’s tenon.
  • Complete the shaping and finishing of the lid. For this particular turning, I left a raised ring of wood on the lid that later becomes the “C-bars” in the carving.
  • Refine the outside shape of the body.
  • Hollow the body.
  • Sand and finish the inside. (Did I say “sand?” Hate sanding anything!)
  • Cut the body from the waste block.
  • While still mounted, turn the waste block to form a plug / jam chuck for the body.
  • Press fit the body onto the plug and turn a very slight concave bottom surface. Sand and finish the body.
  • Remove all from the lathe.
  • Remount the waste block used for the lid and turn it to form a plug / jam chuck that fits inside the lid. This is not used for any more turning, but as a mount for holding the lid while carving.

photo of turned box on the lathephoto of turned box on the lathephoto of turned box on the lathe

All that remains is a simple matter of carving. The design is a single letter monogram set between two classic “C-bars.” The carving is different from most in that it is carved in end grain. While that eliminates the usual grain sensitivity of carving, it presents another difficulty. Carving in end grain is like pressing a knife into the end of a bundle of soda straws. Extra sharp tools are the order of the day, along with a healthy helping of patience. Also helpful are a white wax marker and a fine spoon shaped chisel.

I’m not sure what the recipient will keep in such a container. It has enough room for about 211 calories worth of Gummy Bears, or maybe a few spare gold coins. We’ll see.

photo of carving the lidphoto of carving the lidphoto of carving the lidphoto of carving the lid

Filed Under: Boxmaking, Woodcarving, Woodturning

Carving on a Turned Object #2 – Lathe Enhancement

December 14, 2012 by Bob Easton Leave a Comment

Sometimes, there’s madness in my method. Back when I made the adjustable tool rest, I used a certain shape in anticipation of these carvings.

51+w65WS2cL._SL500_AA300_Inspiration for this pair of turnings comes from yet another Frederick Wilbur book, “Carving Architectural Details in Wood: The Classical Tradition.” A little rosette appears in the lower corners of a very ornate picture frame. It’s a classic rosette that’s frequently seen on period furnishings. Besides its appeal to me, it is sometimes carved from a turned base, one of the reasons I built a lathe.

photo of drawing and book images

As with many carvings, I like to draw the item a couple of times myself. It helps be get a better feel for the object, for knowing the turning profile, and for having a fair idea of how to create the result.

photo of steps in tutning the base

The turnings are of walnut. Because the dominant features are on the face, these need to be mounted for faceplate turning. I used a small “Easy Wood Tools” faceplate, to which I screwed some sacrificial pine. To that, the walnut is attached by the technique of gluing a layer of paper between the pine and walnut.

The turning is straightforward. Walnut works very easily. The only unusual aspect is that I have not yet made a tool rest specifically for faceplate turning. So, I improvised by F-clamping the existing tool rest across the lathe’s ways in the only way it would fit … backwards.

photo of 4 steps of carving and completing the rosettes

At my level of ability, carving is about two factors, grain and sequence. Feeling grain interaction with tools is almost second nature now. The real consideration for grain on these pieces was orientation with respect to features. I decided to place the leaves between the pedals on diagonals to the grain direction. My hope was in minimizing the likelihood of breakage. That worked out great. Sequence is the other aspect that I find challenging. What to cut first? My instinct was to set in the spaces between pedals first, and to do that with cuts that minimize the pressure on what will be the sharp ridge of the leaves. That worked out OK. The rest of the carving was to remove everything else that’s neither leaf nor pedal. 🙂

photo of enhanced tool rest

Lastly, I drilled the back of each rosette with a 3/4″ hole the depth of a metal nut, and additional 1/4″ hole to accommodate a screw. The nut is set in a pool of epoxy. The whiteness of the epoxy is due to a filler.

Finish: simple boiled linseed oil.  NO sanding harmed either this carving or me!

The result is… some classy knobs to replace the ugly wing nuts on the adjustable tool rest!

Filed Under: Shopmade, treadle lathe, Woodcarving, Woodturning

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