Critique/advice needed

[Bodrighy]

This is cherry, 4" dia, 2 1/2" tall with a 2" opening. It started off with a 1/2" hole but I went too thin at the 2" mark and had to cut the centre out.

It's about 1 - 2mm thick. Inside is smooth but I had trouble eradicating tool marks. Couldn't get a gouge into the hollow and was using a small swan neck thingy. Any advice on getting it really smooth would be welcome.



Thinking of making a lid with finial for it.

Pete

 

[CHJ]

I think shear scraping is the nearest you are going to get Pete, followed by the usual sanding, and for the latter I find the foam backed bits useful, I clamp them in a curved hemostat. Warning: Do Not Put Fingers in Grips.

It is quite surprising how many of the 'show' pieces have mat black internals. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Inside is smooth but I had trouble eradicating tool marks. Couldn't get a gouge into the hollow and was using a small swan neck thingy. Any advice on getting it really smooth would be welcome.

patience and perseverance with the swan neck thingy will pay off...
...should take a bit of me own advice, spent 30 mins drilling a 16" piece about 25mm dia using a home made 3/16 'D' drill ... no centre steady, nothing supporting the piece and ... an insert for a hollow 2mt (made from beech on the mini lathe) and I was still surprised when it came out 6mm off centre :roll:
(yesterday I turned a similar piece in Delrin using the same set up but for a 6mm hole over 300mm and the B thing came out spot on :lol: )

some you win.......

 

[Paul.J]

Very nice Pete.
I should think that one of those thick padded sanding discs would do the job on an electric drill.
Think it would look better with a lid on.
Paul.J.

 

[duncanh]

As Chas said - shear scraping will probably help. Not sure how big the small swan neck is but I always try to use the scraper with the largest face. I've made a few from planer blades. The best I've have is a large teardrop from Crown (I think) - much thicker that the Sorby one that came with the scraper so it cuts down on vibration.

Another option would be to try texturing the inside. Never tried it myself but I think it was in the mag a few months back - intentionally create ridges on all the inner surfaces and then maybe think of spraying black.

As for a critique - you had a change of design with the neck so the overall shape is not as you intended, but I would say that the foot is way too wide - it makes the piece look bottom heavy. I would have made it about half the size it is now. You say the walls are 1-2mm so the piece is obviously light, but that doesn't fit with the shape.

Hope this helps

Duncan

 

[TEP]

Hi Pete, sorry mate I don't like the shape at all . Seems as if the whole external contour is a after thought. Personally I wouldn't make a lid for it, if you want to make a box like that you need to integrate the lid shape with the whole form, rather than use it as a second thought. The problem is that it will look like a after thought. Better to put it down to experience and move on. IMO

Inside, as has been suggested you can use a shear scraper to tidy up the tool marks before sanding. You can make up a sponge ball on a stick, cover it with velcro and use velcro pads on it to sand the inside. If needed start at the largest grit you think you need. Getting a good finish with a shear scraper will come with practice. Then it will be a lot cheaper on sand paper. :lol:

 

[Bodrighy]

Hi Pete, sorry mate I don't like the shape at all . Seems as if the whole external contour is a after thought. Personally I wouldn't make a lid for it, if you want to make a box like that you need to integrate the lid shape with the whole form, rather than use it as a second thought. The problem is that it will look like a after thought. Better to put it down to experience and move on. IMO

It isn't so much an afterthought as a rescue job. The top and bottom were going to both be slimmer but as said I went through it trying to get it thin. It was my first go at hollowing and I got carried away. have another piece of cherry and the top, if I did one would have been from that. It depends as looking at it again in the cld light of day it does look rather as though someone sat on it a bit.

Pete

 

[TEP]

Don't be too despondent Pete, it happens to us all. Let's face it you only see the good stuff I do, not the failures :lol: What I do is if I'm not happy with the piece, even before it's finished, I chuck it aside till later and go onto something else. If I've worked it too far, generally I don't even bother trying to recover it anymore, it goes into the firewood bag for my mate.

I would rather spend my time turning rather than trying to figure out how to save a piece of wood.

Take heart the more muck ups you make the more experience you gain. I've had loads!

 

[Bodrighy]

Thanks Tam, I am not despondent so much as annoyed with myself when something goes wrong. I'm one of those people who so often knows he has done something 'stoopid' a millisecond after he's done it. This piece, I could hear the sound getting thin and I got too cocky. I wanted even thinner and as it was the first time I'd used the tool that was daft (ain't hindsight wonderful)

I have reached a position where I am producing enough pieces I am pleased with to feel that I am progressing. I have kept some of my earlier stuff and I can see that I am getting better, mainly through a combination of practice and advice from people like you and Chas on here so keep on picking holes. I need all the advice that I can get

Pete

 

[CHJ]

Pete, you have no need to worry about the odd airy thinness to a piece, I saw a very large Bowl on prominent display yesterday that had been made at some turning demonstration venue, It was well done and finished but the reason for it being hung on the wall as opposed to being used was obvious, being turned from an outer wood section with the usual bark irregularities the turner had gone one cut too many and broken through the side of the dished area, hence it became an Art piece. :lol:

 

[Paul.J]

This must be my very firsy ART piece then :lol: :lol:





Paul.J.

 

[Bodrighy]

That's beautiful IMHO Paul, I love the light shining through it. Deliberate or serendipity?

Pete

 

[TEP]

Good shape and finish Paul. Bet if you had really tried to go that thin you would have been through the side. :lol:

 

[CHJ]

Good shape and finish Paul. Bet if you had really tried to go that thin you would have been through the side. :lol:

Obviously developing a Lighter touch.

 

[Paul.J]

Thanks for the comments i only put it on for a bit of fun.

Bodrighy wrote
Deliberate or serendipity?
Would you beleive me if i said itwas a bit of both. :shock:
Made it a few weeks ago when i had my new lathe :lol: :lol: just messing around.
Realised how thin i was going and started to see a light ring through it.
I was then going to put some more rings on it but it started to move,which is why you can one section of it is slightly thicker.
I did manage though to do the centre.A bulls eye.
The only problem really is displaying it. :?

Paul.J.

 

[CHJ]

I was then going to put some more rings on it but it started to move,....

You can always cheat with abrasive when it starts to wander :lol:

 

[Paul.J]

CHJ wrote
You can always cheat with abrasive when it starts to wander
Yes i suppose i could.I will re-mount it and see what happens.When i'm up to it though.
Paul.J.