As you may recall my brother-in-law Greg visited the turned.out.right shop this month. One piece we collaborated on was this hollow form. I am pleased because I think it turned.out.right :).
It is made from Aspen (green) and blood wood. The cutout is an inclusion that was the result of damage that was evidently done to the tree early in its life. I kick myself for not taking a picture of it before we started turning!
The inclusion was very near the edge so preserve it we had to position in the log precisely so that we wouldn’t turn it away. In fact we positioned it many times. Essentially we turned the log off center until we got its circumference to include the inclusion.
Then we tried out my new Donny outrigger. The same one that I used for the Aspen lamp. It performs better each time I use it. Of course its constantly being improved. Stay tuned the design is almost finished and I will be selling DIY plans for them.
The depth of the form combined with the open inclusion made this quite a challenge. We pulled out all the tools using almost every hollowing tool available including termite and ring tools along with the trusty steady rest.
It was fun to watch the cutting tools through the cutout as the piece was turned.
Since the inclusion would allow the admirer to see the inside of the form we had to get a good finish. We had to fabricate a sanding drum that we CA’d to a bar to get deep into the vessel.
Notice the LED flex light mounted on the steady this helped to give us a birds-eye view of the finish inside the form.
Pictures of these are at the bottom of the page.
We decided to add a blood-wood edge at the top. The blood-wood was laying around from the wine glass project. BTW don’t miss the free wine glass plans.
After adding the blood wood edge the form just looked empty. The wives decided that something should be put inside the form to give it life. A flame was suggested. After searching the web I found a fitting flame. Then after a few printer “Zooms” later a template was made for the carving.
The flame was then hand carved from a 3/4″ thick piece of blood-wood sawn on a combination of band and scroll saws. Dang blood-wood is hard!
A couple of scroll saw blades later, and allot of sanding the flame was ready for finishing. Elbow grease and Tripoli brought up the final shine which was sealed with wax. The flame was inserted into its socket and the form came alive.
I am always amazed how figure seems to just appear in Aspen as it dries. I don’t know why it has such a bad reputation as a hardwood.
I still have to apply a coat of Tung oil after the form is totally dry.
It was a fun and rewarding collaboration with Greg (and some help from the wives) that I will not soon forget!
