Projects & Related Things

I have a cutoff from the bowl material that is just the right length needed. I would like to say that it was planned but that would be a fib, I was just lucky. Unfortunately, there is no good way to mount just the block in the 4-jaw chuck or by screwing it to a base then mounting the base block in the chuck. As a workaround I decided to glue it to a base then mount both in the chuck. To make sure the two pieces are glued together along their center axis there will be a very small dowel used for alignment. Actually, it’s just part of a toothpick but will hold the parts in place while the glue cures. First, is to drill a small hole in the center of each piece using the lathe as shown below.

Because the toothpick is just a smidgen larger than the hole it is put in a drill (top photo) and sandpaper is used to bring it to the right diameter. Once that’s done it’s cut to the correct length and is ready to glue up. The bottom photo shows the two pieces with the toothpick stuck in the left piece. That piece also has lines drawn showing how the other part will mate up when assembled.

Because the two pieces will be glued together at their end grain which is typically a weak joint, I used epoxy to give me the best chance of things not coming apart during turning. The right photo shows the completed blank and the prototype finial.

The blank is put in the lathe and trued up here all ready to bring the tailstock up to the center point and get started. Since the Leopardwood end piece is square, I was concerned that if I used traditional turning methods to knock off the corners the shock of the tool hitting those corners might break the glue bond so a different method is used.

My tool of choice to do that is air powered die grinder that uses a carbide burr to remove material. Let me tell you that when the tool gets up to its 20,000 plus RPM full speed the burr chews through material like its nothing. One disadvantage is my air compressor won’t keep up with it running at full speed so I slow it down considerably which is not a bad idea as the cutting action is a little less aggressive then. The top photo shows the tool and the inset shows a close view of the carbide burr. To use, the lathe is run at a slow speed and the tool is gently brought in contact with the blank. I use tool rest to steady my hand and it does not take but a couple of minutes to round the blank. However, as you can see in the bottom photo the cut surface is really rough but it’s round which is the point and can be easily turned smooth.

From the rough cylinder the blank is turned to match the prototype. Here is what the finished product looks like dry fitted to the lid on the bowl.

In the last post I had not decided what method was going to be used to hold both finials in place during the glue up. For the just finished finial (top photo) I decided to turn a short tenon on the bottom of the piece before parting it off the blank. The tenon is a different color wood since it’s from the mounting piece. A shallow flat bottom hole drilled in the bowl’s lid will be used to lock the piece in place. The other finial shown in the bottom photo did not have the option of turning a tenon and I didn’t want try and cut a shallow square mortise so went with the toothpick method used earlier. This will work fine since I only need something to hold the finial in place while the glue dries.

In preparation for dyeing the lids black the area where the finials will get glued on are masked off. The top photo shows the lid that has the hole drilled for the second finial with the circle (red arrow) drawn on the tape. The bottom left photo is after the tape was cut. The bottom right photo is the lid for the Winged Figure of the Republic finial.

Applying the India ink is next and as per usual the first coat left a few white spots where the dye didn’t get into the oak’s pores. It may take a couple attempts at spotting to get them all taken care of but it will happen. On the left is the inside of the turned lid while the right is the exposed top for the Winged Figure of the Republic.

The finishing is done the same way as previously discussed. Here are the finials and lids with three coats of lacquer applied and wet sanded with a 6,000-grit pad.

After the lacquer has cured overnight the blue tape gets removed so the finials can be glued in. This photo shows that done along with the finials that go in each of the lids.

Gluing the finials to the lids is the last bit of woodworking that’s needed. This is done by spreading a little glue on the underneath face of their bases then clamping them into place making sure to match the finial’s grain direction with the lid’s.

Once the glue cures the lids can be put on their respective bases and the pieces are complete. For reference the pieces are 12 ½” wide, 4 inches thick and 9” tall to top of bowl’s lid not including the finials. Looking at the combination of different woods, the dyed oak and the turquoise inlay I am happy with the way they came out. In retrospect this has to be one of the more challenging pieces I have turned. That’s mostly because of the precision required in making a matched pair and due to the very close tolerances needed so there aren’t any gaps between adjoining parts. The matching required with this project is all done via measurements and free hand material removal. I did enjoy it but don’t plan to make any more of them.

As a comparison the whole process for these pieces are different than the segmented bowls I have made in the past. With segmented pieces once the jigs used for those bowls are set up the many matching individual parts can be cut relatively quickly and the assembly is more forgiving.

Monday, March 10, 2025

Turned Art Object – #15 Making Winged Figure of the Republic Finial

Starting with the Winged Figure of the Republic finial I decided to work on the base. Mostly because everything was still set up from the prototype I had just made. The red arrow in the photo shows the base which is going to be made of Leopardwood like the bowls and is in fact the tenon cut off the base of the bowl at the start of Post 10.

The fabrication begins by using the large disk sander to sand two small flats shown by the red arrows in the left photo. They are so the part can be securely anchored in the mortising machine’s vice. Once clamped in place the table is adjusted left to right and front to back so the bit is centered on the reference point in the center. That’s shown in the right photo.

With everything set up the machine is turned on and the hollow chisel with its internal bit is used to make a square hole completely through the piece. The left photo shows the fully inserted chisel assembly and the right shows it withdrawn leaving the nice 3/8” square hole.

The prepared blank is taken to the lathe where it’s put on the holder used to make the prototype. The holder consists of a 3/8” square shaft held in the lathe’s 4-jaw chuck. Mounted on the shaft is a spacer/ backing plate to help keep the blank square to the lathe’s axis shown in the top left photo. The blank is then mounted on the protruding 3/8” square shaft shown in the top right photo. The tailstock fitted with a flat plate in the live center is then brought up tight to the blank holding it in place for turning.

Next, the blank is turned to its almost finished shape then the tailstock is pulled back and the remainder of the blank’s face is turned and sanded smooth. Based on my evaluation of the prototype base this one is a little thinner and has a slightly sharper more defined bevel at the bottom to give a crisper shadow line.

The last step for the base is to flip it around so the face that was against the backer plate is now out. It is this surface that will sit on top of the bowl’s lid. As such it needs a concave surface turned to match the curvature of the lid’s top. That’s verified by using the cutoff pattern piece from when the lid’s top was turned as a guide to match that curve.

With the base done I started on the “wings”. They are made from a cutoff from the bowl material that gets resawn to slightly over the 3/8” final thickness using the bandsaw. It’s then run through the thickness sander to remove the saw marks and bring to the 3/8” final thickness. I want it to just fit into the square center hole in the base. Not so tight that it splits the base but also with no gap where it fits into the mortise. The pattern is traced onto this blank and the layout lines are added for the tapered part of the wings. That’s all been done in the photo below with the red shaded areas showing what needs to be removed to form the taper.

Cutting the base tenon to width so it matches the part’s thickness is next. I had thought this might be a problem but it turned out to be pretty easy. It starts by rough cutting the bulk of the waste material out using the scroll saw. The fine tuning needed to make it fit the square mortise in the base is done on the router. The white wood piece behind the part is a backer that holds the part plumb and square to the router table’s fence. The router bit is raised a little at a time doing frequent test fits until it just slides into place. The dial in front of the part is a gauge that lets me know how much I raise the router bit each time an adjustment is made. The distance between the small marks is just a little less than two thousandths of an inch so it’s easy to make very tiny adjustments.

Adding the taper to the part is done on the large disk sander. The top photo shows the setup where an axillary piece of thin plywood is clamped to the cast iron table. That’s because there is a gap between the iron table and the disk. This gap is a bit wider than the finished thin end of the part and I was worried that while sanding it might get jammed between the disk and table which would ruin the part. Using the plywood to close the gap removes that problem. The edge of the blue tape in the bottom photo is my guide as to what gets removed. It’s easier to see than a pencil line on the wood. The regular masking tape on the right-side acts like a tab that makes the part easier to hold while sanding.

Creating the taper on the disk sander was easier than I expected. A light touch and checking frequently to make sure the taper is square and parallel to the other face takes a little patience but is not hard. Here the first side taper is 99% done with just some fine sanding needed to remove the coarse sanding scratches. The second side follows the same steps to layout and make.

Tracing the pattern onto the piece is next followed by cutting it out on the scroll saw then sanding the edges smooth blending the outside curves together with the disk sander and the oscillating drum sander. Because the center cut out is pretty narrow all the finish work there is done with fine files or by hand sanding. Last is to hand sand a small radius on all the edges. Since radius is so small I used my jeweler’s magnifying headset to clearly see what was going on.

When done here is what the finished finial looks like. It still needs to be glued on but that will come later. I also will need some way to keep it from sliding around while being glued on to the top. A shallow mortise could be cut in the top but since the top is only 3/8” thick I am a little hesitant in putting one in. The mortising machine is not a good choice because the top is not very thick. Not sure what I will use yet so will think on it.

Next Up – Turned Finial & Finishing

Monday, March 3, 2025

Turned Art Object – #14 Spraying Lacquer, Assembly & Finial Options

With all the needed items for spraying out, measured, mixed and ready to go I can almost get started with spraying. First though is to thoroughly clean all the parts. This starts by going outside the shop and using compressed air to blow the dust from the pores. It’s done outside since I don’t want to stir up dust in the spraying area. Once that’s done the pieces get wiped down one last time with a tack cloth to get any residual dust off. They are then set on their stands or holders and staged for spraying. Here is the spray area. There is cardboard that has been wiped down to get rid of dust then laid down on the workbench to protect it. A light gets set up so I can catch the wet lacquer’s reflection to gauge the application rate. In the center is a lazy susan so the pieces can be spun around as needed. Last on the right side is the air brush on its stand along with the air filter and pressure regulator that’s clamped in the vice.

Once sprayed the pieces are moved out of the way to a remote place in the shop so they don’t get any overspray on them and left to dry. When it’s warm, I can do a couple of coats a day or sometimes three coats but in cooler weather like now I let them cure overnight. In any case once the lacquer has cured a bit the finish gets evaluated. If it’s the first coat most of the time 400 grit sandpaper or a wet sanding with an 1,800 grit pad is used to get rid of any dust or rough overspray. That’s followed by a damp wipe down and drying to get rid of any residual dust and once dry the piece is given a second coat. The second coat is wet sanded with a 2,400 grit mostly to remove any dust. The third coat is then sprayed on and if necessary, wet sanded with either an 8,000 or 12,000 pad. If the piece is going to get hard use, then a couple more coats get sprayed on but this project is not going to be subjected to much wear and tear so as long as the third coat looks good that’s plenty.

Those with sharp eyes may wonder what the funny looking thing is in the upper left corner of the lacquered pieces photo above. That’s not part of this project but a tap I use to put threads in special purpose fixtures that are then threaded onto the live center in the tail stock. Its handle had been turned some time ago but never had a finish put on it and now is a good time to do that. The greyed-out part at the bottom of the tap in the right photo is only to hold the tap and handle for finishing.

With everything except for the lid and finial done assembly is the next step. First, the cherry dowel joining the body to the base gets glued in to the body. To apply the glue a drop is put in the pink tray and the toothpick is used to lightly coat the hole. The two red arrows in the top photo point to the dowel and the hole it goes into. The glue goes in the hole rather than on the dowel since if applied to the dowel when it is pressed in the hole any excess glue would end up where the dowel meets the body. If the glue is put in the hole then any excess glue ends up at the bottom of the hole and no cleanup is required. The bottom photo shows the dowel glued in place.

The same process is used where the dowel goes into the base and this is the completed joint.

Gluing the bowl to the body follows the same process except the dowel is made from oak and has had the center part that will be exposed dyed with India ink then lacquered. The top photo shows the undyed and unfinished gluing surfaces of the dowel. If you look close at the top of the dowel there is a small “A” since the dowels are individually cut to length for each of the two pieces being made. The bottom photo shows the bowl glued in place with two spacers being used to set the gap between the bowl and the body. They get removed once the glue sets.

As the project has progressed, I have been doing various studies to see what I want to put on the top as a finial which will also act as a handle to remove the lid. Here are eight different options I have come up with. So far, I have gone to a lot of effort to make the pieces identical but now am seriously considering putting a different finial on each one. The first group to be discarded was the three white ones. Next to go was the tall one at the top left that was in the original drawing. It just seemed to be too tall and a bit overpowering when the piece was viewed in real life. The round ball top one in the lower right was next as it looked like a golf ball on a tee. That left the three at the top right.

As the piece has an art deco vibe I remembered a photo, on the left, I had taken at Hoover Dam called “Winged Figure of the Republic” and used the wings from it as a starting point. The first pattern is shown on the left but when it was done, I was concerned that the area between the red arrows was a potential weak point due to the grain orientation. A slight thickening of that dimension was used for the right pattern which is what will be used for the final finial.

Here are the three different prototype finials set on top of the bowls. The bowl tops are still the natural oak and have not yet had the India ink applied but they will get it ending up black like the other accents. This does give an idea of what they look like though.

After much consideration these are the two different finials that will be made. One thing that does not show up well in the photos is the left one based on the Winged Figure of the Republic is that it tapers from the 3/8” wide at bottom of the wings to 3/16” thick at the top of the wings.

Next Up – Making Winged Figure of the Republic Finial