Commissioned Gift – #2 Laminated Blank & Turning Process

Making a blank where the main body is walnut and has a maple and cherry laminated center is next.  This starts with making the maple-cherry-maple lamination which is about ¼ inch thick.  That’s done by taking two thin pieces of maple and gluing them to a thicker cherry center as shown in the top photo.  Once the pieces are glued small pin nails (red arrows) at each end are used to hold the pieces together during clamping so the pieces don’t slide out of alignment.

Here is the inlay clamped between cauls that will keep the three-layer stack flat while the glue cures.  The top caul has plastic laminate on the face so the glue won’t stick to it and the bottom caul has had packing tape applied to the face that the glue doesn’t stick to it either.

Because I wanted the laminated piece to run at a 45-degree angle through the blank a 45 degree angle gauge is used to set it in place.  A handscrew clamp is used to securely hold the blank at the angle then it’s run through the bandsaw.  The bottom photo shows the cut piece ready for the inlay to be glued in place.

After cutting a piece of the laminated stack a bit oversize it’s glued between the two halves of the walnut.  The halves are glued on one at a time to keep them from slipping around when being clamped together.  It takes a little longer but it’s a lot easier and I have plenty of time. 

With some of the turning blanks cut to size I could start work on them by drilling the hole in the bottom of the blank for the magnet, its cup along with the pilot hole for the screw that holds the cup in place and will hold the blank in the mandrel.  In the left photo is the drill for screw’s pilot hole.  The piece of masking tape on the drill bit is my depth gauge for getting the depth right.  On one of the early turnings the hole got drilled too deep and when the blank was turned to shape, I ended up with a hole at the top of the turning.  The middle photo is the Fostner bit used to drill the hole where the cup will sit.  The black line on the bit is my rough depth gauge.  This type of bit is used because it leaves a flat bottom hole.  On the right the cup has been inserted so I can check to see if the depth is correct.  The depth of the hole needs to be really precise.  If it is too shallow then the magnet will set above the bottom of the wood and could scratch the refrigerator.  If it’s too deep then the magnet loses some of its holding ability.  I shoot for the magnet being set down so I can just be able to feel the lip of the wood with my fingernail.  Probably the thickness of a couple of sheets of paper.

The turning starts with the walnut laminated blank whose assembly was shown earlier.  Here the top photo shows how the mandrel and turning blank gets mounted in the 4-jaw chuck that’s on the left, with the live center on the right stabilizing everything.  The bottom photo shows the finished turning.  From here the mandrel and turned piece are removed from the chuck and another blank screwed on to the mandrel then turned.

Next up is a piece of mesquite.  Once the top and bottom diameter is turned three very narrow decorative bands filled with a turquoise inlay get added.  Process for the V groove starts by using a parting tool to cut the groove then using a wire to round and burn the groove.  That’s followed by some light sanding of the grooves to remove the loose burned wood so the inlay will stick.  The top photo shows all the done plus having the rough inlay installed.  For more detail on how the inlay is added please click here.  The bottom left photo shows the base groove finished and the bottom right photo shows all three done. 

For the next piece I decided to try and add some inlayed copper wire.  Taking the Texas ebony blank, I turned the bottom below the pencil line and the top third to their final shape.  That’s followed by cutting a notch and adding a small hole at the top of the notch indicated by the red arrow.  The middle photo shows the thin 22-gauge copper bell wire (.025”) bent to fit into the small hole in the notch.  The bottom photo shows the wire inserted into the hole and ready to wind in the notch.

The left photo shows the wire wrapped and with a dab of the UV cured resin in place to lock all the wraps in place.  Filling the rest of the notch with resin and curing it is next.  Last is to turn the excess resin away, add the turned waist to the piece and finish sand.  To make the resin completely transparent it is sanded up to 3,000 grit.  In the photo the resin is still a little hazy but that will clear when the lacquer finish is applied.

Mounting the turning blank for turning is done with the screw shown that runs through a hole in the mandrel (red arrow) into the pilot hole previously drilled in the blank.  Most of the time that works fine but, in this case, because bloodwood is so hard the screw twisted off.  As much as I tried to remove the screw it refused to budge so this blank becomes “designer” firewood.  Since I had extra material, it wasn’t a big loss.  Just cut and drill another bloodwood blank changing the pilot drill used this time to one that is 1/64” larger in diameter and it worked out fine.

Next Up – Turned Magnet Blanks & Christmas Ornament Test

A Commissioned Gift– #1 The Start, Materials & Basic Sizing

Shortly after I finished the Turned Art Object I was approached regarding an unusual request for a commissioned project.  It is a gift for person who has followed my work for some time and really likes the things I do.  What makes it different is that the recipient is not the person making the request but a close friend who actually is sponsoring the commission.  When I asked what they had in mind or what sort of piece was wanted the answer was surprising.  It didn’t have to be big or small, functional or decorative just something that I had designed or made.   Now that’s a pretty broad description and open-ended request.  After some discussion with the requestor, we decided to not do a single large item but focus on several smaller items that would be functional, decorative or both.  In the end we decided on a group of refrigerator magnets, a small decorative box and a lathe turned Christmas ornament.

I decided to start out with the refrigerator magnets since the turning process is pretty well worked out as I have made more than 20 of them for my wife.  While the turning process is defined the turning blanks themselves are open to a variety of woods, different inlays, multiple laminations and how they may be combined.  Right now, some are going to be made from one material, some are going to be from laminating different woods, some will have inlay and others will be whatever comes to me as I am making them.  Going into my collection of saved small blocks the initial material pass shown in the left photo consisted of walnut, cherry, Texas ebony, bloodwood & maple.  Later on, I added oak, mesquite, leopardwood and locust shown in the right photo.  

As mentioned above some of the fridge magnets will be made from laminated blanks.  In the photo below the top three blocks are left over cutoffs from other projects that I have been storing for an unknown project and this is it.  The pieces below them are all cutoffs from the Southwest Segment Bowl I made and I am sure they can somehow be put together to make an interesting blank, I just need to figure out how.  If you want to see in detail how those pieces were made click here.  In addition, I may come up with some other laminated blanks.  It all depends on what strikes my fancy.

This is a blank that’s a little over an inch square and contains twelve individual pieces.  I had made a few of these some time ago for fridge magnets and didn’t turn this on so will use it as a general guide for the new blank.

Three of the smaller pieces at the left in the above photo are aligned so the cherry and maple pieces alternate.  The top photo shows them set in the clamping jig that will be used to keep them aligned while clamped and glued while the bottom photo shows how they are clamped to keep all the edges flush.

Here the top photo shows the glued up blank ready to be cut in half and the bottom photo gives a front and back view of what they look like cut in half ready to be glued up.

Gluing the two cut pieces together is next.  They are arranged so the grain is at right angles to each other and with the maple sections up against the cherry ones as much as possible.  A spring clamp provides pressure to hold them while gluing additionally a small steel square gets clamped to one part so the two pieces stay 90 degrees to each other.

Once the glue cures and the clamps are removed this is what the blank assembly looks like and as you can see there are some overhangs that need to be cut off to end up with a square turning blank.  Glued together this way there are all sorts of angles and contrasting woods adjacent to each other.

Squaring up the assembly by removing the single layer overhangs is next.  Since the piece is way too small to use the table saw the band saw is used.  However, to cut safely a handscrew clamp is used to keep my fingers a safe distance away from the blade.

Here’s what the finished blank looks like after it was cut and the faces cleaned up with the large disk sander.  Also shown are the pieces that were cut off of it.

At this point I had a good collection of rough sized blanks.  Most are sized to final width and thickness but nearly all still need to be cut to final length.  What’s shown here starting with at the back row - left is locust, oak, mesquite, walnut, Texas ebony, and leopardwood.  In the front are the two multipiece glued blanks and on the right laying down is a piece of bloodwood.  

Since the leopardwood scrap was a bit oversize, I decided to cut the turning blank out on the diagonal.  This is so the grain would also run diagonally rather than top to bottom or side to side adding some additional visual interest to the piece.

Cutting down some older laminated cutoffs to the needed fridge blank’s size is next.  While too small to hand hold in the chop saw they were big enough with this setup holding them securely in place they could be safely cut on the chop saw.  The bottom left piece is the one in the saw that will later get cut on its diagonal (pencil lines) with the bandsaw.  The one on the right gets its first cut on the chop saw then cut to final size on the bandsaw.

Here are the two finished turning blanks.  For the left blank you can see how cutting it on the diagonal makes it look different.

Next Up – Laminated Blank & Turning Process

Project Index

Alphabetical Listing

 

Subject                           First Post    Posts

2 Piece Turned Bowl               Mar 04, 2019     6

Auto Headlight Lens Dehazing      Jul 15, 2024     1

Cam Clamp                         Mar 16, 2020     3

Celtic Pen                        Oct 02, 2023     4

Computer Cabinet                  Sep 21, 2020    10

Danish Cord Seat                  Dec 07, 2020     6

Dining/Game Table                 Aug 15, 2016    26

Frank Lloyd Wright Cabinet        May 27, 2019    31

Frank Lloyd Wright Desk Lamp      Aug 07, 2017    12

Fridge Magnets                    Jan 17, 2022     2

Game Piece Holder                 Apr 22, 2024    10

Greene & Greene End Table         May 24, 2021    28

Japanese Puzzle Box               May 01, 2017     6

Jointer Rust Removal,  

Adjustments & Push Blocks         Oct 03, 2022     3  

Kitchen Spatula & Chopping Block  Dec 03, 2018     7

Kumiko Sampler                    Jul 20, 2020     8

L-Fence                           Nov 14, 2022     5

Large Segmented Bowl              Jul 23, 2018     7

Maloof Style Rocker               Dec 15, 2014    24

Master Bath Remodeling            Aug 15, 2022     5

Open Segmented Bowl               Aug 07, 2015    11

Pepper Grinder                    Feb 07, 2022     3

Photo Club Cabinet                Apr 25, 2016     6

Planer Sled                       Jun 13, 2022     8

Pocket Knife                      Jun 27, 2016     3

Porch Swing/Glider                Mar 14, 2022    12

Rifflers Handles & Case           Mar 19, 2018     6

Router Plane                      Feb 03, 2020     4

Sanding Block                     Dec 13, 2021     5

Segmented Bowl                    Mar 06, 2023    13

Shaker Oval Box                   Feb 01, 2016     6

Sign Template Fixing Design Error Dec 19, 2022           1

Sliding Miter Saw Dust Collection Dec 26, 2022     2

Snare Drum                        Nov 16, 2015     9

Spatula Handle Replacement        Jan 16, 2023     1

Turned Art Object                 Dec 02, 2024    16

Wastebasket                       Feb 05, 2024     8

Wood Balls, Mallet &

Overlapping Circles               Nov 27, 2017     9

Wood Body Pinhole Camera          Apr 23, 2020    11

Wood Egg                          Feb 28, 2022     2

Wood Hold Down                    Oct 24, 2022     3

 

Chronological Listing

First Post       Subject                           Posts

Dec 15, 2014     Maloof Style Rocker                 24

Aug 07, 2015     Open Segmented Bowl                 11

Nov 16, 2015     Snare Drum                           9

Feb 01, 2016     Shaker Oval Box                      6

Apr 25, 2016     Photo Club Cabinet                   6

Jun 27, 2016     Pocket Knife                         3

Aug 15, 2016     Dining/Game Table                   26

May 01, 2017     Japanese Puzzle Box                  6

Aug 07, 2017     Frank Lloyd Wright Desk Lamp        12

Nov 27, 2017     Wood Balls, Mallet &

                 Overlapping Circles                  9

Mar 19, 2018     Rifflers Handles & Case              6

Jul 23, 2018     Large Segmented Bowl                 7

Dec 03, 2018     Kitchen Spatula & Chopping Block     7

Mar 04, 2019     2 Piece Turned Bowl                  6

May 27, 2019     Frank Lloyd Wright Cabinet          31

Feb 03, 2020     Router Plane                         4

Mar 16, 2020     Cam Clamp                            3

Apr 23, 2020     Wood Body Pinhole Camera            11

Jul 20, 2020     Kumiko Sampler                       8

Sep 21, 2020     Computer Cabinet                    10

Dec 07, 2020     Danish Cord Seat                     6

May 24, 2021     Greene & Greene End Table           28

Dec 13, 2021     Sanding Block                        5

Jan 17, 2022     Fridge Magnets                       2

Feb 07, 2022     Pepper Grinder                       3

Feb 28, 2022     Wood Egg                             2

Mar 14, 2022     Porch Swing/Glider                  12

Jun 13, 2022     Planer Sled                          8

Aug 15, 2022     Master Bath Remodeling               5

Oct 03, 2022     Jointer Rust Removal,

                 Adjustment & Push Blocks             3

Oct 24, 2022     Wood Hold Down                       3

Nov 14, 2022     L-Fence                              5

Dec 19, 2022     Sign Template - Fixing Design Error  1

Dec 26, 2022     Sliding Miter Saw Dust Collection    2

Jan 16, 2023     Spatula Handle Replacement           1

Mar 06, 2023     Segmented Bowl                      13 

Oct 02, 2023     Celtic Pen                           4

Feb 05, 2024     Wastebasket                          8

Apr 22, 2024     Game Piece Holder                    9

Jul 15, 2024     Auto Headlight Lens Dehazing         1

Dec 02, 2024     Turned Art Object                   16 

Turned Art Object – #16 Turned Finial & Finishing

The last part to make is the second finial.  The prototype is shown here with the bowl assembly grayed out.

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.