Open Segmented Bowl – Various Solutions & The Finish

The hole in the bottom of the bowl was like the Sword of Damocles over my head and over the next few days I came up with various solutions:

1. Burn the piece and start over (first thought).
2. Leave it as is (yuck).
3. Turn a flat plug the same size as the recess about ¼” thick and glue it in place, still an obvious attempt at a patch (slightly better).
4. Turn a decorative piece out of cherry or a contrasting wood that would be inserted into the hole and would extend up through the center toward the top as an accent to play off the openings between the segments (better yet).
5. Add some type of light inside that would highlight the open weave nature of the piece (best).

Battery Powered  LED Light

Having settled on adding a light to the piece I just needed a way to make it happen without looking like a patch.  I wanted something that put out just a little light, preferably toward the yellow end of the spectrum and would be inconspicuous. The smallest incandescent I know of would be too large and would require a power cord, something I wanted to stay away from.  After thinking about different light sources I hit on using an LED light.  The color would be right, it would be small, not put out much heat and could be powered by a battery.  A little research turned up all kinds of LED tea lights that were powered by a button batteries, would run 120 hours on the battery and had the light color I was looking for.  On a hunch I went to the local dollar store and there they had just what I was looking for at 2 for a dollar.

Light Holder Drawing

With the light in hand I could work on a way to mount it in the bowl.  I really did not want the entire fixture to show since it is white and shiny and would stand out like a sore thumb.   My solution is to make a holder like this that would fit inside the bowl and hide the sides of the light while leaving the white top exposed to aid in light reflectivity.  The holder will be made out of cherry to match the rest of the bowl.

The sequence is straightforward but does have a few steps.  I pulled out one of the thick chair scraps of cherry, drew a 2½” circle on it, cut it out on the bandsaw, mounted it between centers on the lathe and turned it to the drawing shape.  With that done I chucked up a 1½“ drill bit in the drill press and bored a hole down from the top into the piece until the center point of the drill just came through the bottom.  From there I flipped it over and drilled in from the bottom.  That way I had a clean cut entering the wood from the top and bottom and no blown out edges that could have happened when the bit exited the bottom.  One other thing, if you look below the holder there is a piece of folded over sandpaper.  This provides enough grip between the holder and the table that as long as you are careful in drilling the bit won't grab the piece and spin it.  If the bit grabs the holder it could get exciting and as before, not in a good way.

Drilling Out LED Light Holder

With the hole done it was back to the lathe to clean up the drilled hole and provide a slight taper to match the taper of the sides of the tea light.

There was one problem when I went back to mount the holder in the lathe.  The jaws of the scroll chuck are ribbed to assist in holding the piece you are turning in place.  If I had put the holder back in and torqued the jaws down they would have marred my nice smooth finish.  Also, if I got carried away with tightening the jaws I could have possibly crushed the holder.  I got around this by wrapping 6 layers of masking tape around the outside of the holder and just snugging the jaws down.  If you look close at the photos you can see where the jaws left dents in the tape.  When I removed the tape it had done its job and there were no marks on the holder

Nearly Complete Holder

A final test fit of the tea light into the holder was good, the taper and the somewhat rough interior surface held it in place perfectly.

Completed Holder with Light Installed

Now I could install the holder in the bowl, a little glue to secure it and it was done.

There is one more step before applying a finish to the bowl.  I need to go through and check every joint to see if I had missed any glue squeeze out and if so get rid of it.  I would like to say that due to my masterful woodworking skills everything was perfect, but that would be a fib.  There are 72 openings between the segments and 4 joints at each opening.  That totals 288 connection points and out of them I had a very few that needed some help.  Using a variety of tools, mostly a chisel, a very fine file and some sandpaper glued to a stick I did the required cleanup.

The bowl has a lot of different surfaces to put a finish on.   The exterior is not hard, the interior is a little tougher because the only access is an inch and a half opening at the top and bottom.   Then there are all the openings between segments I talked about above and they can be a pain to finish.  I decided to use a Danish Oil Finish because I can apply it with a cloth and a cotton swab to get in all the nooks and crannies.  It also gives me a fairly long time to work on the details to make sure I don’t have problems.  Here is the basic setup I used to apply the finish.  The chisel is in case I find a glue spot I need to take care of.  There is compressed air to blow off any dust, some flannel shirt scraps and cotton swabs to apply the finish and a small container to work out of.  I use the small container for the finish because if there is a way for me to knock over a can of finish and make a mess I will find it. 

Finishing Setup

After 3 coats rubbed down between each one this is the final piece.  The Danish oil gives a nice muted surface and I liked the way it highlights the cherry grain.

Bowl with Light Installed

How does it look lit up?  Well with the light on I think it really resembles a candle lit interior.  At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. J

Bowl with Light On

I did not keep track of the time I spend on this project but I believe that the building of the jigs took almost as long as gluing all the segments in place and doing the turning.  Now that I have the jigs any additional pieces will certainly take less time to build.  The question becomes do I build them with or without the light?

What's the next project?  Well, I have been contacted by a friend to take a look at building him a custom made snare drum.  That's something I have never built so it's a possibility....