With the template completed it’s a process of turning the blank to match the template. While not hard it does take a bit of time since I do a lot checking to make sure I don’t overshoot and remove too much material. The top two photos are a face and edge view of the turned blank. The only thing left to do is sand away and blend in the pencil center line of the blank identified with the red arrow. The bottom photo is a closeup that shows how the template fits nice and tight against the turned piece.
Doing layout for bottom cutout and the vertical arc come next as I want to have everything laid out before I start cutting. Starting with the simplest is the arc on the bottom side of the base. This cutout is not centered on the blank but is offset towards the outer edge of the blank by 9/16”. Using that point a 2 3/16” radius circle is drawn giving the cutout for one base. The same layout is done for the bottom base but it’s not shown for clarity.
The last or vertical curved cut is the most problematic to layout since I have two intersecting curved surfaces that make up the layout line. In the two renderings below the top one shows what is to be cut away and the bottom one shows the cut away face in white.
To mark the cut line vertical lines are laid out ½” apart starting at the center point of the arc working out to the rim. Next the distance from the flat face back toward the curved cut plane is transferred to the existing top turned surface. These dimensions are shown in the top drawing. The bottom photo shows how the offset dimensions are transferred to the actual base using a set of digital calipers.
Once these individual points are located, they get connected using a French curve to form a smooth fair curve which gives me my cutting line per the top red arrow. Also, the bottom red arrow points to the somewhat faint cut line for the lower opening.
With all the layout done it’s over to the bandsaw where the top photo shows the order of the cuts necessary to separate one of the bases from the turned blank. The bottom photo is after the first cut and the piece is ready for the cut to remove the lower opening.
To smooth out the bandsawn edges and remove any high spots so the arc is a fair curve the drum sander is used. The reason the filler pieces are still attached is to provide additional stability and help keep the piece square to the table while using the bandsaw and the drum sander.
From the drum sander it’s back to the bandsaw shown in the top photo to cut off all but about 1/16” of the filler pieces. After they are cut off the disk sander is used to smooth the cut and remove the last little bit of filler. It’s then back to the bandsaw the cut the arc on the face of the base. The bottom photo shows a series of relief cuts at the top that will help me make the final cut and a finished cut at the bottom. 
Once again, the drum sander is used to clean up the bandsawn face and smooth out the arc of the cut. A little hand sanding and this is the result. I do have to make one more decision that I will defer until later as the piece starts to come together and that’s whether to leave the intersecting faces at a hard sharp edge or soften them. Well, that’s one base down and one to do.
Here is what both bases and bodies now look like and with a little help from Photoshop this is what the base and body could look like later on when they get assembled.
I had planned on next making the bowl that goes in the center of the piece but have decided to hold off on that for a bit because I am looking at different ways to make the blank it will be turned from. While thinking about how to do that I am going to do some work on the bodies’ two black end caps also not greyed out.
Making the caps starts by tracing them onto a piece of plywood that will be used as a pattern. Because the caps have an overhang, I couldn’t just trace them but used a steel washer whose distance from the center hole to the outside edge matched the desired offset. It’s a simple matter to hold the washer against the piece and trace around the piece.
After looking at the drawn result I decided to soften the perimeter out and make a smooth curve from the nose of the pattern around the bead to the back corner. The left photo shows the piece being cut out on the scroll saw and the right-hand photo shows the finished pattern. In it you can see how the shape was modified going around the beads.
Because I wanted the top of the cap to taper to the sides a jig is needed so the taper on the blanks is consistent and repeatable. The jig starts out by making a tapered wedge whose angle matches the one on the cap. Layout lines are added on the ends at the top and along the long edges to delineate the material to be removed. I drew both tapers to make sure it looks right but will only cut one side using a hand plane. Since this is the key part, I did some testing to make sure it was right.
The left photo shows the completed jig ready to be tested. The right photo shows a poplar test blank the same size as what will be used for the real caps. Process is to run it though the thickness sander which will gradually remove the red triangle and make the taper. Since this is the first piece the right stained brace will also get sanded down.
Here both sides of the cap blank have been tapered. To get identical tapers the blank gets flipped end for end after each pass through the sander until the tapers meet at the top center of the blank.
Last is to trace the pattern onto the beveled test blank, cut it out on the scroll saw and set it in place to see how it looks. The overall shape is good but think it’s a bit thick and perhaps has a little too much overhang. I will take a look at it again a couple of times to see if adjustments need to be made before proceeding.
Next Up – Making the Bowl Part 1
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