Paul Jones 9 May 2013

 

For his first visit to our club Paul turned two projects, a natural edge goblet See Paul's photosand a mushroom.

1. Natural Edge Goblet

Paul mounted a hawthorn log between centres, turned it down to a cylinder with a spindle gouge then turned a long spigot to fit in his O’Donnell chuck. He stood the chuck on the lathe and dropped the work into it as he says it seats perfectly when mounted this way. (See photos PJ_01 to 03).

To hollow it out, he drilled a hole in the end with a spindle gouge, rocking the tool slightly until it slid in, then continued drilling to the depth he wanted the bowl to be. He marked the depth on the outside then slowly hollowed it out with a spindle gouge, curving the cut into the bottom. To finish the bottom of the bowl he used a small bowl gouge to get round the curve, then a Woodcut Pro hollowing tool for the last bit. (See photos PJ_04 and 05).

Before turning the outside of the bowl he cut in on the line he had marked then turned away some of the weight of timber behind it to give himself some space to work. Little by little he turned the outside of the bowl to match the shape of the inside, regularly checking the wall thickness with calipers. When he got towards the end of the outside of the bowl he turned away some of the bulk of the timber so he could move the tool rest closer to the work. Once he was happy with the shape he turned a groove under the bowl. (See photos PJ_06 and 07).

Before continuing any further he put the tailstock back on the lathe, put a thick wad of kitchen paper into the bowl, then wound the tailstock in until it supported the work but didn’t put pressure on it. He marked the base with a parting tool, leaving space between it and the chuck for him to be able to turn a pattern on the underneath. He then started to turn the top and edge of the base, putting a ‘v’ cut on it to give it a crisp finish. (See photos PJ_08 and 09).

Next he turned a narrow, ‘v’ bead under the bowl with a skew chisel then, with the lathe running very fast, he used a cloth soaked in oil to burn a highlight point on the crisp edge of the bead. He used a spindle gouge to turn the stem. First he turned a bottle shape under the bowl then turned this down towards the middle of the stem, making it nice and thin. He turned an ogee shape on the top of the base then finished turning the bottom of the stem to match the top half, including a ‘v’ shaped bead under the stem. By the time he had finished he had a continuous curve over the full length of the stem and it was quite thin in the middle. (See photos PJ_10 to 13).

After tidying up the bead at the bottom of the base he turned away the bulk of the timber behind it, then used a skew chisel to face off the underneath. He made it slightly concave, then used a point tool to turn a small bead in the underneath. Finally he turned away the rest of the waste timber underneath, parted it off then sliced off the remaining nib with a chisel. (See photo PJ_13).

2. Mushroom

Paul mounted a small log between centres, turned a tenon on it then mounted it in the chuck. He turned a long ogee shape at the end, then removed a lot of the timber behind it. After turning a rim at the top he turned a bulb shape for the main stem. (See photos PJ_14 to 16).

This is a very interesting shape for a mushroom and it is certainly different to those you normally see for sale.

 

Lorrie Flannery

SWC club member