A vase too far!

[Les Symonds]

The trouble with being a newbie-turner and joining this site, is that you see, in the gallery, a thousand and one things that you want to copy. The inspiration, clearly, is not a problem! It's the skill level and the tool kit that are sometimes left in doubt.
I was inspired by the deep vases etc and by the debate on 'Foot or no foot', so I grabbed a piece of birch off the log pile and set about turning it. It soon resembled a vase, but I made it too narrow at the base, for the tools that I have. I drilled it out with a forstner, but my round-nosed scraper is only a half inch, so it chattered like mad. The all-whistles-and-bells hollowing tool that my wife bought me for Christmas was too chunky to fit inside, so I hollowed it out (badly) to within about 5mm of the base, but could only finish it for the first half of its depth.
This begs a few questions
1. Am I right in assuming that a side-cutting scraper of a decent cross section would help?
2. How would you normally finish the inside of such a narrow vessel? I couldn't get my fingers in beyond about 10cm, so couldn't sand the bottom inside.
3. What do members think of dropping some fishing line weights into the bottom and then pouring in some polyester resin to bind them into place?

Anyway, here it is. A piece of silver birch, 15cm tall, 7cm at the rim and 3.5 cm at the base. Finished with one coat sanding sealer and soft wax.







Comments/suggestions/criticisms appreciated.

Les (gwyntog)

[Mark Sanger]

Les

I know what you mean about wanting to make loads of stuff, just keep making and practicing as learning from mistakes is often of more value than getting it right all the time.

In relation to your questions.

1/ Yes a ' Slow curve' scraper with a burr rubbed up on it with a diamond hone may help but only if you take fine cuts. Better to take 5 fine cuts than two heavy ones. the problem with scrapers is that there is no bevel support or acute slicing action so if not treated with a gentle touch the fibres become more compressed than cut, the result being a poor surface finish.

2/ Don't take this as me being sarcastic as I am not, but when designing any items be they made in wood or other materials the design to a certain degree is connected with the methods and processes of how it is made. So on the next one make it larger so you can get access into the base.  

However you can use a piece of suitable sized dowel around which you wrap 'gaffer tape' or other DIY tape to produce a small mushroom shape on the end. Then stick your abrasive to this with CA glue. Make one for 100 grit, 120 grit etc etc up to 320 grit or however high you want to go. Set the lathe speed to around 1000 rpm, or whatever you are happy with, rest the dowel on the tool rest trailing so that the handle section is higher than the abrasive end and work it in and out to abrade the inside. Don't apply too much pressure when you get to the bottom or the heat generated can induce heat checks ( very fine cracks) in the end grain which are pretty much impossible to get rid of.

3/ is a good idea. If it was me I would throw in some fine coloured sand in the base, say black or deep burgundy to weigh it down and add a bit of contrast of both material and colour.  Then you can say it was deliberate.  

[Les Symonds]

Thanks so much for that, Mark. All the points that you make are very valid and a few ideas in there that I can put to practice straight away. thanks for taking the time to respond so comprehensively.
Les

[Eric Harvey]

if you slit down the dowel lengthways,you can trap the sanding medium in the slit and wrap it around the dowel negating the need for glue,then you just pop in the grit you need  while you work your way through them,you can also fold the sanding medium over the end of the dowel to sand the bottom of the hollow form/vase or attach sticky backed velcro to the end of the dowel and use velcro/velvet backed sanding medium,regards,

Eric.

[Bryan Milham]

gwyntog,

I like the shape of the curve of this piece it flows well. I can't comment on the inside finish as you don't show it.

However I reach into my narrow areas much like Eric suggests, but I have turned several handles that narrow then flare to various shapes at the end. And a saw cut with a Japanese saw gives me the right kerf for my abrasive.