Project Information
Maple and Walnut Vase 6 1/8" H x 6" D Finished with Wipe on Poly 209 pieces
After making my first segmented bowl, I was enthused with making more because I enjoyed making it and wanted to do more. This time I went with similar hardness of wood and was very pleased with the result I got with the maple and walnut combination. It is a time consuming process to go through the various steps. First the layout, figuring the shape and finding out how long the pieces had to be and how wide and thick as well. Getting the mitre saw set up and angles figured and then cutting all the pieces, keeping each row or layers separate and in the proper order. Cutting the pieces to go between each segment. Applying glue to each piece and clamping them together. ( I found it easier to use Stainless steel hose clamps in various sizes) when the glue is dry, I had to clean the edges and sand smooth so they will fit flat on top of each other tightly. I glued several rings together and turned them so it would be easy to clean up the inside of the vase. Theoretically, it is not necessary to turn the inside as it will not be seen, except the fact that all other turners will, invariably, put their finger inside to see how smooth you turned the inside, will make you want to do a good job! Non turners tend to just pick it up and feel the outside only. Now comes the fun part of turning the vase, Bada boom, it is done! HUH! All that work and it only takes a few minutes to turn? Yup! The absolute nice part about turning segmented work is that there is no end grain to contend with! I put the narrow vertical pieces with the end grain running up and down instead of running horizontal from the center. The piece will not warp because the wood is dry unlike turning green wood. I definitely will be making more segmented pieces and have 4 more in the works in various stages. I just have to come up with a better way to cut the pieces more accurately. Maybe make a table saw sled.
Invariably my customers will ask if they could put water in the vases for flowers, I keep telling them NO, not ever! I found a place where I could buy a 1" diameter 6" long flared glass tube, cheaply, that I could use as an insert for my vases so they could put a little bit of water in it to keep flowers in. Maybe some people will be more willing to buy if they could do that? I will now offer that as an option if it will fit the vase. You can see the glass tube in picture 4.
Picture 5 and 6 is another segmented piece I am working on that is almost finished. It is made of Bamboo, Brazilian Cherry, 2 thin rows of Padauk and Maple. I was surprised at how easy it was to turn Bamboo. It did not splinter up like it does when you saw it and it sanded very well and took a nice sheen. This one is a smaller vase but has more pieces, 290, due to the fact it has 12 major segments per row and the first had 8.
Enjoy looking and comments and critiques are appreciated!
After making my first segmented bowl, I was enthused with making more because I enjoyed making it and wanted to do more. This time I went with similar hardness of wood and was very pleased with the result I got with the maple and walnut combination. It is a time consuming process to go through the various steps. First the layout, figuring the shape and finding out how long the pieces had to be and how wide and thick as well. Getting the mitre saw set up and angles figured and then cutting all the pieces, keeping each row or layers separate and in the proper order. Cutting the pieces to go between each segment. Applying glue to each piece and clamping them together. ( I found it easier to use Stainless steel hose clamps in various sizes) when the glue is dry, I had to clean the edges and sand smooth so they will fit flat on top of each other tightly. I glued several rings together and turned them so it would be easy to clean up the inside of the vase. Theoretically, it is not necessary to turn the inside as it will not be seen, except the fact that all other turners will, invariably, put their finger inside to see how smooth you turned the inside, will make you want to do a good job! Non turners tend to just pick it up and feel the outside only. Now comes the fun part of turning the vase, Bada boom, it is done! HUH! All that work and it only takes a few minutes to turn? Yup! The absolute nice part about turning segmented work is that there is no end grain to contend with! I put the narrow vertical pieces with the end grain running up and down instead of running horizontal from the center. The piece will not warp because the wood is dry unlike turning green wood. I definitely will be making more segmented pieces and have 4 more in the works in various stages. I just have to come up with a better way to cut the pieces more accurately. Maybe make a table saw sled.
Invariably my customers will ask if they could put water in the vases for flowers, I keep telling them NO, not ever! I found a place where I could buy a 1" diameter 6" long flared glass tube, cheaply, that I could use as an insert for my vases so they could put a little bit of water in it to keep flowers in. Maybe some people will be more willing to buy if they could do that? I will now offer that as an option if it will fit the vase. You can see the glass tube in picture 4.
Picture 5 and 6 is another segmented piece I am working on that is almost finished. It is made of Bamboo, Brazilian Cherry, 2 thin rows of Padauk and Maple. I was surprised at how easy it was to turn Bamboo. It did not splinter up like it does when you saw it and it sanded very well and took a nice sheen. This one is a smaller vase but has more pieces, 290, due to the fact it has 12 major segments per row and the first had 8.
Enjoy looking and comments and critiques are appreciated!
