Pepperwood vessel out of soak

Dan Mosley

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1,169
Location
Palm Springs, Ca
Pictures 1-2 .......Pepperwood Vessel (10 1/2" wide - 8 1/2 tall) out of 24hr soaking now and letting dry inside and hoping it does not crack. I wiped it down well and let it dry for several hours inside and it began to look fairly dry so I put a coat of DO on it and let sit for for a bit and wiped it down. Now sitting and drying......will watch it and see how it goes now...........dang So.Calif heat is kicking my butt on any of my turnings now........:eek:

Pictures 3-4 ........Long neck vessel with a small finial - now complete

Picture 5 -Small vessel complete - now it has a finial

Picture 6 .......Natural Edge Small bowl - Sanded to 400 and 2 coats of DO, now sitting and drying.

Questions - I usually use my Ci1 to clean up the bottom nub on the inside of the vessels which is quick and easy to do......anybody else doing it another
way?

I have been using a Mandrel to reverse and part off.......how is everybody else doing it ? (see Picture 7)

Prior to turning any of the natural edge pc's I have been putting CA glue on the bark near the middle to help hold it in place. Then making my
cuts away from the natural edge............anyone else doing it another way ?
 

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Nice-looking pieces, Dan, although I think the long-necked vessel would look better without the finial.

...Questions - I usually use my Ci1 to clean up the bottom nub on the inside of the vessels which is quick and easy to do......anybody else doing it another
way?

I try to get the hollowing tool centered in the sweet spot to avoid the nub. If I do end up with one, it's small, and I remove it with either a handheld scraper or Ci0, or a scraper bit (or Ci0) in the Monster rig.

...I have been using a Mandrel to reverse and part off.......how is everybody else doing it ? (see Picture 7)

Really depends on the piece. Sometimes I'll use the vacuum chuck, with or without vacuum applied. (With no vacuum, it's a padded friction chuck.) Other times I'll use a wooden cone held in the chuck and inserted in the opening (essentially like your mandrel). I've gotten comfortable with finishing the bottom to the extent possible with the tailstock and live center holding the piece in place, then I turn the nub down to a small cone and remove any remaining traces off the lathe with power sanding.

...Prior to turning any of the natural edge pc's I have been putting CA glue on the bark near the middle to help hold it in place. Then making my
cuts away from the natural edge............anyone else doing it another way?

I typically don't put any glue on the bark unless it breaks off. I also cut into the natural edge instead of away from it. It's a bit trickier to start the cut, but it pushes the bark into the rim instead of pulling the bark away from it.

Also, you mentioned putting more oil on a piece a few hours after soaking it. I think pretty much everything I've read about oil finishes recommends letting it cure at least 24 hours between coats. When a coat of finish is in the early stages of the curing process, I think you can run into problems if you cover it with another coat too soon because the new coat prevents the old coat from fully curing. (I could be wrong on this, but that's my understanding from the reading I've done.)
 
Nice looking pieces Dan. Vaughn pretty much answered how I hold a vase. I also use the scraper on my articulating arm to get rid of the nub. Most times I take my time and really don't have one to get rid of as I try to turn it out as I go. I never CA the bark unless it breaks. I use a push cut going into the bark. Less chance of having one of those moment.
 
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Vaughn - Bernie ----- the Ci1 works well for cleaning up a nub if i have to....I also like to avoid even having the nub but it happens. A scrapper may work but if its deep and to far off the rest I think your asking for trouble so I use the rig to clean it up but slower going.......thanks for the reply

I to reverse and take to a cone or nub, then saw the nub off, finish it off the lathe with a speed grinder and flap sanding disk or on a drill press to level the bottom more if i have to. I saw a video where one of the turners uses a dremel type tool with a 120 or better flap wheel to touch up where the nub was.
The drill press works good if there are marks I didnt see or get out - and keeps the bottom flat

I read on the AAW forum that "one" of the turners thought that flat or slightly concave bottoms were boring and showed lack of imagination on the part of the turner. He states he makes recesses with small cuts and detail in the bottoms............but I perfer the flat or slightly concave bottoms on mine. I also do not like doing expansion turning on vessels - actually I don't do alot of expansion type turning because my chuck seems to always leave black marks on the inner side walls of the tennon and I hate hand sanding. But to each their own I suppose........
 
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I'm with you Dan on the recess vs. tenon debate. I just don't like the way the finished bottom looks. If I can see how a piece was held in the lathe, it ruins the effect for me. The one or two times I've used a recess, I ended up turning away any signs it was there. I also don't like flat bottoms, so I do have a defined "foot", although it's usually a depression of some sort. I do like to have the foot kind of mirror the curve of the bottom of the inside, so I end up with convex bottoms more than concave. These pics kind of show what I mean...

Bowl Bottom 2 800.jpg Bowl Bottom 800.jpg
 
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