Michigan Chocolate Crotch Hollow Form - Revisited the Finial

Vaughn McMillan

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This is a piece of walnut crotch I got a while back from Ambassador Larry. Nothing real fancy about the hollow form, but the wood more than makes up for it. It's sweet, sweet stuff. It ended up about 9" wide and 7 3/4" tall to the tip of the finial. This is my third finial ever. I didn't really have a plan in mind when I started the finial -- and it shows -- but it is what it is. I can see things to fix on the next one, but I'm pretty happy with this one for now. The HF was sanded to 1200 grit and finished with Formby's Tung Oil Finish. The HF and finial were buffed with Don Pencil's PL compound and followed up with Renaissance wax.

HF056 - 03 800.jpg HF056 - 01 800.jpg HF056 - 02 800.jpg

Many thanks to Larry for the awesome piece of wood. :bow: I've got a bit more ready to be finish turned that I'll be showing pics of somewhere down the road.

Comments, critiques and suggestions are all welcome. :wave:
 
Wow, that is a real show stopper! :thumb:

The wood is amazing, and the form is spot on, IMHO, the finial is OK, but as it is only your third one, I know that they will improve, not that I'm any bloody good at them myself :eek: I think it could be a bit "crisper" if that makes sense.

Still, that is one outstanding piece of work Vaughn, :clap:
 
Vaughn,

I like the HF and the finial. The HF has a nice flow in the form and the wood and finish are superb.

The finial I like because it is different than what I'm used to seeing but yet to me it seems to have a mechanical balance to it.....it's not top heavy or bottom heavy......hard to describe my feelings for it except to say it is pleasing to my eye.

Nicely done Vaughn!
 
Glad I didn't just look at the thumbnails. There it looks like the apex of the outer curve is a bit sharp. But I opened the pics to the larger verson and WOW! Beautiful piece of walnut, a masterful job withthe turning, and as usual, you have done a great job with the finish too. Beautiful work.
 
I don't know from apex of the curves to crisp finials. :huh:
I'll say this, it all looks fine. Very pleasing form, finial is nice, gives the piece an elegant touch. I like the finish, it could have been over done and overwhelmed the piece. And....of course.....that wood is delicious.
Very nice work all around. :thumb:
 
One of only a few ways to make Michigan walnut better looking then nature is a fine turning, THAT is a fine turning:thumb::thumb::thumb: Larry has a knack at finding the good stuff also:)
 
The hollow form is great, the finial is great but I agree they don't go together though it is obviously personal opinion. I would prefer the finial to flow into the base instead of sitting on it if that makes sense. Just goes to show there are as many opinions as there are turners :)

Pete
 
Thanks for the comments and suggestions, guys. :thumb: I re-worked the finial last night, but after studying it today, there's a little more tweaking I'm gonna do to it here in a few minutes. Film at 11:00. :D
 
Well, I had a few suggestions here and elsewhere for changes, so did a bit of rework on the finial for this piece. I wanted to simplify it a bit, make it thinner, and try to sharpen up the details a bit more. Took 5 or 6 trips back to the lathe before I was happy with it, and it's still not perfect, but I think I'll keep this one as-is. I owe Keith Burns a tip o' the hat for the inspiration behind the domed finial base. I dunno if he came up with it, but I got the idea from seeing his work. Pete, I appreciate and understand your point about making the base flow into the form, and have done that in the past, but this time I wanted to try a different approach. I did ease the curve of the base a little bit in my rework, though.

HF056 - 04 800.jpg HF056 - 06 800.jpg HF056 - 05 800.jpg

Any better? Worse? Whatcha think?
 
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