Colin
Retired.
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2017
- Messages
- 1,663
- Reaction score
- 2,541
- Location
- Huddersfield.
- Hardiness Zone
- 7
- Country
Hi,
I didn't want to experiment using expensive timber so I pulled out a small lump of very old dry mahogany a chum had kindly given to me years ago. Turning this mahogany was an experience and challenge; very sharp tools were needed otherwise they just rubbed without removing material; what a dirty timber mahogany is to turn with clinging dust that covers and clings to everything; good job I have the Trend airshield providing filtered air to protect my lungs; mahogany is similar to meranti another dirty timber to turn but both accept fine detail and come up to a nice finish.
I'm still learning but am improving; the pictures below show progress to date. Sequence is important and I've not yet got this quite right; hollow out first or do the outside first; chucking is very important and needs careful consideration; once I've completed a few of these I'm sure everything will fall into place but in the meantime I'm enjoying the steep learning curve.
The gorgeous vase in the previous post was my inspiration and although this is just an experiment I did my best; looking at the vase I initially thought it to be laminated with spalted timber for the main section but with a light timber like holly for the narrow bands and perhaps a dense African hardwood like ebony for the black sections all laminated into a single block then turned but then I thought this would cost a small fortune in timber so could the vase have been turned differently and I gave it a lot of thought; I decided to use automotive lacquer hoping to achieve a similar looking piece? I did the turning in the wrong sequence resulting in having the work running with a slight wobble as it was re-chucked much to my dismay but the experiment still stood; I wanted to see if I could make this vase look like it was turned from different timbers; three sections in this case?
I turned and then sanded to 600g giving a blemish free surface; wiping it down with meths got rid of sanding dust then two coats of sanding sealer was applied denibbing between coats using 600g at low lathe speed. I sprayed a small quantity of black lacquer into the can cap and tried using a round artists paint brush; this worked much better than expected on the foot of the vase. The paint was left overnight to dry then I ran into the chucking problem; I needed to remount the vase allowing access to the top inside and outside surfaces; the first attempt at applying the black lacquer was a disaster not getting a clean sharp edge and the vase wasn't concentric with the axis of the lathe giving a wobble; this wouldn't be too noticeable had the paint gone on OK but as it turned out due to the wobble this created problems using the paintbrush due to variations in pressure as the vase revolved. I ended up using cellulose thinner to remove the paint which looked a mess. After a light sanding to 600g I decided the round brush needed changing so I chose a very fine bristled flat artists brush and tried once again; this time I played around and got rid of much of the wobble and I ran the lathe very slowly as I applied the paint; not perfect but a huge improvement and I was much happier with the result. The paint was left alone to dry whilst I knocked off for dinner then after dinner I've now applied two coats of clear acrylic lacquer to the entire vase; I'll let the lacquer dry for a couple of days before handling the vase but for a first attempt using paint like this I think the result is pretty good. I'm never scared to experiment because if it goes wrong all I lose is time and a bit of material but I always gain a lot more in experience.
Kind regards, Colin.
Mahogany vase base in sanding sealer with foot to be finished.
The top hollowed out and with sanding sealer added.
Two coats of clear lacquer sprayed on directly from the rattle can; looking good.
I didn't want to experiment using expensive timber so I pulled out a small lump of very old dry mahogany a chum had kindly given to me years ago. Turning this mahogany was an experience and challenge; very sharp tools were needed otherwise they just rubbed without removing material; what a dirty timber mahogany is to turn with clinging dust that covers and clings to everything; good job I have the Trend airshield providing filtered air to protect my lungs; mahogany is similar to meranti another dirty timber to turn but both accept fine detail and come up to a nice finish.
I'm still learning but am improving; the pictures below show progress to date. Sequence is important and I've not yet got this quite right; hollow out first or do the outside first; chucking is very important and needs careful consideration; once I've completed a few of these I'm sure everything will fall into place but in the meantime I'm enjoying the steep learning curve.
The gorgeous vase in the previous post was my inspiration and although this is just an experiment I did my best; looking at the vase I initially thought it to be laminated with spalted timber for the main section but with a light timber like holly for the narrow bands and perhaps a dense African hardwood like ebony for the black sections all laminated into a single block then turned but then I thought this would cost a small fortune in timber so could the vase have been turned differently and I gave it a lot of thought; I decided to use automotive lacquer hoping to achieve a similar looking piece? I did the turning in the wrong sequence resulting in having the work running with a slight wobble as it was re-chucked much to my dismay but the experiment still stood; I wanted to see if I could make this vase look like it was turned from different timbers; three sections in this case?
I turned and then sanded to 600g giving a blemish free surface; wiping it down with meths got rid of sanding dust then two coats of sanding sealer was applied denibbing between coats using 600g at low lathe speed. I sprayed a small quantity of black lacquer into the can cap and tried using a round artists paint brush; this worked much better than expected on the foot of the vase. The paint was left overnight to dry then I ran into the chucking problem; I needed to remount the vase allowing access to the top inside and outside surfaces; the first attempt at applying the black lacquer was a disaster not getting a clean sharp edge and the vase wasn't concentric with the axis of the lathe giving a wobble; this wouldn't be too noticeable had the paint gone on OK but as it turned out due to the wobble this created problems using the paintbrush due to variations in pressure as the vase revolved. I ended up using cellulose thinner to remove the paint which looked a mess. After a light sanding to 600g I decided the round brush needed changing so I chose a very fine bristled flat artists brush and tried once again; this time I played around and got rid of much of the wobble and I ran the lathe very slowly as I applied the paint; not perfect but a huge improvement and I was much happier with the result. The paint was left alone to dry whilst I knocked off for dinner then after dinner I've now applied two coats of clear acrylic lacquer to the entire vase; I'll let the lacquer dry for a couple of days before handling the vase but for a first attempt using paint like this I think the result is pretty good. I'm never scared to experiment because if it goes wrong all I lose is time and a bit of material but I always gain a lot more in experience.
Kind regards, Colin.
Mahogany vase base in sanding sealer with foot to be finished.
The top hollowed out and with sanding sealer added.
Two coats of clear lacquer sprayed on directly from the rattle can; looking good.