Inside-Out Petal Vase

A vase done by the inside-out method, of White Oak. 9" high, 2 1/2" across the petals.
Sanded to 1500 grit, only one coat of wipe-on poly so far to keep the gloss down for the photo.

Photo Details

kengrunke

Registered: November 2004
Location: La Farge, SW Wisconsin USA
Posts: 199

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Date: Thu November 17, 2005
Views: 3,901
Keywords: insideout petal vase

Comments

Rev. Doug Miller

Rev. Doug Miller

Ken, I love this. Can you give some explaination or some drawings that show how this is done? I, for one, have a hard time "seeing" how the first turning is done. I understand the whole inside/out deal, am just having a hard time getting the shape of the first go round in my mind. 8)

#1 Fri November 18, 2005 12:39am

Gil

Yup, I like it a bunch too!! Seems like the inside cut would need to taper, and very little could be removed from the bottom third (inside). It sure does look delicate.

#2 Fri November 18, 2005 12:48am

Rick Prevett

This is very nice, Ken. The inside out process can produce some striking forms, this one included.

#3 Fri November 18, 2005 12:53am

kengrunke

Guys, rather than post another pic let me refer you to the woodcentral turning forum, where earlier today I posted a 3D graphic of what the first step looks like:
http://www.woodcentral.com./newforum/turning.shtml

Scroll down a ways, right after the post by Ellis Valentine on the ***TURNING CONTEST*** . My second post shows just about exactly how this vase looked like, after the first stage with the inside facing out.
The turned part was at the tailstock end, the 4 pieces were held together with double-stick tape--1/2" wide, the same stuff sold for window sealing kits, to hold the plastic sheet on the inside of a window.
The tape is running only half the length, the other end is clamped in a 4-jaw scroll chuck. If you use heavy, but momentary, pressure from a c-clamp on each joint, it's quite hard to pull apart without using a chisel.
The inside profile is sanded and finished before prying the pieces apart, and glueing them permanently back together with the turned profiles facing in.
Then you just turn the outside--I use a wooden drive cone shaped to fit inside the top, covered with StickyFoam or Foamies sheet. This is great stuff, I get 9 x 12" sheets with stickum backing for about 60 cents each at Walmart.
Now that it's permanently glued together, you can use enough tailstock pressure to push it on the drive cone without worrying about splitting it.
I started with the tailstock end (the vase's bottom) and finished with the top last.
Turning the top part is the trickiest, you need a very sharp tool. I use a continental spindle gouge, the kind forged from flat stock. It's well honed, and also polished on an MDF wheel charged with white buffing compound.
Other than that, it's very basic spindle turning, and easier than doing an inside-out ornament. I demoed I-O ornaments for our AAW chapter back in 2002, and made a PDF tutorial which is still available on our chapter's website, here:
http://www.crwoodturner.com/howto.html

Thanks Rev, Gil, and Rick for the uplifting comments!

#4 Fri November 18, 2005 1:37am

cfuller

Very impressive Ken.

#5 Fri November 18, 2005 2:36am

Rick Prevett

Congrats to Ken for making the cover page over on WOW today with this piece. Lots of interest in this technique Ken, you answered a lot of questions on the forums. Hope we see more.

#6 Fri November 18, 2005 4:57pm

wood2turn

Ken...I couldn't locate that drawing you mentioned in your link. Think maybe you could repost it here for us? Sure would appreciate it. THANKS!

#7 Sat March 18, 2006 5:02am

kengrunke

I had it bookmarked, but guess they deleted it (it was 4 months ago, a long time for the Woodcentral site).
Just posted a pic in the Gallery.

#8 Sat March 18, 2006 5:45am