Challenge project

Since Chris started this whole thing as 'Christmas in Springtime' I chose an ornament as my challenge piece. It's an inside out turning/spindle in three layers. The center spindle is redheart, the inner layer inside out is african mahogany, and the outer inside out piece is pine. The top and bottom finials are redheart. The things that were new to me were the inside out work, working with pine, and the finish I used. It's finished with minwax ployurethane gloss. The spindle is fixed inside the inner piece while the inner piece turns within the outer piece. I enjoyed the inside out process. But I wish I'd used a different wood for the outer layer. The pine was too soft and didn't finish well. And I got one piece of the outer turning turned wrong so the grain is not the same on all four pieces. It was a fun challenge and I hope to do some more inside out work.

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cfuller

Registered: November 2004
Location: North Ogden, Utah
Posts: 961

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Date: Sat March 19, 2005
Views: 1,861
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Keywords: challenge project

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cfuller

Also, I went outside the lines a little on the size. It's about 3.5" diameter by 5.5" long. The center piece turns on some small brass pins. It turns but won't spin freely as I'd hoped it would.

#1 Sat March 19, 2005 12:06am

Gil

cfuller, you have created an excellent looking ornament, and quite cleverly done too. Your finish and color choices are good together. I like it a lot.

#2 Sat March 19, 2005 12:28am

Chris Wright

Cool CF! I like it. It will be another first too...my first turned Christmas ornament. Wink

I'm looking forward to checking out the spinning middle layer, sounds cool. That's probably a first for you too? (Making something spin within another object?)

#3 Sat March 19, 2005 12:48am

smoky

That looks like it took a while to make. great ornament.

#4 Sat March 19, 2005 12:49am

nappen

That looks awesome, How did you get them to spin inside each other?

#5 Sat March 19, 2005 1:08am

Rev. Doug Miller

Rev. Doug Miller

Very cool, CF. I've played with inside out turning one time. The article I read did not give much information. When I emailed the writer, he didn't want to give much more information that what he had written. I, for one, would love to see you write this one up. Maybe a photo essay.

The pine might need to be sanded lightly and more finish applied. Stinking stuff just blotches so bad. I've never been able to get a satisfactory finish without fiddling with it on pine.

Three layers is really cool. Never have seen anything like that. Way to go, dude.

#6 Sat March 19, 2005 1:50am

keith bundy

Impressive CF. I'm a Christmas kind of guy. My favorite time of the year. Just might have to give this a try myself.

#7 Sat March 19, 2005 3:59am

cfuller

Thanks everyone!
Nappen, the spinning part was pretty simple. Because each layer is made of 4 pieces turned, taken apart and reversed, and turned again, they have the center already marked by the joints. I just drilled a small hole in each end of the center piece and put a short length of brass brazing rod in each end as an axle. Then on the outer piece, after the first turning I sanded the center corner of each piece lightly to create a hole for the axle to turn in. I'm not good at explaining, hope that makes sense.

#8 Sat March 19, 2005 4:31am

Philip Peak

I am curious CF were did you get the idea for this?

#9 Sat March 19, 2005 12:13pm

cfuller

My wife is a much better photographer so I had her take a better photo.

Philip, I made some small birdhouse Christmas ornaments last year and volunteered to make more for a boutique my wife is involved in next fall. I saw some of the inside out ideas on the internet and just winged it from there. They look harder than they really are. There's really not a lot of turning. Mostly sanding the pieces so they glue up tight, a little turning, take it apart, sand again, put it back together backwards and turn a little more. What instructions I could find said to turn a square block and then cut it into fourths. I didn't trust my cutting into equal fourths ability so I started with 4 square pieces 1x1x8". I glued the ends in about 1/2" and did the first turning. Then just cut the glued ends off so it fell apart. Then glued it back together backwards. What I did wrong was when I glued it the first time I didn't match the grain orientation so that all four pieces would be the same. On the mahogany you can't tell, but the pine shows the mistake. For the spindle, I carved a small mortise into the pieces when they were partly glued as halves and the spindle has a tenon on each end that sits in the mortise. Like I said it's more just time consuming with gluing, sanding and carving than with turning. I'm going to try to figure out a production process to make a couple dozen without re-rigging for each one.

#10 Sat March 19, 2005 5:19pm

Chris Wright

I just wanted to add a note now that I have received this piece and have had time to examine it. Great job CF, it's a beauty of a piece! Everyone who has seen it really likes it. Thanks! By the way, the brass rods were ingenious.

#11 Tue March 29, 2005 4:36pm

Woodbutcher1

Mark Sutton

Hi.
I love this Turning, very ingenious, will definatley have to try and do this type of turning myself. Well done

#12 Thu October 27, 2005 9:02am