Maple decorative platter, a work in progress.

[Steve Krumanaker]

Did a few of these a while back but it's been a while. This is soft maple, turned to about 2.5mm or 3/32" and just over 12" diameter. It will get my version of a basket weave illusion done with piercing and pyrography.

 

 

This is the basic pattern, it's adapted from a Polynesian Lei, Lei weave which is normally done with water hyacinth reeds. The "X" areas will get pierced and the rest will get wood burned and shaded to produce the basket weave illusion.

 

 

Have just started to layout the grid lines to draw the pattern. That's an LED lamp on the back side.

 

Hoping this one turns out as it's intended tobe a gift.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Steve Krumanaker

[lew]

That’s gonna be awesome!

[HandyDan]

What's the wiggle video about?  Seems I am missing something.

[Gerald]

Anticipation !!!

[Steve Krumanaker]

5 hours ago, HandyDan said:

What's the wiggle video about?  Seems I am missing something.

Hi Dan, just showing the thinness of it.

[forty_caliber]

Wow!  Great concept!  Top notch layout and design.

 

.40

[HandyDan]

WOW! That's darn thin.

[Steve Krumanaker]

Moving along with the decorative platter. Here it is with the pattern in pencil.

 

 

 

Not going to lie, had to just step away from it a few times, will make a person buggy eyed! Next, I'll take off the bottom and clean it up. Then, burn and establish the areas with the X to pierce and remove. The straight, vertical lines represent the spline and on one side the spline is on top of the weave and on the other it's covered by the weave. The pattern will also be on the other side but won't get drawn until after the  piercing is done. That will give me a map to make both top and underside to match.

 

This is the look I'm after.

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by Steve Krumanaker
add picture

[John Morris]

I love seeing you work Steve, and I love your topics, well worded, well laid out, nice imagery, and you tag your topics perfectly, thanks sir.

If anyone here doubts the usefulness of "tags", just click on any of the ones Steve provided.

[HandyDan]

That's some real wizardry going on there.  Would definitely drive me bug house.

[Gerald]

Bug eyed may not be a strong enough term. I can do some zentangle but this is way beyond me

[Steve Krumanaker]

6 hours ago, John Morris said:

I love seeing you work Steve, and I love your topics, well worded, well laid out, nice imagery, and you tag your topics perfectly, thanks sir.

If anyone here doubts the usefulness of "tags", just click on any of the ones Steve provided.

 

Thank you John, very kind words.

[Steve Krumanaker]

1 hour ago, Gerald said:

Bug eyed may not be a strong enough term. I can do some zentangle but this is way beyond me

 

 

Gerald, I love zentangle but I can't say this is that. It's a pattern I devised and so far as I know it hasn't been certified. With that, it does rely heavily on zentangle principles. This particular pattern is deceptively easy once you get in a groove. Amazingly, 3 lines repeated over and over create the whole. A short vertical line, a diagonal line rising left to right, and a diagonal line rising right to left. Once the grid is laid out and the vertical lines are in place you basically just connect the dots.

[Gerald]

What tool do you plan to use for piercing? I use a NSK straight set up like Capt Eddie did his.

[Steve Krumanaker]

39 minutes ago, Gerald said:

What tool do you plan to use for piercing? I use a NSK straight set up like Capt Eddie did his.

 

I will likely use one of the cheap knock-offs from ebay. I invested in the presto but as yet have not used it. The traditional hand piece design works well for me as my hands are not all that steady. I can grip the dental hand piece with two hands and anchor them to the work piece and that really helps with stability. There will also be a fair bit of needle file and xacto knife work in play.

[Masonsailor]

That is pretty amazing Steve. And that’s a whole lot of carving. Very ambitious. I can’t wait to see the end result. 
Paul

[Steve Krumanaker]

If anyone is interested here is a progress update. Have started the piercing. This is kind of relaxing and tedious all at the same time. The hardest part is getting a nice perpendicular cut from one side to the other. That's something I struggle with and that's where the xacto and filing come into play on the other side. It's fortunate that the material I'm trying to imitate has it's own irregularities and isn't typically 100% uniform so little imperfections almost look natural. I use a .7mm carbide straight bur spinning at around 350,000rpm and it creates very fine, almost microscopic dust. The Sundstrom respirator really earns it keep when doing something like this.

 

 

Even without any shading being done the pattern really starts to show up when the triangle areas are gone. You can see the very fine dust that's collected on the surface. A roll of paper towels on end makes a perfect work surface.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Steve Krumanaker
add comment.

[lew]

I was reading a post from another source and the person was asking about their project and how to prevent burning from the spinning bit. Is that a problem for you?

[Steve Krumanaker]

5 minutes ago, lew said:

I was reading a post from another source and the person was asking about their project and how to prevent burning from the spinning bit. Is that a problem for you?

 

In my experience it will always burn when doing the piercing. If a person doesn't want that burned edge the secret is to take out the middle and then use very light passes to clean up the edges.

[HandyDan]

Looking good.  I have tried a few piercings but was put off by the bit getting hot and clogging.  The smoke and dust make me not want to indulge either.