Not a lot of turning this week, painting the east and west ends of the house; the weather really does a job on them. Anyway, over the weekend I did get more done on the segments for my first adventure with that type of turning. I used the same technique to glue up the maple wedges as I did for the built up ring. I glued four pieces at a time, creating half of a ring then glued the two halves together to complete the ring.

For some reason, maybe because these wedges longer, the angles were slightly off.

However, by having only half a ring, I could sand the edges making them parallel.

Much better fit-

I decided on a solid walnut piece for the base. Here’s what they looked like stacked up-

I was so proud of myself that I failed to see the mistake staring me right in the face- more on that later!

The next thing was to bring the rings flat. A couple of passes through the drum sander made quick work of the slight imperfections in the glue up. Because the pieces were small, I made a pusher block to hold the pieces and protect my fingers.

Next step was to glue the rings together. To help center the rings on the glue chuck, I used a small nail. After the glue dried, I pulled the nail out through the threaded hole in the chuck. I went back and forth about whether or not to use a paper joint between the walnut base and the glue chuck. I went with a regular glue joint for maximum safety.

After the joint dried, I added the first maple ring. This piece is centered by eye because the center hole was much larger than the nail. I only glued one ring at a time to avoid shifting during the clamping phase. The segmented clamping jig held each piece perfectly.

It was at this point, I realized the hole in this maple ring was going to be a problem. I wanted the entire inside action area, of the mortar, to be made of maple. This hole allowed the walnut bottom to be exposed. To fix this, I bored out the center of the ring and created a tight fitting plug. This had the effect of creating a solid maple bottom.

Back to the gluing and clamping, rotating the rings with each layer.

Once the entire assembly was completely dry, I mounted it on the lathe and turned it round.  Because the open end is unsupported, I opted to use the steady rest during the hollowing process.

It was at this point I realized the mistake I made, during the glue up. In the picture above, you can see that the end maple ring and the next maple ring to the left are not offset. I was careful to rotate the rings with each layer but the built up maple and walnut ring tripped me up! I should have turned the last ring another partial turn to carry the pattern through the piece. Too late now!!!

To remove the bulk of the interior, I used a large Forstner bit.

I used scrapers to finish the inside of the vessel, testing often to make sure the shape and size matched the profile of the pestle.

Turning the outside shape meant removing the steady rest. To prevent too much lateral pressure on the glue joints, I made a cone shaped insert for the open end of the mortar.

This is where I am now. The outside is shaped. I reduced the thickness of the top, misplaced ring. It seems to lessen the visual impact of the mistake.

 

 I probably won't get back to this or post much during the next several weeks. School starts in about 4 weeks and there are several hundred computers that need to have operating systems reloaded, applications added and then be rejoined to the network. Not hard but time consuming.

Safe turning!

 

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time Traveler and Purveyor of the Universe's Finest Custom Rolling Pins!

Lew, 

This is awesome! No worries on the "mistake!" We all have gotten into the zone and done such things. You have recovered it very nicely!. I really enjoy reading and watching your turning tutorials!

Nate

Excellent, Excellent, Excellent Lew. Great pictorial and explanation of the steps. I'm betting we wouldn't have know about the mistake had you not told us.

I'm am really looking forward to seeing this as it progresses. Excellent post. Thanks!!!!

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Wow,!! Thats so Cool, I enjoy reading ,and learning alot of things on turning, It really helps out a guy like me, I;m as green as some wood ur turn, thanks a bunch!...Joe

Thanks everyone for the very kind words!

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time Traveler and Purveyor of the Universe's Finest Custom Rolling Pins!

I enjoy these post Lewis, it is rewarding to see a process from start to finish, especially someone who is new to turning.

Thanks, Tony!

Tony Greenway said:

I enjoy these post Lewis, it is rewarding to see a process from start to finish, especially someone who is new to turning.