Amazing turning project, done on a Shopsmith

[algale]

It must have taken nerves of steel to start slicing the finished blank into rings ... especially freehand.

Oh it did, believe me. That's actually the only reason I took pictures of it before turning it; I was proud of myself just for making the blank and decided to take some pictures in case I destroyed it on the lathe. I didn't slice up my blank immediately, first I practiced on a round piece of MDF to get the technique down, then a simpler blank made from hickory. Only then did I feel comfortable enough to try it out on the complex blank I spent so much time fitting and gluing up.

I, too, would like to know more about how the blank for this spectacular project was created. If you have more photos of the process, please share them! Tell us, did you use the Shopsmith in any way (other than as a lathe) to put this project together?

No more photos, sorry. I used the Shopsmith quite a bit, yes. I used both the bandsaw and jigsaw attachments to cut pieces out as well as the disc sander. I drew up the pattern I wanted in GIMP, printed it out and transferred the shapes I needed to cut out onto wood with carbon paper. I cut slightly outside the line, then used a spindle sander (Ridgid, not Shopsmith) to sand to the line. I then fit the pieces to each other by taking two pieces and holding them up to the light to see if light peaked through. I then sanded down the high spots until no light peaked through.

Regarding the purpleheart "leaves", I cut a purpleheart board into 1/4" wide strips on the bandsaw, cut some strips of yellow dyed veneer, and placed the yellow veneer between the purpleheart strips before gluing it all back together into a single board again. The leaf parts were then cut from that.

The glue up process itself was complicated and done in sections.

I had been wanting to get into woodturning for a while, a bought the Shopsmith off craigslist about six months ago. Initially, I was looking for a lathe, when I saw this weird lathe kinda looking thing for sale. I did some research and discovered it was exactly what I needed; I have a small shop (I live in a condo in the city) so the Shopsmith was perfect. I'd been practicing lathe work (and some other stuff) almost daily for the past six months or so.

Thanks for the explanation. You really did an amazing job and it sounds like the Shopsmith proved its worth during the project. A win-win!

[BedHedNed]

BedHedNed, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you have computer-programming experience. I've never seen anyone else figure out how to manipulate quotes on this forum platform on their third post!

Furthermore, based solely on how methodical you were in developing your process and technique, I strongly suspect that you are an engineer. Am I right?

Haha, yeah, of sorts. I was actually a physics major in college though I'm employed as an engineer now. Anyway, thanks for the kind words!

[BuckeyeDennis]

BedHedNed, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you have computer-programming experience. I've never seen anyone else figure out how to manipulate quotes on this forum platform on their third post!

Furthermore, based solely on how methodical you were in developing your process and technique, I strongly suspect that you are an engineer. Am I right?

Haha, yeah, of sorts. I was actually a physics major in college though I'm employed as an engineer now. Anyway, thanks for the kind words!

Cool. One of the best engineers I ever worked with was a physics major. PhD, actually. The guy could MacGyver anything. But he didn't have your aesthetic sensibilities. That's a rare combination.

And now, I'm probably going to push my crystal ball past the breaking point. But what the heck, this is fun.

Is your condo by any chance located in the San Francisco bay area?

[BedHedNed]

Cool. One of the best engineers I ever worked with was a physics major. PhD, actually. The guy could MacGyver anything. But he didn't have your aesthetic sensibilities. That's a rare combination.

And now, I'm probably going to push my crystal ball past the breaking point. But what the heck, this is fun.

Is your condo by any chance located in the San Francisco bay area?

Ha, nice try, but nope. DC area actually.

[JPG]

BedHedNed, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you have computer-programming experience. I've never seen anyone else figure out how to manipulate quotes on this forum platform on their third post!

Furthermore, based solely on how methodical you were in developing your process and technique, I strongly suspect that you are an engineer. Am I right?

He also uses Linux!

[BuckeyeDennis]

I have yet another question for you, BedHedNed. In the Lumberjocks writeup, you said that the birdseye maple was dyed. Now I've never dyed wood, but I thought it only colored the surface. So I assume that you must have dyed it after final turning, and the process photos seem to support that theory. But I imagine it would be rather difficult to keep the dye from bleeding onto adjacent segments. How did you manage that?

[BedHedNed]

Yup, you guessed right, the dye was applied after final turning. I applied it with a small brush carefully staying inside the lines. The dye, of course, spread out slightly from where it was applied, however it stopped at the veneer line. The double glue line with the black veneer in between was enough to prevent bleed over. I used three different colors of dye; first black which was then sanded back to enhance the contrast of the figure, then red which was sanded lightly, then yellow. I was going for this effect here: http://lumberjocks.com/trifern/blog/9400

It didn't turn out quite as dramatic as the piece I linked (it might not work as well with birdseye maple as with fiddleback maple) but I still really like the color I ended up with.

[BedHedNed]

Shopsmith news blog just posted an article about it.

[algale]

Congrats and well deserved recognition!!

[BuckeyeDennis]

Shopsmith news blog just posted an article about it.

Nice article! To my knowledge, only you and algale have been so honored by Shopsmith, at least in recent history. Do check out algale's gorgeous labor of love, A Slow Boat To Nowhere .